easy free/cheap pano head

I made a panorama head this weekend in about an hour. I didn't need any
measurements. I made an L bracket by screwing two pieces of scrap
together. Then I cut a slot with a router to accept the baseplate of my
camera.

The only thing that matters is to make the L a perfect right angle, and
then to put the hole for the tripod threads perfectly in line with the
middle of the lens.

I made the two pieces of wood, and I made a slot in the vertical piece
that is horizontal to the base. This slot allows the camera to move
forwards and backwards over the nodal point of the lens. Then I screwed
the two pieces together. There are more secure ways to attach two pieces
of wood, but if the camera is hit that hard, I don't know that it makes
a difference (;-0) Finally, I mounted the camera to the bracket, and used
a square to mark exactly where the center of the lens is, in regard to
the base plate. I made a hole in a random location, and mounted the t-
nut. Because the slot in the vertical plate allows the camera to move
back and forth, I was able to determine where to mount the camera to make
it rotate through the nodal point.

Photos:

The completed bracket. The camera would be held in place with a bolt
through a washer. The bolt is screwed through the tripod T-nut for safe
keeping:

http://www.2fiddles.com/photos/bracket.jpg

The bracket mounted to the tripod, with the camera attached. It's a
reflection off a window, so it's not very high quality:

http://www.2fiddles.com/photos/camera.jpg

I used a T-nut to attach the bracket to the tripod. I cut out the bottom
of the bracket to accomodate the tnut:

http://www.2fiddles.com/photos/Tnut.jpg

Here is a 15 frame panorama (reduced to 41k):
http://www.2fiddles.com/photos/panorama.jpg

It was a lot easier to make this bracket than I expected, and it works
great. The slot in the vertical piece allows me to move the camera
forwards to accomodate the motion of the nodal point when the lens zooms.
I think I might even be able to mount my .68 (wc-e68) adapter, but that
was not a primary consideration when building it.

Bob

--
Delete the inverse SPAM to reply

All a pano head does is locate the camera at a specific point in relation to
the pivot point of the tripod.

Some places charge a lot of money for such a simple item.

Some people do as the OP has done,look at what it does and knock one up
themselves.

More power to the OP's skills,it's what makes these newgroups interesting.

All a pano head does is locate the camera at a specific point in relation to
the pivot point of the tripod.

Some places charge a lot of money for such a simple item.

Some people do as the OP has done,look at what it does and knock one up
themselves.

More power to the OP's skills,it's what makes these newgroups interesting.