Review: Platforms for Panoramas, City & Hiking

[Asher Kelman]

My suggestion, would be to be prepared for different applications. So one might to a broad city scape, an architectural marvel or monument or else a magnificent country scene. In addition one can use a pano head for creating amazing backgrounds to compositions from the imagination or else a giant group shot, for example in a Cathedral. I do panoramas and also pop people into them. So a gimbal head has an advantage. Notice how it uses a cinematography-type system for leveling, essentially a massive 75mm ballhead!

There's an especially interesting package from Really Right Stuff that I'm considering. It will work for panoramas, portraits and everything in between. Also one can add a secondary mini-ballhead for sound recording or a second camera or lights! I'll add more pictures shortly.

It has to be one of the most massive and simple but stable multipurpose systems one could imagine with a built in leveling head.

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

One special feature here is that the gimbal head horizontal arm is not "bolted-on" to the horizontal rotating panning indexer. The latter does not have click stops, BTW, but does have a machined degree index. This decreases the number of parts and increases the solidness of the panning head and that's a good thing. This does not seem as if is sagging is gong to be problem even with large lenses/

Really Right Stuff: PG-02 LLR: Pano-Gimbal Head with LLR, $698 directly from RRS​

Note that you still need to have a leveling base. There are three main approaches

1. Use a ~ $198-$220 leveling center column from Manfrotto

Bogen-Manfrotto: Leveling Center column

different sizes available
​

2. A Leveling base from Acratech, $149, reviewed in Luminous Landscape here

Weighs 1/2 lb (.24kg).
Easily holds over 25 lbs. (11.4 kg).
Allows 10 degrees of movement in any direction.

Ball will not shift when tightened.
Oilless and greaseless ball will not attract or hold dirt and debris.
Smooth knob action for easy and secure positioning.
Precision bulls eye level for accurate positioning.
All knobs are secured so they cannot vibrate loose and fall off.
Low profile design, only 1.77” tall (not including stud).
Patent pending.

3. A 75mm half sphere leveling base from RRS or Manfrotto.

Really Right Stuff: PG-02 LLR: TA3LB Tripod with Leveling base and ball head​

The tripod s shown with an optional 75mm half-sphere leveling base that is adjusted from below. This is popular with videographers with a fluid panning head. For me, the ideal would be the panning gimbal head as it can be used for panoramas, large lenses on safari and portraits!

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

I now own these! Initial comments

Really Right Stuff: PG-02 LLR: Pano-Gimbal Head with LLR, $698 directly from RRS​

2. A Leveling base from Acratech, $149, reviewed in Luminous Landscape here

The big toy is the new Gimbal and 360 degree panning head from Really Right Stuff. It's beautifully engineered and finished. When its locked, nothing rotates, but I have still to test it with my camera and lenses in a real shoot. My initial concern is how to set up the gimbal head so that it won't get damaged from taking it on an off the tripod in order to move it from one place to another. At the center and underneath the horizontal rotating arm, there's a tapped hole for a 3/8 bolt. One could mount this directly on a tripod. The disadvantage is that then one has a rigidly connected heavy mass at right angles to the tripod. Yes, the threads are in stainless steel, but because one is bolting on an horizontal arm with natural rotational moment to tend to tilt the screwing process out of true alignment, I don't think that screwing and unscrewing the valuable gimbal head is a method to be recommended for real world use. Eventually the thread is sure to be stripped and that would be unfortunate and should be avoided.

It's perfectly feasible to adjust the lengths of the tripod legs to be level at the RRS Gimbal. However, it's slow and changes the height of the setup somewhat..

I have chosen to go for an intervening leveling solution. Here we can see the Acratech leveling head. It's beautifully finished and has smooth movement and locks perfectly. I find that when one loosens the ball, it's very functional and fun to level the head but it seems just a tad free and not as smooth and steady as the RRS large ballhead. But that, after all is to be expected. This Acratech solution is more compact, there's no adjustment for the degree of pressure on the ball and it's 1/3 the size of the RRS flagship ballhead and a 1/4 of the price.

Well, the nice news is that irrespective of how one levels;=, (the tripod itself, the RRS ballhead or the Acratech leveler), the spirit level of the RRS panning arm is always centered when attached.

Now an extra piece of gear is needed to enable the set up to be dismantled for transportation. I have installed a RRS plate under the panning bar and a quick release clamp on the leveling base or else the RRS tripod head. This allow the expensive and beautifully finished Panning head to be removed fast and safely and returned securely at a whim.

Now I'm pretty happy. I just need to find out how the Acratech leveling head behaves when the panning head is loaded with camera and lens.

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

Here's an interesting alternative, Asher - a complete system from China on EBay. Tripod levelling base, indexing rotator, 240mm rail, vertical lever-clamp rail, clamps, panning clamp, nodal rail with lever clamp, universal L-Bracket.

Photo: OEC Camera​

Murray,

The interesting thing is that it looks like a copy of Really Right Stuff's older setup with some slight variations. The most significant are the provision of click-stops!

Asher

 

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Looks like a lovely rig, however its features are described.

Yes lovely, I'd describe it as almost a clone of the RRS version and the clickstop as a clone of the Manfrotto/Bogen one. Looking at their offerings on eBay, they also carry clones of Wimberley gimbals and clones of studio flash ...

Cheers,
Bart

 

[Asher Kelman]

Looks like a lovely rig, however its features are described.

Doug,

All these knock off work, at least initially. What counts is how they stand up to regular use, especially the ballhead. Inside, what are the components and how will they wear? RRS is a local company and if there's no big price differential, I'd support local industries in Ireland, U.K, Europe, Australia and everywhere else where there has been a flight of the manufacturing sector.

However, if this turns out to be a quality product, this is a challenge to small companies everywhere. The more massive design of the RRS Panning Gimbal panohead that I have is likely a far better product with less sag when loaded. Also supports telephotolenses for safaris!

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

I show this large so you can see the individual components.

Just as a frame of reference, here's the Really right Stuff Pano package that is avaiable for $795. It does not include a ballhead or leveler. The Acratech for $130 works fine. So adding together that's $925. That's $228 more than the Chinese complete package. However, the shipping is $96 for the Chinese version, and that's $81 more. So, in reality, a Chinese purchase is only saving $147 from the tried and true RRS system.

Asher

The caveat is that the Chinese system boasts a varied series of defined click stops, for planning rotation, and a full ballhead, (the latter is not necessarily a good thing when the camera is awkwardly loaded and could drop in the side slot).

 

[Murray Foote]

Just as a frame of reference, here's the Really right Stuff Pano package that is avaiable for $795. It does not include a ballhead or leveler. The Acratech for $130 works fine. So adding together that's $925. That's $228 more than the Chinese complete package. However, the shipping is $96 for the Chinese version, and that's $81 more. So, in reality, a Chinese purchase is only saving $147 from the tried and true RRS system.

The caveat is that the Chinese system boasts a varied series of defined click stops, for planning rotation, and a full ballhead, (the latter is not necessarily a good thing when the camera is awkwardly loaded and could drop in the side slot).

Asher

The Sunwayfoto system doesn't have a ballhead, that's the click-stop rotator (they're just showing the side that doesn't have the click-stops). The vertical rail has both an ordinary clamp and a panorama clamp. You'd think you wouldn't need the ordinary clamp but maybe you can't attach the panorama clamp directly to the vertical rail. If so, what you have extra is the rotator and the L-bracket. There may be a better comparison but Nodal Ninja has a seemingly more simply specified rotator for $200. If all that's useful to you, the savings come to about $425. And if you don't have free postage within the US, the RRS/ Acratech option alone comes to an extra $100. So for some people at least the value may be a little better than you suggest.

There's also a cheaper all-US alternative combining RRS and (the obscure) Hejnar. Down towards the bottom of this page, Steve Denton details an alternative to the $800 RRS system for $420. The RRS system may be more solid but this at least appears to be an alternative for the less affluent. ... and then you could reduce the price further by using a Sunwayfoto panning clamp ($130 + freight) rather than the RRS panning clamp ($235).

Regards,
Murray

 

[Richard Jackson]

Dr. Kelman,
I was wondering if you had tested these items with some large glass yet and put a good load on that Acratech Base. I know the PG-02 will hold up a Mac truck. But, I'm skeptical about the stability of the base. I really would like a leveling base before I go on my annual trip to the Smokies this year and I already have the PG-02 full gimbal and a set of clamps to use it for panos too. I really would like to have the upcoming RRS Series 2 leveling base for my Induro CT-313 tripod. But, they can't give me a release date. So, I'm thinking of getting the Acratech one. Thank you for any help you can offer!

Take care and God Bless!
Richard

I had another thought when I read the above comments regarding click stops. A great iPhone app called "Photo Buddy" allows you to input your camera model(giving the program the sensor size and therefore crop factor) as well as focal length. It will instantly give the vertical, horizontal, and diagonal FoV for this setup. All you have to do then is either multiply that by 1/2 or 2/3(depending on the overlap you would like in the pano) to get the amount of rotation horizontally or vertically for each successive frame. It works great with my PG-02!

 

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Bart,

I wondered about Easy Leveler and am glad you added it to our options. I was wondering about how easily the threaded wheels would move.

Hi Asher,

Easy enough, but not that easy. There's enough friction to not move by themselves under load, it takes some gentle force of 2 fingers, 1 finger might slip too easily. The upper wheels/knobs can lock the settings in place, but I rarely do that. The locking is more to avoid accidental rotation of the wheels.

Having put away that concern, this makes for a great option. How many degrees does that allow? Likely it's about the same size as the equally beautiful Acratech Leveler. But that latter has a knob and a spirit level. A + and -

It allows a level correction of up to approx. 7.5 degrees maximum (1 control at maximum height, 2 at minimum ), in about 10 full revolutions of one wheel (so it is easy to adjust for fractions of a degree, extremely accurate). Works fine in combination with an accurate digital level.

Cheers,
Bart

 

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

I had another thought when I read the above comments regarding click stops. A great iPhone app called "Photo Buddy" allows you to input your camera model(giving the program the sensor size and therefore crop factor) as well as focal length. It will instantly give the vertical, horizontal, and diagonal FoV for this setup. All you have to do then is either multiply that by 1/2 or 2/3(depending on the overlap you would like in the pano) to get the amount of rotation horizontally or vertically for each successive frame. It works great with my PG-02!

Hi Richard,

That should work fine, but it's not too difficult to set it in the field by trial and error. Most people use the same lenses, so you'll develop a feel for the most used settings very fast.

Cheers,
Bart

 

[Asher Kelman]

Dr. Kelman,
I was wondering if you had tested these items with some large glass yet and put a good load on that Acratech Base. I know the PG-02 will hold up a Mac truck. But, I'm skeptical about the stability of the base. I really would like a leveling base before I go on my annual trip to the Smokies this year and I already have the PG-02 full gimbal and a set of clamps to use it for panos too. I really would like to have the upcoming RRS Series 2 leveling base for my Induro CT-313 tripod. But, they can't give me a release date. So, I'm thinking of getting the Acratech one. Thank you for any help you can offer!
]

Frankly, Richard, I'm impressed that Bart likes the EX-Leveller II. It's likely 20 seconds more to set up however, all the other devices require some patience and steady hand to exactly get the bubble centered. With this, your hands may not need to be as skillful and steady as the device has built in stability. There's no wobbly loose part of the procedure and $94.95 is a good price.

The leveler makes a very stable base when the locks are used: in winds strong enough to easily blow over a heavy 5-Series Gitzo tripod the leveling base remained rock solid. Not only that, but it was also simple to set up using just one hand (with the other hand holding on very tightly to the tripod so it didn't blow off the cliff). The light 7 oz weight of the leveler wasn't even noticeable on a heavy tripod, despite having to climb with it to altitudes where the winds were that strong. Source

So there you have it, I am impressed but have never even held the thing. Frankly, this design is intuitively superior as at no time is the head free to move on it's own steam while being adjusted. All the other designs required hand steadiness to make them work and have no facility for controlling the looseness of the ball separately from the locking mechanism.

Asher

 

[Richard Jackson]

Frankly, Richard, I'm impressed that Bart likes the EX-Leveller II. It's likely 20 seconds more to set up however, all the other devices require some patience and steady hand to exactly get the bubble centered. With this, your hands may not need to be as skillful and steady as the device has built in stability. There's no wobbly loose part of the procedure and $94.95 is a good price.



So there you have it, I am impressed but have never even held the thing. Frankly, this design is intuitively superior as at no time is the head free to move on it's own steam while being adjusted. All the other designs required hand steadiness to make them work and have no facility for controlling the looseness of the ball separately from the locking mechanism.

Asher

I'm wondering if I should be taking your response and implied recommendation of exploring the EZ Leveler as a statement of a lack of satisfaction with the Acratech base ?

 

[Asher Kelman]

I'm wondering if I should be taking your response and implied recommendation of exploring the EZ Leveler as a statement of a lack of satisfaction with the Acratech base ?

Richard,

Not dissatisfaction! All the choices are good ones! The Acratech is a great leveling base and it's on my tripod right now! I'll be using it over the next week and I'll let you know how it performs under load and moving from place to place. I'd rate it highly just from how well it's constructed. It's fast to use but every so slightly loose so there's some playing to get the exact level. However, that's not really a practical limitation unless you have a tremor or are so fatigued that you don't have fine motor control. It's just the concept of the leveler that Bart shows that's so inherently stable by its design, one that has a long use for surveyors. The downside of the 3 screw leveler is weirdness and lack of speed. Like using tripod legs to get the head level, the bubble may not move always in a way that's intuitive, LOL. It's slower but more accurate than using any sort of ball head. The Acratech leveler is just a variation of a ballhead, a hemi head, well made, but without a tension control.

Let me add that if you are on safari and tracking animals with your l ong heavy lens on the RRS gimbal head, then the Arcratech base, or other ballhead type leveller, would might the most sense. You can't be fiddling with knurled wheels, one at a time, for nature shoots like that. A ballhead of some sort is so much faster and might make more sense.

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

It makes leveling a very fast and accurate activity, almost like with a geared 3-axes head. Its small size, with a click stop on top, will also allow a very small nadir footprint which is usefult for 360x180 degree stitching.

Bart,

Which system do you use for click stops and is it just on the horizontal rotation or you use a second one for the vertical tilt too? Also what is the electronic level you would buy today?

Asher

 

[Richard Jackson]

Richard,

Not dissatisfaction! All the choices are good ones! The Acratech is a great leveling base and it's on my tripod right now! I'll be using it over the next week and I'll let you know how it performs under load and moving from place to place. I'd rate it highly just from how well it's constructed. It's fast to use but every so slightly loose so there's some playing to get the exact level. However, that's not really a practical limitation unless you have a tremor or are so fatigued that you don't have fine motor control. It's just the concept of the leveler that Bart shows that's so inherently stable by its design, one that has a long use for surveyors. The downside of the 3 screw leveler is weirdness and lack of speed. Like using tripod legs to get the head level, the bubble may not move always in a way that's intuitive, LOL. It's slower but more accurate than using any sort of ball head. The Acratech leveler is just a variation of a ballhead, a hemi head, well made, but without a tension control.

Let me add that if you are on safari and tracking animals with your l ong heavy lens on the RRS gimbal head, then the Arcratech base, or other ballhead type leveller, would might the most sense. You can't be fiddling with knurled wheels, one at a time, for nature shoots like that. A ballhead of some sort is so much faster and might make more sense.

Asher

Asher

Ah ha, bingo. I was hoping you would say that. If you wouldn't mind keeping us updated on the Acratech base and it's general rigidity(etc) that would be fantastic! Just an aside, what type of lenses do you intend to hang off of it in the coming week? I'm curious as to weight of them, etc. I don't have anything huge. But, I intend to have heavier glass down the road a bit. But, I hope to purchase some type of leveling base before the end of this weekend. Thank you again for your helpful responses!

Richard

 

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Richard,

Not dissatisfaction! All the choices are good ones! The Acratech is a great leveling base and it's on my tripod right now! I'll be using it over the next week and I'll let you know how it performs under load and moving from place to place. I'd rate it highly just from how well it's constructed.

I concur. And it's a low profile device (with a large bulls-eye bubble level), so the center of gravity stays lower than with a full size ball head. I used one before I replaced it with the EZ-Leveler as my default choice. The leveler allowed me to save some weight (useful when hiking) and is very precise when used with architecture (which saves me from having to use a heavy geared 3-axis head all the time).

It's fast to use but every so slightly loose so there's some playing to get the exact level. However, that's not really a practical limitation unless you have a tremor or are so fatigued that you don't have fine motor control.

The Acratech could be seen as a low profile ballhead, without the risk of the head fully tipping over. The lack of a tensioning control is not that important because of the reduced risk.

Cheers,
Bart

 

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Bart,

Which system do you use for click stops and is it just on the horizontal rotation or you use a second one for the vertical tilt too?

Hi Asher,

I use the Manfrotto 300N, only for the horizontal panning. For vertical rotation one would have to lock it between steps to avoid gravity doing its thing. A no-parallax orientation is not necessarily balanced around its center of gravity, like a gimbal setup, hence the potential need to lock.
If I had to make Gigapixel images with a longer focal length than 200mm on a full 24x36mm sensor array, I'd have a look at the Nodal Ninja RD16 rotator. It is a bit lighter and it allows 3.75 degree instead of 5 degree steps as its finest setting. It's just that its more expensive, and it's not that clear whether a 3/8th stud is mountable on top.

Also what is the electronic level you would buy today?

Still the one I currently use, the Digipas DWL80 Pro, looks like the most accurate (the Pro version!, not the regular one) and affordable one. It's compact and very accurate (more accurate than the sensor is mounted itself).

Cheers,
Bart

 

[Ben Rubinstein]

Pardon me if this is again off topic, I'd seen that sunway was producing quality markin ballhead knockoffs, didn't know they did rails and levellers as well, thanks for pointing me in that direction, very interesting!

 

[Asher Kelman]

Pardon me if this is again off topic, I'd seen that sunway was producing quality markin ballhead knockoffs, didn't know they did rails and levellers as well, thanks for pointing me in that direction, very interesting!

Ben,

By chance, I will be testing out the Sunway click-stop system and their largest leveling base, (designed for LF cameras), with the Really Right Stuff panning gimbal setup as shown in post # above.

II use live view, currently, to estimate overlap. I believe that the click stops could encourage me to do the minimum number of overlapping shots.

Asher

 

[Ben Rubinstein]

I'd be very interested in your thoughts on the levelling base. A click stop base interests me less, to be honest, who cares if you shoot a few frames too many on the overlap? I really do believe in KISS on a shoot and the less weight in my bag when I can eyeball an overlap so easily, the better!

Just a note, although the panning gimbal setup from RRS was designed for heavy and longer lenses, if you've ever used the PCL-1 panning clamp in vertical orientation (i.e. the RRS usual pano setup) then you would hanker after that big easy to tighten knob on the RRS gimbal! It's one of the main complaints about the PCL-1, the tightening knob is tiny and often a real pain to operate. Would love to hear your thoughts too on the RRS.

 

[Asher Kelman]

A click stop base interests me less, to be honest, who cares if you shoot a few frames too many on the overlap?

With a wide angle lens, yes that's true but with a wider lens, it helps to keep everything 100% perfect. Having the solid tripod question raised by Dawid, really got me to tighten up. Adding the gimbal means now the panos are 100% fast, accurate and require no corrections at all. I can't believe how easy things have become.

Just a note, although the panning gimbal setup from RRS was designed for heavy and longer lenses, if you've ever used the PCL-1 panning clamp in vertical orientation (i.e. the RRS usual pano setup) then you would hanker after that big easy to tighten knob on the RRS gimbal! It's one of the main complaints about the PCL-1, the tightening knob is tiny and often a real pain to operate. Would love to hear your thoughts too on the RRS.

The new version is beefy and easy to use. Rock solid!

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

I'm starting to review series of impressive looking and feeling Arca Swiss type tripod head fittings for panorama and gimbal platform work. These will be reviewed shortly here

I will also report on the Acratech experience so far.

My initial impression is that the Sunway engineers have done an excellent job of designing and building CNC machined Arca Swiss tripod head accessories that offer us a of interesting choices.


Asher

 

[Ben Rubinstein]

Designing Asher? I suppose you can call reverse engineering that

 

[Asher Kelman]

Designing Asher? I suppose you can call reverse engineering that

Well, Ben, there's a lot of tradition in music, humor, literature, art and yes engineering. The gonomiometer designs of Newport gnomiometers is mirrored in the brilliant Arca Swiss Cube multiaxis tripod head, with that copied by the Chinese and then Really right Stuff and Kirk Enterprises extending the multifaceted use of the Arca Swiss clamp to new designs and possibilities never imagined. So now Sunwayfoto adding their own nuanced improvements to the fray, such as the anti twist features and safety locks on the clamps and an indexing click stop for panoramas.

Progress is stimulated by such, reverse engineering" competition and we all then benefit! Look how the competition led Really Right Stuff to design and deliver the elegantly simple and wonderfully functional new 360 degree gimbal head, and leveling system, both shown in post #2, above! Use it on safari for photographing game or for close interior architectural shot or an centuries-old streets in old Jerusalem, with cobble-stone worn by scholars and families, generation after generation. So all our work and art benefits from finer and more versatile photographic tools!

Anyway, this American firm, RRS is still ahead of the pack!

Asher

 

[Ben Rubinstein]

Or in short: What an incredible time to live re access to multiple levels and prices of complicated and intricate photographic equipment that we would never have dreamed of just a decade ago.

On the other hand this same point is the reason why you really need to display significant talent in this day and age, when anyone can make sophisticated high resolution pano's for an outlay of relatively peanuts in hard and software, the only thing seperating us and them is the final image. It is no longer the case as it once was that you could sell yourself almost solely based on the technical ability to achieve a difficult photographic task.

Whole lot of very talented people out there in the world, so easy to transcend the learning curve for the technical side of things, so little expense needed to fully equip oneself. In this day and age, especially given the global economy (or lack of one) only the hungriest and saviest will survive. Good luck to them!

 

[Asher Kelman]

"The only thing separating them is the final image!"

Or in short: What an incredible time to live re access to multiple levels and prices of complicated and intricate photographic equipment that we would never have dreamed of just a decade ago.

Well put!

On the other hand this same point is the reason why you really need to display significant talent in this day and age, when anyone can make sophisticated high resolution pano's for an outlay of relatively peanuts in hard and software, the only thing seperating us and them is the final image.

Ben,

Think of all the 100's of millions of folk who can read and write and more. But where are the torrents of new Shakespeares, Mozarts and Picasso's? Applied inspiration and focus are much harder to acquire?

So I'm not worried about any competition. I just want to get my own ideas perfected, expressed and then delivered on very large prints!

Asher

 

[Ben Rubinstein]

Large prints? You philistine! Prints should be exquisitely small with a huge border and an even bigger price! ;-)

I wish..

 

[Asher Kelman]

Large prints? You philistine! Prints should be exquisitely small with a huge border and an even bigger price! ;-)

I wish..

Ben,

Banners and billboards are big. That's just what are needed now. So that's what I have to make. Printed small with care, they should be gems indeed!

Asher

 

[Ben Rubinstein]

Have to admit I'd take a small platinum handprint correctly framed over a huge banner any day!