47greyfox Loc: on the edge of the Colorado front range

In 4 months I'll be attending a workshop where a lot of our shooting will be on non-level hard (think stone) areas. I have an Acratech ball head but am electing to go with a tilt head instead since most of the shots will be landscape with a few panoramas thrown in. I'll be mounting the tilt head on top of a indexing pano rotator, but that still leaves the issue of leveling. I suppose for each repositioning of the tripod, I could shorten/lengthen a leg.... but I was thinking of attaching a leveling base under the rotator. Since I already have the tilt head, I don't want to buy something like the Acratech Pano and Tilt along with the Acratech leveling base (total investment $565+). Looking for suggestions.... am I asking for frustration by stacking a tilt head on a pano rotator on a leveling base? Or... am I making this too hard and should just go with my Acratech GV2 ball head?

BebuLamar

I don't know Gene51 did a lot of good pano hand held.

47greyfox Loc: on the edge of the Colorado front range

For some, that would work. However, there will be shots (panos) with longer exposures required. Thanks.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

You don't have to worry about being level as much as you need to ensure that you take enough images to encompass your concept for the final image.

Hand held panos are easy and can be done on the fly with little planning, though having a tripod with a head that can show degrees of angles is helpful. This is a good article describing hand held panos.

https://petapixel.com/2016/10/27/stitching-panorama-forget-wide-angle-lens-home/

For landscapes you don't need to reposition the tripod in most cases, but if you want to minimize the number of images you take for stitching, it does help to level the tripod. Once the tripod is level, you can use a ball head and the azimuth indicator in your camera to get the base of the camera level, after which you can rotate the camera horizontally without issue.

This device is a big help in leveling the tripod:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/882986-REG/Sunwayfoto_LP_76_Leveling_Plate.html/?ap=y&ap=y&smp=y&smp=y&lsft=BI%3A514&gclid=Cj0KCQiAtqL-BRC0ARIsAF4K3WHhxuaKE-bJwA5tZgbolshtKL0EYPK1dspO12Vl-I7PzwzdXRC-848aAlf5EALw_wcB

This was a 5 column, 3 row pano shot on a tripod set up the way I describe. Camera was a D800 oriented in portrait mode and the lens was a 45mm. I shot the first row (the middle one) to ensure I had the width that I wanted, then I tilted the camera up to get more sky for another row, and down to get the near bridge for the third row.

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Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

This was a two shot handheld pano.

_DSC2161-DSC-RX10M4--(19-02-18) hi res-2-DSC-RX10M4--(19-02-18)-Pano by Gene Lugo, on Flickr

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

But if you want to spend some $$$ you can either buy or build something like this. I use it for architectural photography and when I am in close quarters and need zero parallax error. It is not a "nodal" head which is a misnomer - but rather a no-parallax error head. Both my 45mm and 85mm lenses are calibrated for zero parallax on the head. It was a cool project to build, though I could have spent a bit more and gotten the RRS version which is quite similar. I do like the indexing on the rotators, and the ease of use of the Sunaway leveling base. Unfortunately none of the levels are accurate, though that is of no concern - I just don't use them. I level the base, then I use the camera azimuth function, just like I do when using a ball head.

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47greyfox Loc: on the edge of the Colorado front range

Thanks, Gene. Your results are impressive. Most of our shooting will be during the golden hours, but some a little darker. I have an indexing rotor, that is smooth but not fluid easy (if that makes sense). My tilt head is designed for a monopod so it doesn't rotate. The thought was to attach it to the rotor and then attach those two to a leveling base. The concern (?) is that the leveling base when tightened might not be secure enough because rotor is not an easy turn even when not cinched. Most of the work we will be doing will be on tripods, but handhelds aren't out of the question. My other thought was to forget the tilt head and just take the Acratech GV2 ballhead and attach it to a leveling base like this one There are others available for $100+ less. But, I am tempted by the Sunaway leveling base, since that would definitely speed up tripod leveling rather than this Rube Goldberg method I have stuck in my head.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/431861-REG/Acratech_1117_Leveling_Base.html

Here's what I have now. Maybe, that's enough? Using the ballhead wouldn't require the rotor, necessarily. But, for mounted panos, it sure is convenient. As I mentioned before, the whole intent is to speed up the leveling without having to adjust tripod legs.

Acratech GV2 on Pano rotor

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Tilt head on Pano rotor

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uhaas2009

With today’s software you don’t need to worry about the nodal position anymore. I took one pano with a 70-200 mm lens @ about 70mm free hand. Stitched in LR without problem.
I would try this before I would buy expensive equipment

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

These are two impromptu panoramic views.

The non-panoramics show the regular wide-angle shots at each end on one of the panos.

There was no room in the elevating device for a tripod so I used a monopod and kinda improvised the rotation. I was up there just to make regular wide-angle shots.

I was shooting something at Ottawa International Airport during the first weeks of the Covid-19 lockdowns. I have never seen that area so deserted- just one person waiting for a flight to come in.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Thanks for your comments!

In my two axis pano head I too used the Sunway DOP64SI Indexed rotator on the vertical axis, but opted for the DDP64M on the horizonal so I could set the zero (start) point easier.

I would use either the Acratech or the SunwayFoto DYH-90 leveling base. It it a pain to set up a tripod by adjusting the legs. I still do that to get it close, then fine tune it with my leveling base. If you have confidence in your base, then you can leave the ball head in the bag, but I wouldn't leave it home. Otherwise, I expect to see some fine images with this great gear you'll be using!

Here are a few other panos that I assembled into a Flickr album:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/gene_lugo/albums/72157687713807602

billt1970 Loc: Gambrills, Maryland

Beautiful pano of the Bear Mountain Bridge on the Hudson River, NY, Gene. I always loved that view back in the late 60's through the 47 months of traveling to and from that "college" at the bend in the Hudson just a few miles north.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

No one is paying me to take panos, so I'm not going to invest in equipment. I just take a bunch or pictures, either hand-held or on a tripod, and I stitch them together. I've seen online DIY instructions for building pano devices.

Here are a bunch of panorama links.

http://hugin.sourceforge.net/
http://www.nikonusa.com/en/learn-and-explore/a/products-and-innovation/easy-panorama-mode.html
https://photographylife.com/panoramic-photography-howto
http://www.kolor.com/download
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/groups/ivm/ice/
http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/how-to-capture-and-stitch-panoramas/
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/groups/ivm/ice/
http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-282385-1.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tGR-Q9Pkjc

Heather Iles Loc: UK, Somerset

Absolutely beautiful, Gene.

H

BboH Loc: s of 2/21, Ellicott City, MD

I've been using the AcraTech leveling base for several years - I've tried using the tripod legs, Manfroto's and Nodal Ninja's and found the AcraTech to be the best of the bunch

BTW, Gene - beautiful shots.

mizzee Loc: Boston,Ma

Check to see if your camera has a built in level. Mine has both vertical and horizontal levels that display in the viewfinder and on the lcd screen.