Re: Portable Solution to Make Overhead (90°) Photographs
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Willie
Won't a Ries platform head work?
In this context, what's potentially attractive about Ries tripods is the system for adjusting the legs. Each leg can be adjusted to any angle. Unfortunately, Ries doesn't provide any examples on its site for footprint diameter. Also, there are situations where I want to use a lateral arm unrelated to overhead photography, in particular for close-up/macro photography. A Ries tripod, by itself, doesn't address this. Ries tripods are also fairly expensive. I've already got three tripods, including a Ries J100 with J250 head that's in another country, and a Ries is not something that I'd purchase for limited, shot-specific use.
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Re: Portable Solution to Make Overhead (90°) Photographs
with a full-sized tripod i would just invert the center column. Attachment 229591
Re: Portable Solution to Make Overhead (90°) Photographs
Quote:
Originally Posted by
maltfalc
with a full-sized tripod i would just invert the center column.
Assuming that your tripod has a centre column (mine don't), that would work, at least with a 35mm or medium format camera, for some of the scenarios that this thread is about. In one of the threads about this problem, there's an interesting photograph by @rdenney, shot from the top of a circular stairway, that's a good example of a situation where a downward facing centre column wouldn't work, but a lateral arm probably would. As someone who's never used a centre column, I'm curious to know whether you use yours to make overhead photographs with a large format camera and bellows.
Re: Portable Solution to Make Overhead (90°) Photographs
It's not very long, but the Linhof Outrigger Arm is quite useful in such situations, and can be easily packed into a corner of the backpack.
Kumar
Re: Portable Solution to Make Overhead (90°) Photographs
Quote:
Originally Posted by
B.S.Kumar
It's not very long, but the
Linhof Outrigger Arm is quite useful in such situations, and can be easily packed into a corner of the backpack.
Kumar
@Bob Salomon and @David Goldfarb talk about that component in a 2005 thread: https://www.largeformatphotography.i...sic-or-MT-2000
B&H says this about it in an old catalogue:
Outrigger Arm (003754)
For mounting Technika cameras upside down (lens drop) or close to the ground. Also, for Varioport table columns. Adjusts to 135mm-180mm outrigger distance. Weighs 11 oz (300g). $167.50.
This component would work with any camera, not just a Linhof, and buy some lateral distance; not a lot, but in some cases probably enough.
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Re: Portable Solution to Make Overhead (90°) Photographs
So I took a photo of my ground tripod with the Gitzo lateral arm rig. This is the weight that the tripod and rig were supporting:
The RRS ground tripod weighs 900g (2lb). According to old catalogues, my Gitzo geared centre column (G529) posing as a lateral arm weighs 2.4kg (5.25lb). The G541 bracket holding the centre column in a lateral position is 0.86kg (1.9lb).
Attachment 229610
No counterweight required, and the tripod legs are at their steepest incline. The rig could not be more rigid. The distance from the camera lens to the "ground" is perfect for photographing the 21mmx51mm (0.8"x2") microcontroller that I talk about in post #9, although obviously I can get more height by using, for example, apple boxes.
And it's pretty portable.
Next step is to try out the rig with a full size tripod and a 4x5 camera (which may require some counterweight), but I don't think that I'll be able to do that until this coming week.
I have some general observations about the rig that I'll post later today.
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Re: Portable Solution to Make Overhead (90°) Photographs
Some comments on the photo above...
The photograph shows that it's possible to balance the Gitzo lateral arm (which is what it is), without adding a counterweight, for common tripod head/camera/lens combinations. For the setup in the photo, I have the arm longer on the right-hand side, and I suspect that the weight of the gearbox (which I estimate at a bit less than 900g/2lb) is assisting a little, even though it's fairly close to the pivot.
Now that I know how the rig works, I think that setting it up will take a couple of minutes. It's quite straightforward. A note on placement for a given camera setup, plus a tape measure (or taped marks on the column), will be helpful.
I gather that some people who do macrophotography like the geared models because they help with getting rough focus. I don't doubt that, but I think that the geared models also make setup faster. The geared incremental movement was very helpful when I was finding the balance point, which may have been more elusive, and possibly frustrating, had I been using the "Rapid" model that slides. I'm fairly satisfied that the geared models offer substantive benefits and are a time saver.
I've attached a screen capture below that compares three of Gitzo's four centre columns for Series 5 tripods. I haven't included Gitzo's "telescoping" centre column because I'm skeptical about whether it's useful as a lateral arm. In the screen capture, I think that the key info to focus on is travel distance and overall length. If the role of these factors isn't clear, the photos in post #12 may help. I'm still not entirely clear, in concrete terms, on what I'd be giving up if I used the shorter centre column.
Two things to note... Gitzo's current "long" geared centre column is a few inches longer than the older G529 version that I have. The travel and overall length of my G529 are in post #12. Interesting that my centre column, despite being a few inches shorter, apparently weighs 450g (1lb) more than its current successor. Secondly, Gitzo does make dedicated lateral arms. I haven't researched them and don't know enough about them to make a comparison.
This coming week, I'll post some photos of the Gitzo rig set up with my Gitzo Series 3 tripod and Arca-Swiss 4x5. If I can easily balance the Gitzo rig on a ground tripod, with the legs at their steepest angle and with a very small tripod footprint, I'm not going to have any trouble balancing the rig on a full-size Series 3 tripod. That said, I anticipate that I'll need to use some counterweight with the 4x5. This might be an excuse to try out a couple of the Matthews or Kupo weight bags shown in post #10 :)
Comparison of Gitzo Series 5
Centre Columns
Attachment 229611
Re: Portable Solution to Make Overhead (90°) Photographs
Just a heads up
Your photos are way too low rez
And the photo text is unreadable on my new iPad
Re: Portable Solution to Make Overhead (90°) Photographs
Quote:
Originally Posted by
r.e.
You're talking to the wrong guy. The photos get the resolution that the forum allows :)
I'm surprised that you're having trouble with the text. I bumped it to 18pts precisely because I was concerned about readability, and it reads OK on my desktop monitor.
You are doing something incorrect
I will prove it tomorrow
73
1 Attachment(s)
Re: Portable Solution to Make Overhead (90°) Photographs
Picture is posted direct from my hard drive click for larger
This needs an update as they recently upped image count as I tested yesterday
Attachment 229632
"Method 1. Uploading and Storing the Picture on the Forum.
a. Create and store the picture as a "JPG" or "JPEG" file on your computer, to be no larger than 250K. The forum will resize the longer dimension of your picture 750 pixels if it is larger, so if you size it that way to begin with, you won't suffer resizing errors that the forum software sometimes causes. BMP, GIF, and PNG files are also accepted, but limited to 150K and must fit within a 650-pixel box to avoid resizing. JPEG is preferred.
b. Then, when creating a post, click the picture icon on the icon bar right above the text entry box, which will read "Insert Image" when you mouse over it. That will bring up a Insert Image dialog box that will have two tabs. Click the tab that says "From Computer". Then, click the "Select Files" button at the bottom of that dialog box. That will bring up your operating system's typical file selection dialog. Navigate to the image file you created in Step A above. Click "Open". That will add the file to the file list in the Insert Image dialog box.
c. You may click "Select Files" again to select another image. You may upload as many as four images in any one post.
d. When you have finished selecting images, then click "Upload File(s)". You may also "Clear List" and start over.
e. Add whatever additional text you want to your message, and click "Submit".
The images will be stored on the Large Format Photography Forum server. A thumbnail that fits in a 150-pixel box will be displayed in an image attachments box, and forum readers can click on the thumbnail to open a picture viewer window.
Method 2. Store the Picture on Your Own Site or Server.
If you have server space or your own website, and your picture can be reached from the general internet, then you won't be subject to as many restrictions as when storing the picture on the forum.
a. Create and store the picture as a "JPG" or "JPEG" file. There are no size limitations, but please respect others, and size pictures not to exceed normal viewing screens. And by more normal viewing screens, we don't mean your 1920x1280 wide-screen, but rather my 1280x900 laptop display. Fitting within an 800-pixel box is a useful maximum size.
b. Following the instructions provided by your web hosting service for your site or server space, upload the picture there. It must be stored in a place that allows a direct link to the actual jpg file, which should look like: "http://YourServerURL/YourPictureFile.jpg" For example, a URL to a picture on the site of one of the moderators looks like this "http://www.rickdenney.com/Island/stairs_lores_bw.jpg".
c. Then, when creating a post, click the picture icon on the icon bar right above the text entry box, which will read "Insert Image" when you mouse over it. That will bring up a Insert Image dialog box that will have two tabs. Click the tab that says "From URL". That will provide a single line entry box for a URL. Enter the entire URL, from "http://..." to "...jpg", as shown in Step B, inside that box.
d. UNCHECK the box that says "Retrieve Remote File and Reference Locally". If that box is checked, it will move the picture file to the Large Format Photogaphy Forum server, subject to all the restrictions in Method 1. (For more advanced posters, it is possible to use this method, with the box checked, to include attachments inline in the text of your message, and still store the picture on the forum servers. But they will still be shown as thumbnails.)
e. Click "Okay".
Alternate Steps:
a. Insert image tags directly by adding the following text to your messages:
http://YourServerURL/YourPictureFile.jpg
Putting the complete URL to the picture inside IMG tags will cause that image to display within your message. This approach works no matter where the image is stored, including on third-party image hosting sites, though you must follow their instructions to determine what the image tag contents should be."