 BetterPhoto Member |
Panoramic Heads? Can anyone recommend a decent panoramic head or tripod that I can shoot 360 degrees? I'm looking for something simple and quick, easy to use. Thank You!!!!!
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Mark Feldstein |
Any standard tripod or ball head will rotate 360 deg. The quality you get generally depends on whether you're buying a new one or used one and the price you're willing to pay. If you want to spend very little, then in my experience the quality of your work is going to suffer and it's going to become frustrating to use. Loose rivets, wobbling joints, insufficient strength for supporting your camera(s) and lenses, quick locks that don't operate properly, columns that jam, etc., etc. My own preference is Gitzo tripods. In over 30 years, I've bought two of them: A reporter that's quite portable and sufficiently sturdy to support a medium format camera. The other is a Studex that extends to almost 9 feet high and will nearly support me AND my equip. including large format gear. It only weighs about 16 pounds. For heads, I've got Linhof Profi II and III ball heads with Linhof Quick=Fix release plates mounted on the head and camera bodies. Some guys prefer Arca Swiss (at the top of the line). I recommend avoiding Kaiser heads. Manfrotto is ok from what I hear. My suggestion is always that when you're buying this kind of gear, find a store that has a large selection, take your equipment and try it out. Buy for now AND the future. A lot of photographers open their closet doors and like a cornicopia, (sp?) two things come pouring out: Tripods and camera cases that have long since been abandoned in favor of other tripods and cases. Also, take a look at two sites: bhphotovideo.com and for the higher end stuff, more custom made, http://www.reallyrightstuff.com Oh yeah, one last thing: a monopod also rotates 360 too. :>) Got one of those, also a gitzo with a Linhof quick release rig. Take it light.
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Michael H. Cothran |
For shooting 360°panos, you DO need a special pano head. Regular heads will NOT suffice.You MUST have a head which allows you to place the nodal point of the lens directly over the pivoting point of your head.Regular Heads without special pano devices attached will not allow you to do this.Depending on how serious you are, Manfrotto and Really Right Stuff make complete pano head systems.There are also other brands dedicated to 360 °pano images. Do a google on pano heads, panoramic photography, etc. You'll discover that to do panos correctly, especially 360°panos, requires some serious tripod head equipment, and is not as easy as it seems.Particularly, if you intend for the images to be stitched together seamlessly. Michael H. Cothran
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Mark Feldstein |
Or, instead of all that falderah which seems to be overkill for your purposes, you can just inscribe a couple of index marks, using a number 2 word processor (a/k/a a pencil) on a standard tripod head as index marks which should do the same thing as nodal points, etc. etc., on a special panchromatic head. M.
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- Darren J. Gilcher Contact Darren J. Gilcher Darren J. Gilcher's Gallery |
Joe, check out Tawbaware.com. There's panoheads and software for doing panos. Also, cool pics there too.
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Michael H. Cothran |
Sorry Mark, normally you gain my respect with your postings, but not in this case. Scribing index marks on the head "with a number 2 word processor" does not "do the same thing as nodal points, etc, etc..." It might behoove you to do some research before volunteering information on a subject that you seem to really know nothing about. FYI - The nodal point of the lens must be PHYSICALLY placed over the pivoting point of the tripod head, and only pano heads made for this purpose will accomplish this correctly. One must also be able to determine the exact nodal point of the lens being used. This specific information is often available online - there are sites dedicated to providing nodal point distances for given lenses. Also, some Manufacturer hotlines can provide this information. Doing this correctly insures that all of your images will fit together as seamlessly as possible, with no unnecessary added distortion. And this distortion WILL prevent or hinder one from stitching the images together. Sure, one can simply fire away rotating around the head at certain degree intervals, as Mark indicates, but without this rotation being done under the exact nodal point of the lens, the chances of all the images fitting together seamlessly as a 360° pano are slim to none.
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Mark Feldstein |
So Joe, before we go any further with this discussion, maybe you should tell us exactly what you had in mind by "panoramic". Are you looking to shoot true panchromatic 360 degree views, or simply a rotating tripod head that will allow you to sweep your camera around a landscape without capturing a 360 degree view, which is my impression of what you're asking. Mark
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Mark Feldstein |
Oops, sorry. I said true panchromatic 360 views, as in 360 views made on panchromatic film. LOL !!! I mean panoramic 360 views. M<
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John G. Clifford Jr |
I have a Nodal Ninja pano head. It will do 360-degree spherical panos with any digicam and many dSLRs. The Panosaurus is another relatively inexpensive pano head that gets good reviews. If you want to spend big $$, then look at a Manfrotto pano head. All of the pieces will run around 6 bills. Or... if you have basic woodworking skills, the necessary tools, and more time than money, you can make a perfectly adequate pano head in a couple of hours.
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