Adjusting ‘Z’ in the Field

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Doppler9000
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Adjusting ‘Z’ in the Field

Post by Doppler9000 »

For those that do field work, how do you make medium to fine adjustments in the ‘Z’ direction?

Changing tripod leg length is pretty tedious and slow.

There are gimbal heads with 100mm or so of adjustment, and, of course, geared center columns, which have various issues and trade-offs.

Thoughts?

enricosavazzi
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Re: Adjusting ‘Z’ in the Field

Post by enricosavazzi »

Do you mean the Z axis with respect to the XY Earth's surface, or the Z axis parallel to the lens optical axis? Normally by Z axis one means the latter, but from your mention of tripod column, I suspect that the former might be what you refer to.
--ES

Doppler9000
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Re: Adjusting ‘Z’ in the Field

Post by Doppler9000 »

Hello Enrico,

I was using a generic definition, which is perpendicular to the earth’s surface.

Beatsy
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Re: Adjusting ‘Z’ in the Field

Post by Beatsy »

Ah, z as in up and down. I use a monopod with a small side- mounting tilt head ( or gimbal) made by wimberly. The lens tripod foot goes in this and the lens/ camera rotates to any orientation in the ring. The monopod is offset to the side of the camera, not under it, so it needs to be sturdy if using heavy gear. Small "Z movements" are effected by simply tilting the camera forward or backward (lens points down or up).

This works with the camera mounted directly to the head too, if the lens has no tripod foot, but it's a little less stable due to the front-heaviness.

Finally, this can be made to work using a ball head tilted horizontally on a normal tripod too, but you'll need to set the tripod to roughly the correct height first and will have less leeway for large and rapid changes compared to a monopod. You'll need a smallrig arca l-bracket or similar to mount the camera in landscape orientation.

Any of those work for you?

Doppler9000
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Re: Adjusting ‘Z’ in the Field

Post by Doppler9000 »

Beatsy wrote:
Tue Apr 26, 2022 8:20 am
Ah, z as in up and down. I use a monopod with a small side- mounting tilt head ( or gimbal) made by wimberly. The lens tripod foot goes in this and the lens/ camera rotates to any orientation in the ring. The monopod is offset to the side of the camera, not under it, so it needs to be sturdy if using heavy gear. Small "Z movements" are effected by simply tilting the camera forward or backward (lens points down or up).

This works with the camera mounted directly to the head too, if the lens has no tripod foot, but it's a little less stable due to the front-heaviness.

Finally, this can be made to work using a ball head tilted horizontally on a normal tripod too, but you'll need to set the tripod to roughly the correct height first and will have less leeway for large and rapid changes compared to a monopod. You'll need a smallrig arca l-bracket or similar to mount the camera in landscape orientation.

Any of those work for you?
Thank you!

Yes, up-down.

Are you speaking of the Wimberley MH-100 Wimberley MonoGimbal Head or the like? If so, that is the sort of thing I was thinking about. The set up I am contemplating would require a tripod, understanding that the incremental adjustability is limited. More like a medium-fine adjustment to properly frame a composition once the basic height is set.

MarkSturtevant
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Re: Adjusting ‘Z’ in the Field

Post by MarkSturtevant »

I do have an extremely cheap and flimsy tripod that I occasionally still use with a z-axis gear. It does the trick but its very clunky.
For studio work, I usually control that axis by piling books, magazines, and paper until I get the precise height I need for either the camera or the subject. The x and y axis can also be controlled by sliding these objects around on the table. :D
I recently bought a scissor mount platform, and hope to use it this season.
Mark Sturtevant
Dept. of Still Waters

Beatsy
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Re: Adjusting ‘Z’ in the Field

Post by Beatsy »

Doppler9000 wrote:
Tue Apr 26, 2022 1:25 pm
...
Are you speaking of the Wimberley MH-100 Wimberley MonoGimbal Head or the like?
...
Yes, that's the one I have. I initially got it to use with a 400/2.8 prime and discovered the macro application afterwards. I use it roughly equally for both now.

BTW. I assume you're basically using this for composition, just pointing the lens, not for any kind of panorama stitching or anything like that.

If you really need a tripod instead of monopod, there are some pretty good quality geared heads available at similar prices to the Wimberley gimbal thingy. Much better perceived value there :D I have a Benro 3DGWH that I use for this sometimes. It has nice smooth controls and is very light compared to many others that feel like "repurposed anvils" (looking at you Manfrotto). The Benro does reasonably accurate "pointing" from the top of a tripod and is very stable despite it's lightweight construction. This tilts the lens and camera again, not a straight up/down motion, but it has the kind of controls you seem to prefer. I have to say that being tripod-based is a slow, plodding process though. Even moreso when winding the controls of a geared head. Unless you're focus stacking, I think the monopod approach is far better overall. Mainly as it's *much* faster to position and adjust for a shot so you miss fewer opportunities. A kind of "augmented handheld" approach, if you like...

Doppler9000
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Re: Adjusting ‘Z’ in the Field

Post by Doppler9000 »

Beatsy wrote:
Tue Apr 26, 2022 2:07 pm
Doppler9000 wrote:
Tue Apr 26, 2022 1:25 pm
...
Are you speaking of the Wimberley MH-100 Wimberley MonoGimbal Head or the like?
...
Yes, that's the one I have. I initially got it to use with a 400/2.8 prime and discovered the macro application afterwards. I use it roughly equally for both now.

BTW. I assume you're basically using this for composition, just pointing the lens, not for any kind of panorama stitching or anything like that.

If you really need a tripod instead of monopod, there are some pretty good quality geared heads available at similar prices to the Wimberley gimbal thingy. Much better perceived value there :D I have a Benro 3DGWH that I use for this sometimes. It has nice smooth controls and is very light compared to many others that feel like "repurposed anvils" (looking at you Manfrotto). The Benro does reasonably accurate "pointing" from the top of a tripod and is very stable despite it's lightweight construction. This tilts the lens and camera again, not a straight up/down motion, but it has the kind of controls you seem to prefer. I have to say that being tripod-based is a slow, plodding process though. Even moreso when winding the controls of a geared head. Unless you're focus stacking, I think the monopod approach is far better overall. Mainly as it's *much* faster to position and adjust for a shot so you miss fewer opportunities. A kind of "augmented handheld" approach, if you like...
Thank you again.

I agree that the monopod is better if it is steady enough. In addition to vis and IR, II shoot in UV, so sometimes need the stability of a tripod or ground plate. The Benro geared head looks pretty handy and will probably be the best answer for that job.
Last edited by Doppler9000 on Wed Apr 27, 2022 1:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

blekenbleu
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Re: Adjusting ‘Z’ in the Field

Post by blekenbleu »

I occasionally use an old Bogen 3040's geared center column for vertical distance composition,
then a Manfrotto 454 to e.g. focus a macro lens.
That Bogen is not to be dragged very far out into the wilds, though.

A 180mm macro lens was recently acquired; thinking about it now,
my Velbon 640 field tripod has a 1/4 thread on the bottom of its center tube,
and screwing a generic L-bracket to it and the Manfrotto
would allow macro-focusing that 180mm lens to stuff at ground level.

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