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VR Camera Setup What you see attached to our tripod is the Kaidan Quick Tilt Leveler and the universal bracket which has recently been replaced and changed to QuickPan III. The tiny yellow dot you see on the tripod is another level which lets you know when your tripod is completely vertical. 
If you look at this next view of the camera setup, you'll see a bright green set of levels on the mounting bracket. These allow you to adjust the vertical and horizontal position of the bracket. You have to be level at all times if your pictures are going to stitch together without any fuss. For me, the parts and pieces were worth the expenditure because of the number of vr's we intend to produce over time and the fact that I don't like to spend my time on picky little adjustments. The Kaidan set comes with detent disks which are like little bumps in your 360 degree circle. You can quickly feel when you have moved to the next position to take the picture. There are different detent disks that come with the setup depending on the camera you're using. You use the one for the number of pictures you're going to take to complete the circle. In our case, we use 18 pictures with our Fuji camera to complete the circle. 
The circular thing in the middle with the little wheels is the Quick Tilt Leveler. 
The Kaidan equipment is not inexpensive. In fact, unless you make it yourself, none of this stuff is inexpensive. So, how does a teacher manage? Well, there's always a grant or there's a trip to your local hardware store. When we did our first few vr's, we didn't have the Kaidan equipment. We understood the principle that everything had to be as close to level in all directions as possible on every shot. So, off we went to the hardware store and got a couple of very small levels - about $1.49 each - and placed those on our camera checking the setup for each shot. It isn't as fast as the Kaidan, but it is certainly within the budget range of anyone reading this page. Check out some of the links I've provided and you'll run into some plans to build your own balance for the tripod. |