Test of the Nodal Point Orbita panoramic head. Panoramic head

This spring, Novoflex decided to radically expand its presence in Russian market. For our review, we chose two of the most interesting and promising panoramic solutions on the market: the VR-System PRO II system and the VR-System SLANT system.

The main thing and fundamental difference panoramic head is the ability to use it to rotate and tilt the camera around the nodal point of the lens. The nodal point of a lens is the point at which all rays of light converge before diverging further. As a rule, the position of the aperture in the lens most closely corresponds to the nodal point. By moving the camera around it when shooting a panorama, we eliminate the possibility of parallax distortion.

To shoot a circular panorama, it is enough to take one row of vertical or horizontal frames.

To shoot a large and spherical (3D panorama) one row of frames is no longer enough. Such panoramas are called multi-row or mosaic. To shoot such a panorama, the panoramic head must be able to tilt the camera up and down. When shooting in this way, the nodal point should be located not only on the axis of the central column of the tripod, but also coincide with the level of the camera's tilt axis. We will tell you more about practical shooting of panoramas in future articles.

A little history

The Novoflex company begins its history in post-war Germany. In 1948, photographer Karl Müller founded the company, and already in 1950 he registered the “Novoflex” trademark. In the sixties, the company successfully developed and produced special bellows for cameras such as Contax and Hasselblad. Apparently, working with such famous brands allowed Novoflex to raise the quality bar to a level unattainable for many companies. In 2006, Novoflex creates its first panoramic system and in 2008 complements it with the QuadroPod system.

First meeting

The PRO II system is the most advanced panoramic system in the Novoflex line, capable of helping the photographer shoot any panoramas, with almost any optics (up to 300 mm) and any camera. PRO II is primarily designed for professionals and wealthy fans of panoramic photography.

The SLANT system is a special head for quickly creating spherical or 3D panoramas. Moreover, the speed of operation is the strongest aspect of this system. To create a 3D panorama, just take four frames using a fish-eye lens. As you can see, the camera is fixed at an angle of 60 degrees, which significantly optimizes the size of the structure and makes it possible to use a monopod when shooting.

For the test, we provided both sets to a professional photographer, President of the Guild of Advertising Photographers Dmitry Mukhin. Dmitry often has to shoot panoramic industrial landscapes and interiors.

Professional opinion

I have sufficient experience in shooting panoramas of interiors, landscapes and industrial photography. In my work I have been using the Manfrotto panoramic system for several years. I will compare the Novoflex system with it. The first thing that immediately catches your eye is the technical performance of this device, every detail of which is made with precision quality. If someone says that this is not the most important thing, I beg to differ with him. Very great importance for a professional, it has the level and class of equipment used in the work. Very often, the level of equipment used can be used to judge the qualifications and cost of the services of a professional photographer. And one more important detail: you need to be 100% confident in panoramic equipment, since it is possible to check the result only after shooting, when it is almost impossible to go back and repeat the shot.

Constructive

When disassembled, the PRO II system is quite compact and not too heavy (1.69 kg), which allows a professional photographer to include it in a mandatory on-site equipment kit. Often, when preparing for on-site photography, the issue of the size and weight of equipment is a tough one. Sometimes you have to refuse to take some components with you to the detriment of future quality simply because it is difficult to convey.

During the test, the panoramic system was additionally equipped with a compact Novoflex MagicBalance ball assembly, which could not but please. Regardless of what surface the tripod is installed on: flat, uneven, or maybe even at an angle. The rotating assembly itself is easy to level. With Manfrotto, when setting the level when the clamp is finally clamped, the adjustment often gets lost; with Novoflex this does not happen. The dividing head in PRO II has the ability to automatically measure angles on the horizontal plane at 10, 15, 20, 24, 30, 36, 45 and 60 degrees. Switching between angles is very easy, you just need to turn the control wheel to a different position. And this is another design difference from Manfrotto.

For comparison, here’s what two professional panoramic systems look like: Novoflex and Manfrotto.

I've been using the Manfrotto system for over five years now and it has never let me down. PRO II looks more compact and less brutal against its background, let's see how it performs in operation. The SLANT system is an amazing thing. Using it, the camera is installed at an angle of 60 degrees, so that the diagonal of the frame becomes perpendicular to the scene being filmed. This is very convenient when shooting spherical circular panoramas with a fisheye lens, the distance of the camera lens axis becomes shorter, the console is smaller, and it is much easier to control the structure at the time of shooting.

Tests

To test both panoramic systems in the field, I decided to conduct three surveys in different conditions. The first is the open-air “Arkhangelskoye Estate Museum”, the second is a large room “Vadim Zadorozhny Museum of Technology”, and a very small intimate room is the “Valentin Ryabov Gallery”.

Photography at the “Arkhangelskoye Estate Museum”

Of course, taking panoramas in Arkhangelskoe in winter is not a rewarding task; the entire famous park is under snow, and the sculptures are packed in wooden boxes. But my goal was to test Novoflex in our cold winter. But with this everything is in order, the weather outside is sunny and minus 18 degrees. I decided to shoot a side-by-side panorama of the façade of the “Grand Palace” in order to create a large file size suitable for large format printing, and a circular panorama of the palace courtyard to check the accuracy of the entire system during further assembly. The dividing head, smoothly moving between shooting angles, at the same time recorded them very clearly, thereby eliminating frame skips. Those who shot panoramas will understand me - you start to collect a picture, but one frame from the panorama is missing, you just missed it and didn’t notice. Of course, this is the photographer's fault, but with the PRO II you have to try really hard to miss a shot.

The unique four-legged QuadroPod tripod I took for testing also received a good test for frost resistance. I’ll explain why: the QuadroPod in our case was equipped with carbon legs (there are other configurations), and we were strongly advised not to work with it in the cold, they say the thing is expensive and can crack. But nothing terrible happened; the entire system worked at low temperatures without complaints or breakdowns.

A licensed copy is included with the VR-System PRO II panoramic system professional program Panoramastudio 2 pro. This program allows you to stitch together cylindrical and spherical panoramas. And since I didn’t make any serious mistakes while shooting, it only took a few minutes to select the necessary parameters for creating and exporting the panorama, and the program did the rest automatically.

Examples of captured and collected panoramas:

Photography at the Vadim Zadorozhny Museum of Technology

Here it was decided to test the Slant system. To prepare the system for work, I remove one leg from the QuadroPod tripod, thereby obtaining a monopod, and attach the Slant to it. Next, I attach the camera and in a minute I’m ready to shoot. I will briefly describe what optics the manufacturer recommends using the Slant system with:

For cameras with crop sensor:

• Sigma 4.5mm/2.8 EX DC Fisheye HSM
• Sigma 8mm/3.5 EX DG Fisheye
• Peleng 8mm/3.5 Fisheye

For cameras with full frame sensor:

• Tokina AT-X 10-17mm / 3.5-4.5 DX Fisheye
• Sigma 10mm/2.8 EX DC Fisheye HSM
• Nikkor AF 10.5mm/2.8G ED DX Fisheye
• Samyang 8mm/3.5 Fisheye
• Canon EF 8-15mm/4 L USM Fisheye

To create a spherical panorama, you need to shoot only 4 frames, approximately at 90-degree intervals. The entire panorama shooting takes about a minute, and only because it takes some time to level the camera. If this is not your first time doing this, I think you can do it in 30 seconds.

I recommend collecting the footage in the PTgui program. This is the most complete and widespread program for assembling panoramas. I will also note that PTgui is an intuitive program, and you can figure it out without tedious reading of the manual.

Photography in “Valentin Ryabov Gallery”

In the gallery, I decided to shoot a spherical panorama, but with the PRO II system. It was necessary to achieve such image quality that the viewer would have the opportunity to examine and evaluate each painting in the interior. To do this, using a panoramic head, I shot 60 images, which I then collected into an interactive panorama High Quality. I also shot several multi-row 180-degree panoramas, suitable for high-quality printing.

I collected all these panoramas in the PanoramaStudio 2 Pro program, which collected them quite quickly and automatically.

QuadroPod

I also want to dwell in a little more detail on an amazing product - the four-legged QuadroPod tripod. At first glance it’s complete madness, but you understand that the Germans are only mad when it comes to porn. It is not so easy to install, since you have to install three legs and adjust the fourth one under the surface. So what is it for?

In fact, a four-legged tripod is necessary just for shooting panoramas. The fact is that four points of support provide the same stability as a conventional tripod with a smaller leg radius than a conventional tripod. And accordingly, if the legs are not widely spaced, they do not fall into the camera’s field of view when shooting a spherical panorama.

The illustration below clearly shows this:

In addition, the quadropod has removable legs, each of which can be used as a monopod, and in the Variabel configuration, the QuadroPod left without a leg easily turns into a familiar tripod.

Estimated retail prices in Russia: VR-System PRO II – 31,200 rubles. VR-System SLANT – 10,300 rubles.

When getting ready for my next trip, I didn’t take photo accessories with me due to the extra weight of my luggage. And of course, these irreplaceable pieces of hardware were needed on vacation in the very first days.

When I returned home, I immediately got down to business so that next time I would be fully prepared. And I managed to make a very simple tripod head, the tripod for which is a standard plastic bottle. Depending on the choice of bottle shape, this head can be used not only for photo and video shooting, but also for re-shooting documents.

The head can be used to mount not only a phone, but also a compact camera. Moreover, for installation it is not necessary to have a tripod socket.

A panning mechanism was also manufactured for this head, which is often in demand when shooting video. The design is quite functional, takes up little space and weighs almost nothing.

The manufacturing process is covered in the video. The drawings are in " Additional materials" a little lower.

If this is too simple for you, then below I have selected for you “Related topics” related to homemade photo and video accessories of a more complex design.

Creating panoramas is quite a difficult and painstaking task, but the result of painstaking actions will delight both you, the creator, and the users. Creating panoramas is not as simple as it might seem at first glance. I have come across users saying the following: “To create panoramas, you just need to photograph several frames with overlap, and then align the frames in a special program, stitch them together and get a finished panorama.” We can say that this statement is true. but only for the beginning photographer. The result obtained may be satisfactory. But, if a photographer wants to develop professionally, then he needs to be critical of his previous works. Look at them as the first basic building block. The basis of future mastery in creating seamless panoramas.

Why is the statement about “aligning and stitching images into a panorama” not entirely correct? The answer is simple: the statement does not take into account what needs to be corrected and taken into account: distortions introduced by the lens, perspective and spatial distortion, color correction and many other factors.
In order to ensure less work on post, it is recommended to initially shoot the panorama as “correctly” as possible. And for this you cannot do without auxiliary means. Panoramic tripod head- this is one of the important devices that will allow you to create high-quality panoramas with less effort in post-processing. You can read more about why you need to use a panoramic head in a very good article.
I would like to consider the choice of a panoramic tripod head: buy a ready-made solution or make it yourself.

Ready solution

Excellent panoramic head. Durable aluminum construction, guaranteed reliability from a renowned manufacturer, precise fixation. It is supported by the fact that the Hermitage panoramas were made by photographer Natalia Kovarskaya using this particular head. A detailed description of this head can be found in this article.
But the price cools the ardor a little: about 20,000 rubles. in the Russian Federation.

Head from Chinese manufacturer, the quality is satisfactory, but the price is about 14,000 rubles.

High quality head, easy to use.
But the price is about $640.

Allows you to use a heavy camera and lenses, lightweight, easy to handle. Precise positioning.
Price - about $450 for the top version.

Homemade heads

Homemade head, not inferior to commercial analogues. Detailed diagram and a description on the page on his blog.

Head from Yuri Nadezhin

You could say it’s a professional solution, the manufacture of which requires a metalworking machine. Drawings can be found or.

Homemade head priced at 200-300 rubles. Andrey even patented this invention. Withstands heavy photographic equipment. More details on Andrey’s personal page.

conclusions

P.s. Thanks everyone for finding the mistakes

Homemade panoramic head.

Looking at this terrible device, I myself smile. But with the help of this device I was able to remove the spheres.......

During tests with the camera, it was found that a deviation from the nodal point (NP) of less than 1 mm has virtually no effect on the quality of panoramas. Some panorama makers manage to shoot panoramas by tying a thread to the lens in the HT area and a plumb weight at the other end of the thread. Having noticed a point on the ground, they take a panorama trying to maintain a plumb line above the marked point. And everything works out!

The idea was taken as a basis fromPANOSAURUS. The idea is great, but the implementation of the main rotating unit in plastic and the flimsiness of the bracket are quite alarming. Especially for the version with my camera Canon 10 D + 17-40 F 4 L . The head discussed below is designed for this camera and optics. BUT! If you have a different camera it is very easy to recalculate landing dimensions. What did it give? The head is constantly in “combat readiness”. There is no need to adjust the camera position, or pay for an adjustable head, by making this adjustment once!

What I got:

As you can see, the head has two axes of rotation, both of which pass through the NT. Which allows you to make mosaic panoramas with a close-up view.

I was very lucky - 10 D The camera's threaded mount is located exactly on the optical axis, which greatly simplifies the design.

In the figure, X is the distance from the opric axis to the lower landing pad of the camera. To calculate distance Y When designing, you should add the thickness of the camera stand + the thickness of the rotating plate + the thickness of the plastic washer. The washer serves for a more precise fit Y after assembly. BUT! I made a mistake. The thickness of my camera stand is 1.5 mm. When mounting the camera, my optics (17-40) practically lies on the rotating plate. Well, there's a gap of a couple of mm. And there is no way to install a BLEND. The way out of this situation is planned as follows: Remove the thickness of the adjusting washer to 2 mm, remake the stand for the camera, increasing its thickness to 1.5 + 8 = 9.9 mm. I'll probably have to make it out of plexiglass.

Here is a disassembled view of the head:

Where to start assembling. It is better to start with the most difficult unit of the base, what the head rotates on and what is attached to the tripod. Bottom view:

It doesn't look very good. The hole is for a 1/4 thread, but you can also use a 3/8 thread if you have a tripod. I bought brass inserts with a 1/4 internal thread at KINOLUBITEL, in fact, this determined the choice. On the other side, an M10 stud with a fine thread is welded. I bought two M10 bolts and two steel tubes at the car market, inserts into silent blocks, or rubber bands, as anyone calls them, from the rear suspension of “Classic Zhiguli”

How everything was assembled, I had to draw a drawing.

The most difficult thing is to weld the M10 stud. By the way, its length is 45mm. Perpendicularity was constantly checked using a square. I made a weld point, checked it, tapped it, again the point.... Grind all planes of the profile.

Tripod mount. Inch threads are rare among us. I managed to buy an insert with a 1/4 internal thread at a photo store, and even with a convenient chamfer. A hole was drilled in the profile and a countersink was carefully made for a chamfer. First, I wrapped the insert with stripped copper wire, the ends of the wire were bitten. After we insert the 1/4 insert into the profile, put the wire on with tweezers, solder it liberally with active flux and rinse thoroughly with water and solvent.

I forgot to draw the M3 holes for attaching the dial. In my case, the limb is made of 6mm thick plexiglass, and is attached to the base profile with countersunk screws. The marking is conditional. When previewing the overlap of frames, we notice how many divisions we turn the head. Well, approximately to overlap the frame field is 20% -30%. When shooting, look only at the dial, counting the required number of points! Very comfortably!

The next rather complex part is the L-shaped bracket.

This unit is assembled from two steel profiles 20X40. When welding at 90 degrees, the following technique was used. Two points are welded, perpendicularity is checked, straightened with light blows of a hammer, and again a couple of points. We didn't succeed the first time. I had to throw the workpiece away. An arrow is welded into the dovetail to count divisions. Drill holes in the center of the profile, diameter 10mm.

Along the edge of these holes, we drill 3-4 more with a diameter of 3 mm for welding.

The bushings are centered in the holes with bolts and secured by welding. The welding areas are finally ground.

If you were able to successfully complete these operations, then manufacturing the rotary plate will not cause any difficulties.

The rotating plate is made of steel strip 5X40 mm

The M10 bolt is welded carefully while controlling perpendicularity. Under no circumstances should you use gas welding, it will take you away right away. Only with Kempi wire welding. Weld in the center of the plate.

Clamp nuts with a handle at the discretion of the master assembler.

A long cut, it would be better on a milling machine, but I didn’t have one at hand.....

Of course, in the center of the plate.

So, the last node is the camera stand. The most difficult thing is to calculate the position of the pin that secures the camera perpendicular to the rotating plate.

The stand looks like this:

Material – 1mm steel.

In the center there is a hole for a 1/4 wing for attaching the camera.

Having made the workpiece, we drill a hole with a diameter of 6.5 mm in the center. We tighten it with a bolt to the rotating plate and weld two guides, in my case, these are steel rods with a diameter of 3 mm.

The most difficult thing is to calculate the position of the peg. We did this. Mutually perpendicular axes were scratched from the central hole with a scriber.

I put the camera on the scanner and scanned the bottom part at 100% scale.

I made a measurement based on the scan. I don't remember the pin diameter exactly. They measured it this way, and CAREFULLY inserted the pins into the corresponding hole at the bottom of the chamber. 2.8mm seemed appropriate. Don't forget to round and polish the top of the peg!

Here's what happened:

Do not forget that the marking for the hole must be done from the side of the stand where the guides are attached.

One of the first accessories after the camera that appears in the arsenal of a novice photographer is most often a camera tripod. You usually buy a tripod, which consists of three legs connected together, topped with a special device called a tripod head.

The tripod head is designed to conveniently mount the camera at the angle desired by the photographer or videographer. Many articles have already been written and countless copies have been broken in disputes about which head is better. There is no comprehensive answer. Each photographer, when choosing a head for a tripod, proceeds from his own subjective needs and requirements, solves issues differently, guided in his choice not only by financial capabilities, but also by physical ones. Some people purchase several heads for a wide range of tasks, others sacrifice convenience but buy a universal one, and so on. Let's look at the choice of a tripod head from the point of view of solving certain problems.

Typically, a tripod head is equipped with one or more handles that can be used to fix the head in the position desired by the photographer. Simple in design, tripods with fixed heads are in the budget segment; every novice photographer can afford such a model to get better images.

However, after some time has passed and one's own technical skills have improved, many may find that the fixed tripod head has some limitations in use. Its capabilities may not be enough to implement creative ideas. The photographer’s creative ideas begin to outstrip design features existing tripod. The time has come to think about which model to buy to replace your old tripod.

But almost any amateur photographer can panic after visiting a specialized store. The fact is that manufacturers offer an endless variety of models and often the prices for tripods will be much higher than expected. If you don’t know the subtleties, you can be left with nothing, because it will seem that the model you need at a reasonable price does not exist in nature. And this is a wrong assumption.

Each model from almost any manufacturer is designed to solve strictly defined problems and is intended for professional or amateur use. It's things like these that can affect the price of a tripod.

If the tripod is expected to be used daily, then a more durable material is required from which it is made, and such a tripod cannot be cheap by definition. To alleviate the plight of those photographers who, due to their workload, are forced to carry a tripod or monopod with them every day, manufacturing companies are introducing innovations into the production process and looking for solutions to reduce weight while maintaining the strength and reliability of accessories. This is also reflected in the price. That is why you need to take a prudent approach to your choice and know what you should pay attention to first.

If you decide that it’s worth purchasing a head separately from the legs, let’s figure out what kind of tripod heads there are in principle.

Let's look at the four most common types of tripod heads and discuss how each fits different types of photography. We really hope that a review like this will give you the best idea of ​​what to look for in a store.

Tripod head for video shooting

There are several features in video shooting that predetermined the modern look of the head for conducting such a session. That's what it's called - a video head, or video head. This model has one elongated handle, which is logical, because the operator’s second hand is occupied with controlling the shooting plan or adjusting the focus. The handle is made long specifically in order to smoothly move the camera up and down and left and right, and it does not interfere with looking at the screen.

Among other things, modern tripods are usually equipped with quick-release platforms so that you can quickly remove the camera from the tripod and switch to handheld shooting. Some tripod video heads are additionally equipped with oil dampers, which can further soften the smoothness of operation.

• Why is the video head inconvenient to use for some types of photography?

Often professional video heads cannot be quickly switched to shoot a vertical frame, which is logical, since there is no need for such a frame arrangement when shooting video.

Photography also differs from video shooting by one more factor - professional SLR cameras most often use a viewfinder, so the long handle of the video head will interfere with bringing your face closer to the viewfinder.

Panoramic tripod heads

Landscape photography most often does not require speed, it encourages thoughtfulness, but it certainly has its own difficulties. Landscape photography is very sensitive to obstruction of the horizon. Sometimes to create a panorama you need to take several photos with a single horizon line. A panoramic head would be ideal for these types of shooting.

But such a head is quite massive and not particularly versatile, and therefore landscapes are often shot using a 3D head, which allows you to precisely adjust the camera along each of the axes. Typically, a model of such a head is equipped with three handles, a level or several level sensors.

Using a 3D head, you can quickly switch from a horizontal frame to a vertical one, easily fix the camera and easily rotate it around any other axis. 3D heads can be quite compact and have an unusual design.

Parameters such as lightness and compactness are very important for photographers shooting landscapes. After all, sometimes they have to climb far for the sake of an interesting composition and a good angle.

• Wedding photography

Wedding photography, as a rule, does not encourage the use of a tripod. A fairly quickly changing plot, moving subjects, changing plans - all this will complicate the photographer’s work if he decides to use a tripod. This is why in some cases photographers use .

Most often, a monopod is used when working with long-focus optics and in low-light conditions, when it is not possible to get closer, or if you cannot use a flash, for example, in a church during a wedding ceremony. In such situations, a monopod with a pistol grip is the only correct and universal solution.

It is a ball head, but with a special comfortable handle.

The pistol head is designed to give the photographer the same level of control over camera manipulation that a ball tripod head allows. However, users notice that the pistol head is easier to adjust due to the comfortable grip mechanism.

While a conventional ball-type tuning head requires you to rotate a relatively small knob to change the camera's position, the pistol grip functions like a joystick. This makes it possible to relatively quickly adjust the desired camera position. It is enough to press the special clutch mechanism on the handle, and the head will be unlocked, making it possible to change the position.

More advanced models of pistol ball heads also allow you to additionally rotate the camera along one of the axes. This makes panoramic shots much easier to take. As you can see in the image, pistol heads are much larger than ball heads. But the trade-off is sometimes worth it - often more precise control over camera position is required while maintaining a fairly high degree of freedom and quick access to the full range of motion.

• Reportage

For the most part, everything that applies to wedding photography also applies to reportage photography, with perhaps one exception: when reporting, sometimes there is even nowhere to install a monopod.

• Macro photography and product photography

Macro photography most often requires photographers to take unusual angles and frame through the viewfinder. That is, you have to hold the camera with one hand, choosing the direction and framing, and with the other you need to fix the camera in the resulting position. It is most convenient to use for macro photography when all degrees of freedom of the camera will be fixed with just one handle.

Ball heads for tripods

Ball tripod heads can rotate 360 ​​degrees around their axis due to a bearing built into the design of the model. Using a special lever, you can tighten or loosen the camera mount, rotate the installed camera from side to side, rotate it in a circle, change orientation from portrait to landscape with almost no effort.

Some ball head models are specifically designed to allow only one direction of movement to be changed. This feature is certainly very convenient in the case of panning. You should be careful when changing one of the mounting parameters, since if the fixation is insufficient, the ball head mechanism can abruptly “reset” the camera, which looks intimidating and is always scary. Having clearly fixed the lever, you can now configure and adjust the placement of the camera on the ball tripod head at the micro level.

When a photographer sets out to change a tripod and purchase a tripod with a replaceable head, but does not know exactly for what specific purposes this most convenient and necessary accessory in the arsenal will be used in most cases, the general recommendation will be as follows: it is worth considering options for models with ball tripod heads .

The ball head will give the photographer a fantastic amount of control over the stabilization and camera control process that is unheard of when using tripods with a fixed head. And even if the model does not allow you to rotate the camera in all directions, ball heads make it much easier to control cameras.

In the case when you plan to shoot a video, of course, you should first of all pay attention to the models of video heads. You will have to deal with the nuances in this segment of offers from leading manufacturers of studio accessories. It is important to remember that video heads are the most optimal choice for shooting video on DSLR. It can be said that in general, video heads have a smoother and more adjusted rotation when rotating and a more stable design, which undoubtedly makes their operation smoother.

Choose wisely, carefully, weigh your decisions, then you won’t have to regret lost opportunities and unaccounted for circumstances.