tgtaylor
2-Jun-2013, 19:03
The water in the bubble level indicating tilt on the front standard of my To yo 810G was dry. So instead of spending the $40+ to replace it with a new level, I decided to switch with the level on the 45C which see little use since I prefer the ROBOS instead.
Yesterday I was out shooting with the 810G and as it is my procedure I level the tripod according to its bubble levels and then level the camera according to its bubble , and then go under the focusing cloth to focus the camera. But when I Gert under the cloth part of the frame is in focus and part slightly out of focus. I then double check the levels and all 4 are centered but the image on the ground glass is still partly unfocused.
After carefully eyeballing the perpendicularity of the front and rear standards (my sudden fear was that I had somehow bent one of the standards) I noticed that the tilt indicating section on the front standard level was upraised slightly from the standard and that there was a small black object underneath. Could it be that I made installed other level over a protruding screw? Was the level itself warped?
I made the necessary mental adjustments at the shoot yesterday and when I that home removed the bubble. It turned out that the object that I thought might be a protruding screw was in fact a small piece of black finish paint that apparently had become dislodged from the 45C and had repositioned itself in the vertical position preventing the level from laying flat on the standard.
I'm glad that it turned out to be a flake of paint instead of a warped level because that saved me ~ $45 in replacement costs. I've also learned in the past to check that all movements are truly in the neutral position before beginning to focus. These cameras are extremely precise and it is easy to inadvertently change the alignment by simply lifting it out of it's case and onto the tripod.
Thomas
Yesterday I was out shooting with the 810G and as it is my procedure I level the tripod according to its bubble levels and then level the camera according to its bubble , and then go under the focusing cloth to focus the camera. But when I Gert under the cloth part of the frame is in focus and part slightly out of focus. I then double check the levels and all 4 are centered but the image on the ground glass is still partly unfocused.
After carefully eyeballing the perpendicularity of the front and rear standards (my sudden fear was that I had somehow bent one of the standards) I noticed that the tilt indicating section on the front standard level was upraised slightly from the standard and that there was a small black object underneath. Could it be that I made installed other level over a protruding screw? Was the level itself warped?
I made the necessary mental adjustments at the shoot yesterday and when I that home removed the bubble. It turned out that the object that I thought might be a protruding screw was in fact a small piece of black finish paint that apparently had become dislodged from the 45C and had repositioned itself in the vertical position preventing the level from laying flat on the standard.
I'm glad that it turned out to be a flake of paint instead of a warped level because that saved me ~ $45 in replacement costs. I've also learned in the past to check that all movements are truly in the neutral position before beginning to focus. These cameras are extremely precise and it is easy to inadvertently change the alignment by simply lifting it out of it's case and onto the tripod.
Thomas