Is a pan head a necessity?

Kekhotep · Jan 24, 2012

The Book, Architectural Photography (a Sinar publication) recommends buying a tripod with a pan-tilt head. I really like the Ries tripods, problem is, none of them pan.

How important is the pan feature of a tripod head in large format photography, of which I am a neophyte.

Kekhotep · Jan 24, 2012

Oops, thank you.

jp498 · Jan 24, 2012

I use a tripod with no head for 8x10. A tiltall gives me pan-tilt for 4x5 and smaller. It depends on what sort of photography you are going to be doing.

Poisson Du Jour · Jan 24, 2012

Either move the tripod to fundamentally change the viewpoint, or tap the pan head control to adjust viewpoint. My goodness, I cannot imagine life without a pan function. Photographers will have their own preferences though.

Bruce Osgood · Jan 24, 2012

Tripod tilt is very important in Architectural photography. Tilt coupled with the camera standards' tilt will give you a symmetrical image. In landscape photography it is less important unless you are photographing a mountain near by and want to reach the top and the cameras rise won't do it.

Panning is more convenient than necessary -- you can move the camera -- but may introduce a need for film plane swing, nothing wrong with that.

Sinar makes a tripod head that tilts but does not pan. It is very expensive, IMO. There are many heads available but be careful in selecting one that will support the weight of the camera in it's tilting.

Just my 2 cents

Bill Burk · Jan 24, 2012

Looks like the Ries tripods have a locknut that comes up from the bottom. In that case, you'd have no trouble loosening the nut, twisting the camera and tightening again.

L Gebhardt · Jan 24, 2012

I use a ball head for my 4x5 field camera, and find it works just fine. I do not find I need a pan head for normal photography. If I had an 8x10 I think I would need to look at a different tripod and head. What type of camera are you using?

BenZucker · Jan 24, 2012

Bruce Osgood said:
Sinar makes a tripod head that tilts but does not pan. It is very expensive, IMO. There are many heads available but be careful in selecting one that will support the weight of the camera in it's tilting.

Unless they make an other head, The one you are thinking of pans and tilts(2 axises of movement, the third is achieved between the rail and railclamp), and if you are using a sinar view camera makes for very quick adjustments and a rigid connection between the rail clamp and tripod

Vaughn · Jan 25, 2012

The Ries heads pan very easily. One just has to be careful not to pan the head right off the pod...which is difficult to do unless one starts panning around and around.

The heads come with a white piece of plastic material that goes between the pod and the head to allow for smooth panning.

Vaughn

Ian Grant · Jan 25, 2012

My three main tripods have pan/tilt heads. My Manfrotto in Turkey has a two way head and seperate pan lock which I prefer less to the 2 tripods I use in the UK which have a pan & tilt fucntion controlled by the handle, you do need to level the tripod first but I find them much quicker to use.

I also use a lighter tripod that fits inside my small backpack for 5x4 work with a ball head and that's the slowest and least convient to use.

Ian

Bruce Osgood · Jan 25, 2012

BenZucker said:
Unless they make an other head, The one you are thinking of pans and tilts(2 axises of movement, the third is achieved between the rail and railclamp), and if you are using a sinar view camera makes for very quick adjustments and a rigid connection between the rail clamp and tripod

Thank you Ben, I stand corrected.

Jim Jones · Jan 26, 2012

Like JP498 I prefer the independent three axis head on a Tiltall tripod for precise positioning a 4x5. If the original Tiltall was good enough for Ansel Adams, it is certainly overkill for me.

EASmithV · Jan 26, 2012

I prefer geared heads myself. I find that a Manfrotto 410 is great for my 4x5 Graflex cameras and can even handle my ridiculously awkward 8x10 camera.

Jeff Kubach · Jan 26, 2012

I have a pan head along with the other 2 axises, it is nice to have, but only use once in a while.

Jeff

Kekhotep · Jan 26, 2012

Really Vaughn, according to e-mail from Ries their pans don't pan. And, what is the "pod?"

Kekhotep · Jan 26, 2012

L Gebhardt said:
I use a ball head for my 4x5 field camera, and find it works just fine. I do not find I need a pan head for normal photography. If I had an 8x10 I think I would need to look at a different tripod and head. What type of camera are you using?

Sinar f1

Kekhotep · Jan 26, 2012

EASmithV said:
I prefer geared heads myself. I find that a Manfrotto 410 is great for my 4x5 Graflex cameras and can even handle my ridiculously awkward 8x10 camera.

Thank you, I will research that head.

Vaughn · Jan 26, 2012

Kekhotep said:
Really Vaughn, according to e-mail from Ries their pans don't pan. And, what is the "pod?"

Pod = Tripod = leg set

That is correct -- the head itself does not pan, but by loosening the knob that attaches the head to the tripod, one can easily (and smoothly) rotate (as in pan) the entire head. The knob is easy to access and to loosen/tighten. It behaves exactly like a pan movement on any other head. I have been using a Reis A100 leg-set (tripod) and a Reis A250 head for almost 10 years, using this panning technique just about every time I set up the camera.

Would you like photos of the set up? I could take some quick snaps and post them here.

Vaughn

DREW WILEY · Jan 26, 2012

I don't use any kind of tripod head, and just attach the 8x10 right onto the
Ries platform. With a bit of practice one can learn how to quickly adjust
the position of the legs and then do it almost instinctively. You end up with
a far more stable camera position and less weight. I only use tripod heads
with small format or certain studio applications. In the field it's never an
issue, and I do use view cameras in all kinds of rugged terrain. Surveyors
learned to do this long ago, and it was their custom for many decades
prior to all the fancy self-leveling equipment they use today.

Vaughn · Jan 27, 2012

I seem to often use more tilt of the head (up or down) than can be easily done by adjusting the legs. Through habit, I like having the top of the tripod level. Hearing about where you have taken an 8x10, Drew, I think you deal with as much un-even ground as I do...but the camera just feels so much more stable by keeping the pod level. The camera's center of gravity stays centered.

And usually I need the extra height the head gives me. At 6'3", even the good height of a Reis A100 is not enough when photographing on sloped ground. It pains my back to be bent over or have to stand with knees bent for any length of time -- and I like spending a lot time under the darkcloth.

Another factor when photographing in the redwoods, I tend to push the legs many inches into the duff, trying to get to solid ground. Repositioning the legs to change the angle of the camera is not convienent if changing the leg length will not do the job.

But if I ever photograph in the flats, I should give headless photography a try. I am just so use to being able to change the view by a degree of two in any direction, and this includes panning with the A250 head, that moving, or changing the length of, the legs seems awkward. Reis legs do not easily change length -- especially with a Zone VI 8x10 and a Fuji W 300/5.6 sitting on top of it...especially when trying to fine tune the image on the GG at the same time.

Vaughn

DREW WILEY · Jan 27, 2012

Well Vaughn, you know that we old mtn goats tend to take a little different
perspective on the world. But I just noticed that he was using a Sinar.
All I ever needed was the ordinary Sinar rail clamp. Used it that way in
the mtns for maybe thirty years. But now I've replaced even that with a
simple bolt down attchment directly to the Ries, at least for very long lens
work. Makes it even more stable. You know... that damn wind on the ridges around here all the time. For airline travel last time I toted a 6X7
I just put a little stainless machined L-bracket in the kit for vertical compositions, and no tripod head at all. But since this next trip to Maui is
really the wife's vacation, speed of composition is a bit of a priority. Think
I'll take the 4X5 and shoot a maximum of 6 or so shots, and even then I'll
pay dearly by having to spend an afternoon in a mall to make up for it.

Vaughn · Jan 27, 2012

You have a wife that puts up with you?! Good on her!

Hauling a 4x5 to Maui for 6 images...sound about my speed. Next trip into the Yolla Bollys I think I'll leave the Rolleiflex behind and just take the Gowland 4x5. Can't afford carbon fiber, but the old Gitzo Reporter and a small ballhead should not break my back. I usually take too much food -- that's the trouble with packing mules for so long...one gets bad habits. Between the weight of the Rollei and cutting food weight down by a third, the pack should weigh about the same.

Pack maybe 6 holders (no changing bag and no other film) and make one or two images a day for the week. Make each one count! A reason to look forward to June!

Vaughn

Is a pan head a necessity?

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Is a pan head a necessity?

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