Tripod: from horizontal to vertical level

[zoossh]

what kind of tripod head will do the job fast and good?

have been using a ball head but the problem is that when i tilt from horizontal to vertical, i would lose the level horizon and have to readjust again. would love something that do a quick job.

[Deadpoet]

Practice!!!!

[reachme2003]

use a bi-directional head(not ballhead) with two spirit levels.

Originally Posted by zoossh what kind of tripod head will do the job fast and good? have been using a ball head but the problem is that when i tilt from horizontal to vertical, i would lose the level horizon and have to readjust again. would love something that do a quick job.

[denniskee]

i bought a camera mounting bracket from CP to solve this problem. when flip from horizontal to vertical position, the "centre" stay at the same position.

can cater to different "size" of camera, eg with or without battery grip. but it is less stable.

i think its from strobo frame or someting like that.

[Stoned]

Actually I think if you just roughly agar agar it will be ok. As long as your horizon is not fantastically misaligned(to the point where it's obvious) I don't think anyone will make a fuss.

[zoossh]

Originally Posted by denniskee i bought a camera mounting bracket from CP to solve this problem. when flip from horizontal to vertical position, the "centre" stay at the same position. can cater to different "size" of camera, eg with or without battery grip. but it is less stable. i think its from strobo frame or someting like that.

which is a bracket that is put between the ballhead and the quick release?

[zoossh]

Originally Posted by Stoned Actually I think if you just roughly agar agar it will be ok. As long as your horizon is not fantastically misaligned(to the point where it's obvious) I don't think anyone will make a fuss.

i think i'm particular, esp one with a obvious horizon straddled by a bridge or bank. and i find that even if i adjust, sometimes i still need to rotate 0.2-1 degree on post processing to align it.

that is why i'm going to buy a dual axis spirit level on the horseshoe.

[Del_CtrlnoAlt]

manfrotto got 1 bracket that can switch between horizontal & vertical, quite cheap... the rest is rather expensive... problem is it uses the hexagonal QR.

[Robbie J]

I have been using a Manfrotto L bracket (part #341) with good results. It uses the 200PL rectangular (quick release) plate. Bought it from CP in Peninsula about 2 years ago.
Problem is, they're not usually in stock. Had to indent and then wait a month or so.

[hondasleeper]

Really Right Stuff has a L-plate for most camera models which allow you to switch from landscape to portrait without adjusting your tripod head. Their plates work only on Foba, Arca Swiss and the other clamp type heads.

These things work great but the only downside is that they are a little pricey.

[zoossh]

Originally Posted by hondasleeper Really Right Stuff has a L-plate for most camera models which allow you to switch from landscape to portrait without adjusting your tripod head. Their plates work only on Foba, Arca Swiss and the other clamp type heads. These things work great but the only downside is that they are a little pricey.

and heavy?? any other downside in using L-plate and L-brackets?
basically they all work by flipping the camera when the L plate goes 90 degrees perpendicular, am i rite?

[denniskee]

the "L" bracket from manfrotto and really right stuff will be very rigid. good if the set up is heavy or shutter speed is slow. however, it will require adjustment to have the object in the centre of the focusing screen to remain centre after the flip. also user need to unmount the camera from the tripod head to change its orientation.

the bracket i use on ther other hand, is less rigid. but user just flip the camera, dont need to dismount from the tripod head. dont need to re-adjust since the object will remian in the centre of the view finder after the flip(+/- alittle, not noticable). it can cater to different size of camera (+/- alittle, not noticable).