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Hi Everyone,

Does anyone use this sort of device?
http://www.manfrotto.com/product/8374.56.76814.0.0/556B/_/Levelling_Centre_Column_for_190Pro

If so, how useful is it for landscape photography?

Thanks!

I think it would be useful, but I dont recall the last time i have seen a photographer use one...only videographers

Interesting! Thanks Cameron. You'd think that this would get more popular than this.

It is actually very useful for when you do panoramas. Gitzo also have one.

I personally use the PCL-1 panning clamp. That way I have it on any of my tripods.

I use the PCL-1 from RRS as well.
I still have this one :http://www.manfrotto.com/product/8374.56.31708.0.0/338/_/Levelling_Base
It is ok but slower.
The ballhead negates the need for this type of center column, I think.

Why, why, why did I read this post. Now I need a PCL-1 and a panorama kit, a new ball head, a new mounting plate x2, a new l bracket and a bank loan. Must be strong and resist. Oh the pain.

Craig, no you don't!

We should get together for some strobism sometime. I've been thinking about combining landscapes and strobism together with perhaps sunrise photos! Let us know if you have any ideas or projects that you need some more hands.

I have a Gitzo tripod with levelling centre column. And a RRS ballhead.

The idea being, get the pod setup, the centre column vertical, then its easy to do a 360 pano by just releasing the base on the ballhead, and shoot.....


Haven't had the time/opportunity/motivation to give it a good go yet though (in a couple of years of ownership )

surenj wrote:Craig, no you don't!

We should get together for some strobism sometime. I've been thinking about combining landscapes and strobism together with perhaps sunrise photos! Let us know if you have any ideas or projects that you need some more hands.

I currently have the Manfrotto 055prob with the RC$ ball head. It works Ok for panoramas but I always have trouble getting my level right.

I would love to get together but have plenty of trouble getting away from work to do anything these days.

I think the need to acquire new equipment is just a disease with which I have been afflicted.

There are two issues here.
First you need to get the rotating part level. A leveling head will do it, so will a PCL-1 clamp. So will spending a little time getting all your tripod legs level to a theoretical horizontal plane A level on the tripod itself helps here. Easy to do on a flat floor. Less easy to do out in the field. So will hand holding the camera and swiveling. Takes practice though.

Second. Once you have the swiveling part leveled, you need to get the camera level on it This happens automatically with the PCL-1 and the hand holding. The others take some more fiddling. A level on the camera helps. This will allow you to do a pano with the horizon dead centre. This may not be what you want though. If you don't then you need to tilt the camera up or down, while keeping the axis of the camera level with the horizon. One of the multi-row pano setups is best for this. I use the RRS solution based on two PCL-1 clamps, though I have achieved more than adequate results hand holding. and it can be done using all the other solutions except a single PCL-1. A Pan-Tilt mounted on a PCL-1 had would be a good cheap solution too.

Mr Darcy wrote:There are two issues here.
First you need to get the rotating part level. A leveling head will do it, so will a PCL-1 clamp. So will spending a little time getting all your tripod legs level to a theoretical horizontal plane A level on the tripod itself helps here. Easy to do on a flat floor. Less easy to do out in the field. So will hand holding the camera and swiveling. Takes practice though.

Second. Once you have the swiveling part leveled, you need to get the camera level on it This happens automatically with the PCL-1 and the hand holding. The others take some more fiddling. A level on the camera helps. This will allow you to do a pano with the horizon dead centre. This may not be what you want though. If you don't then you need to tilt the camera up or down, while keeping the axis of the camera level with the horizon. One of the multi-row pano setups is best for this. I use the RRS solution based on two PCL-1 clamps, though I have achieved more than adequate results hand holding. and it can be done using all the other solutions except a single PCL-1. A Pan-Tilt mounted on a PCL-1 had would be a good cheap solution too.

Good to hear from you Greg. Hope the trip is going well.

I hand hold almost all my Pano's and when I do a pano that requires a tripod there is a lot of swearing and commotion as frustration with my non-existant pano gear gives me hell

aim54x wrote:Good to hear from you Greg. Hope the trip is going well.

The trip is going well. The boat trip is over. We are now at Iguazu Falls taking stock. It is the middle of the day here & we will head out later when the light is better
We are taking far fewer photos that Craig and Peter did though. I am up to 11,000 and and Murray is up to about 10000.
We have had a few equipment failures. Murray is worse off than me
He has broken an 85 f1.4g and a 180 2.8D As well as a couple of scratched polarizers. Also the column of his tripod has a stripped thread. His trousers belt has broken too, so he is going around everywhere holding his trousers up with one hand. Not really. I had a spare belt that he is using.

I have lost my Holux GPSr. Day 1 the battery connection broke, so I have been relying on my Garmin Oregon, but I have to download the track every day or so with it. And the clip on the strap of your D300 is broken. Not sure what it was for. Your GPSr???

Today has been a bad day though. Murray had his Credit card eaten by an ATM, and my bag arrived in Iguazu with one clasp broken. It has three, and I have a strap on it as well, so no biggie for me.

If you search for GregDarcy on FLickr, you should see some of the images I have been posting along the way. I am not as organised as Murray, so I don't have a blog. I am going to have to go to a pro account as I am getting close to 200 images. Some seem to be duplicates though. I may check it out later today

Greg, it sounds like you are having a good time. I have subcribed to Murry's blog and the updates have been very informative as well as the pictures.

A few brief comments in passing...

I have the SunwayFoto equivalent of the RRS PCL-1 clamp, at about half the price. The D3s also has an internal level so probably all more reent models will, too.

Murray Foote wrote:I have the SunwayFoto equivalent of the RRS PCL-1 clamp, at about half the price. The D3s also has an internal level so probably all more reent models will, too.

Not being familiar with SunwayFoto I had a search and they look like nice panning clamps. I also found that Benro now make the PC-0 and PC-1 panning clamps. They look exactly like the RRS PCL-1!! at more then half the price. It is available on ebay but don't see it yet on B&H. Photo Shop Studio in Sydney seem to carry it, YMMV.

Another option is the Acratech head which you can invert and use as a panning head. It is more tolerant of dust and water than other quality heads but has a lower weight rating.