what makes a good pano slide?

catspaw

There are a number of different pano slides out there - RRS being the 'big' one, but Arcatech (who made my ultimate ball head :lust ) also has one.

What do you look for in a 'good' vs. 'middling' or even straight up 'bad' pano?

for the record, the Acratech nodal rail is at : http://acratech.net/product.php?productid=62&cat=4&page=1
I believe the way this mounts on my current ball head, I already have the 'rotational' aspect of the pano covered (current head: http://acratech.net/product.php?productid=7&cat=1&page=1 )

the RRS pano is at: http://reallyrightstuff.com/rrs/Customkititems.asp?kc=Pano-Elem-Pkg&eq=
this has the 'rotation' aspect built in, but since my ballhead already has that ... I'm not sure it's worth the extra $$$ (nearly 2x as much) to pay for something I already have?


and there seem to be so many bloody OPTIONS, I admit myself a bit 'lost'. But I'm tired of hand stitching images that aren't that consistent to start with. I live in the land of panos (hellllo Utah Wasatch mountains) so it seems appropriate that this is next on my 'toy' list :thumb


I know the RSS pano equipment is VERY popular around here but I went with the Acratech ballhead, so I'm in a different realm already. Does anyone use either? or HAVE used both and have opinions on them?

Or heck, toss out OTHER good choices at me. I'm not in buying mode yet, I'm all into research :dunno

catspaw

follow-up
Just spoke with Scott at Acratech, who was immensely helpful! customer service from them in every interaction I've had, which is just awesome. I've heard much the same with RSS, so it's great to know what good hands we are in. :ivar

If anyone's curious, the L brackets from other companies work with Acratech just fine and I got a great crash course in nodal points as well as a way to use that hiking stick I've never used (but got for free) to test out points and distortion. go team!

pathfinder

Catspaw,

You cannot use the panning ability of the Acratech ball head or a RRS ball head ) for the rotation needed to shoot a pano, as the base of your tripod MAY not be level - YOU can take the time to level your tripod base, of course, but that can be inconvenient and tedious

Adding the RRS pano head, lets you level the Arca clamp on top of your ball head and retain the ability of rotation while remaining completely level. Easy peasy - just rotate and shoot.

The Acratech nodal slide will work fine, but by itself with only a ball head will not guarantee your rotation for your pano frames are completely level, unless you level it again each time you rotate to a new frame.


This ability of the RRS pano head is what makes it such a joy to work with in the field. It rotates level, independent of the level of the tripod base.

You can get this leveling ability with the Acratech leveling base - http://acratech.net/home.php?cat=2

The Acratech quick release levelling base plus the nodal slide costs $240 + $200. The RRS seems cheaper to me

FWIW I own and use a RRS pano head and rail a lot. My wife shoots with an Acratech head, so there's no accounting for taste:D

catspaw

pathfinder wrote:

Catspaw,

You cannot use the panning ability of the Acratech ball head or a RRS ball head ) for the rotation needed to shoot a pano, as the base of your tripod MAY not be level - YOU can take the time to level your tripod base, of course, but that can be inconvenient and tedious

yup, I talked w/ Scott a bit about that and the different levelings needed. I was trying to just listen and absorb (I learn best by watching, so phone conversations require intense focus on my part) so I never got around to asking him how best to level the tripod itself. For saving $250+, I'm willing to look into useful ways to level the tripod itself, tedious or not.

Adding the RRS pano head, lets you level the Arca clamp on top of your ball head and retain the ability of rotation while remaining completely level. Easy peasy - just rotate and shoot.

hmm, I must have missed that on the RSS site. What about the RSS (or other panos out there?) makes leveling the tripod itself so easy?

The Acratech quick release levelling base plus the nodal slide costs $240 + $200. The RRS seems cheaper to me

a ha, gotcha. So then I suppose this leads back to the first question - what ways ARE there to level the pod itself without a $240 addition? Otherwise I can see the benefit of RSS (or others?) "as is".

thanks so much for clarifying! it's hard to call each company and go 'so why is yours better' even if that's what I did ... I was more into education than challenging them though. I wonder why Arcatech doens't sell it as an all-in-one unit. Hmmm.

catspaw

pathfinder wrote:

You can get this leveling ability with the Acratech leveling base - http://acratech.net/home.php?cat=2

The Acratech quick release levelling base plus the nodal slide costs $240 + $200. The RRS seems cheaper to me

Although looks like I can get the $150 leveling base, put it under the ballhead (which already has quick release on it, toss int he $175 nodal slide (they have discounts on some misnumbered ones.... love them for that) and come in at about $325 or even less if they've leveling bases at discount (ex: my ball head was cheaper cause the matte black wasn't 100% perfectly painted. oh no! I win )

catspaw

as a general FYI for anyone reading this, Scott of Acratech is doing another video about panos and nodal points over xmas and hopes to post it online the Monday after xmas. Should be quite educational if he gives even 1/2 the education/knowledge he shared with me over the phone.

Andy

The Acratech quick release levelling base plus the nodal slide costs $240 + $200. The RRS seems cheaper to me[/QUOTE]

Acratech = $350
RRS = $360

But I'm an Acratech n00b... more on this later!

David_S85

I only know how the RRS works, as I use their setup. Here's a Dgrin tutorial on using a nodal slide. Hope this helps.

http://dgrin.smugmug.com/gallery/2114189

catspaw

Andy wrote:

The Acratech quick release levelling base plus the nodal slide costs $240 + $200. The RRS seems cheaper to me

Acratech = $350
RRS = $360

But I'm an Acratech n00b... more on this later![/quote]

yes please!! I still want to stay with Acratech, but I hoped you might order and then give me REAL advice on this one bow

dancorder

catspaw wrote:

hmm, I must have missed that on the RSS site. What about the RSS (or other panos out there?) makes leveling the tripod itself so easy?

a ha, gotcha. So then I suppose this leads back to the first question - what ways ARE there to level the pod itself without a $240 addition? Otherwise I can see the benefit of RSS (or others?) "as is".

I didn't see this point answered so I thought I'd chip in. The advantage of both the RRS pano head and the Acratech levelling base is that you don't have to level the whole tripod (as you would if you just had the ballhead on a set of legs). The key is that you want to rotate the camera around a vertical axis. With a ball head directly on a tripod the panning part of the ballhead is clamped directly onto the tripod legs, so if the top of the tripod isn't level then the axis of rotation isn't vertical. The only way to get the top of the tripod level is to fiddle with legs, which is slow and tedious.
Both the options above allow you to change the angle of the panning part of the setup without touching the legs, the RRS one by using the existing ballhead to level its panning clamp and the Acratech one by adding a ball underneath the panning part of the existing ballhead.