Pano head for Rolleiflex?
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Link to his images please?
I still do not get how to shoot panoramas with 6x6...instead of shooting 3 separate close frames.
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Like Rolleifix for me, you can be lucky finding one in e-bay.
The Rollei panorama head came in two versions - one specifically for TLR (older version) and a "newer" version that allows SLRs to be attached also. They have click-stops for each image frame. Both are set up for frames that overlap 20% (that number is from memory but I think it is correct). Etiher work great for Rollei TLR if the whole rig is carefully leveled.
There are plenty of each on ebay at this moment. Search "Rollei panorama".
There are plenty of each on ebay at this moment. Search "Rollei panorama".
If you will only use on a TLR then the "old style" is often less expensive and holds a TLR quite securely... just like the Rolleifix. If you ever want to use on another camera then the newer style is best. I believe that he old style ensures that the camrea swings on the lens plane. That may not be true for the newer style (and especially when the newer style is used with a non-RolleiTLR camera). I opted for the newer style and have used it with a Hassy and a view camera too.
I'm going to call his bluff. A Rolleiflex TLR does not produce a sharp perfectly straight border like that. In fact, those images have been cropped to eliminate the overlap areas produced by the panoramic head, yet have a faux black border.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/chrispics57/15691379215/
When you overlap them to show the rebate of a single frame, one image will be full size and the others will be smaller. I put my full size image in the middle as you can see in the smallest of these assembled panoramas.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/chrispics57/15691379215/
When you overlap them to show the rebate of a single frame, one image will be full size and the others will be smaller. I put my full size image in the middle as you can see in the smallest of these assembled panoramas.
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he's a craftsman who produced a lovely image using analogue technology and a pair of scissors -- and you make that sound like a bad thing.
Geeze, no pleasing some people.
TheFlyingCamera
Membership Council
There's definitely some post-production work going on there in the making of those prints. I've shot panos with my Rollei TLR and they haven't come out that neat and tidy. This is probably the best one I've done -
That is not true. If so, where do the black borders come from? They are not from the negative rebate.
I have the new style Rollei pan head. It has limitations. The old style and the new style are different in that the old style, which is longer, will off set the Rollei TLR so that the rotation occurs on the axis of the center of the lens. That corrects the pano affect to work like a swing lens type pano camera if you over lap the images by about a quarter inch. The camera has to be level on the tripod to keep the horizon line level. It is a pretty heavy constraint on your ability to compose.
The newer style Rollei Pano head does not offset your camera so it is really no different from just turning your tripod head. To get your camera off set the proper amount you must attach a Rolleiflix on top the pano head and then mount your camera on that. Then the center of your taking lens is again the axis of the swivel.
In either case it is important to level the camera on the tripod if you want a level horizon. It also works best if none of your subject matter is close to the camera.
The newer style Rollei Pano head does not offset your camera so it is really no different from just turning your tripod head. To get your camera off set the proper amount you must attach a Rolleiflix on top the pano head and then mount your camera on that. Then the center of your taking lens is again the axis of the swivel.
In either case it is important to level the camera on the tripod if you want a level horizon. It also works best if none of your subject matter is close to the camera.
Uh-oh, too close!! (scans combined in Photoshop)
Yeah, the pivot point needs to be under the front of the lens. If you look at the older style Rollei pan heads, the pivot appears to be just a bit forward of the front of the main body casting (not the lens shroud). My shot was done with a home-made pan head that lets me put it on the ground (or tabletop) so I could play with some new-to-me Rolleinars-
Attachments
how do I know? I knew one guy who used black tape like they used to use for layout in newspaper backshops.
You could ask him. I still say, he used a camera and film to make a lovely image, that ought to be enough. I may just dig out my own panorama head (rollei, second style) and give it a whirl.
The original panoramic device rotates the lens on the nodal point. I shot some photo using my pano thing but haven't yet processed the film.
Hello, I know this is an old post but I am the individual whose work is being questioned above. My name is Christopher Schwer. Let me please state for the record that all my photographic work unless otherwise stated was scanned from the original silver gelatin prints made by me in my darkroom at Kelton Labs in New York City while I was a partner and principle printer there. I was a professional photographic printer for more than thirty years and I worked with a Rolleiflex TLR camera almost all of that time. My panoramic images were all made with the newer version of the Rollei Panorama Head. This head must be used with the Rolleifix quick release to be properly aligned with the proper rotational point on the camera. My method was to print each image at least 10"x10" and manually trim the overlap that the pan head creates. I also crop either the top or bottom of the frame to keep the images square. This has the desirable effect of raising or lowering the horizon line.
The only reason there is a digitally created black boarder on the images posted online is to approximate the way I mount mat and frame my finished pieces. The image above is from the Trans-Alaska Pipeline heading to the North Slope. The image is mounted to black museum board to show the breaks between images. Once they are mounted they are way too big to scan. Making these images is a long and labor intensive process. For each completed image I make at lease 5-8 prints of each frame. Once the fiber paper prints are dry I match the best prints to each other to get at least three sets of prints that match perfectly in tone and contrast. The final sets of prints are then toned in Selenium and Gold Chloride to get the tone I desire in the finished work. Almost all my images were printed on Kodak Ektalure G surface paper which split toned beautifully. There is no digital trickery here. There is only many years of hard work through trial and error to get the results I wanted. Please direct questions to me at cschwer@me.com. I am always happy to help.
The only reason there is a digitally created black boarder on the images posted online is to approximate the way I mount mat and frame my finished pieces. The image above is from the Trans-Alaska Pipeline heading to the North Slope. The image is mounted to black museum board to show the breaks between images. Once they are mounted they are way too big to scan. Making these images is a long and labor intensive process. For each completed image I make at lease 5-8 prints of each frame. Once the fiber paper prints are dry I match the best prints to each other to get at least three sets of prints that match perfectly in tone and contrast. The final sets of prints are then toned in Selenium and Gold Chloride to get the tone I desire in the finished work. Almost all my images were printed on Kodak Ektalure G surface paper which split toned beautifully. There is no digital trickery here. There is only many years of hard work through trial and error to get the results I wanted. Please direct questions to me at cschwer@me.com. I am always happy to help.
These images are really wonderful. I have always intended to try my pan head with my Rolleinars but have never taken the time to do it. Great job!
Hi Christopher, and welcome to APUG!
Thanks for the detailed explanation of how you produced these. That's quite an undertaking, and as the images show, well worth it.
I hope you become active here, as I think you have a strong knowledge base that will certainly be of benefit to our dying breed!
I had no idea my work was being discussed here. I love working with the Rolleiflex camera and the pan head. I have twenty years worth of these images from my travels.
Great work Mr. Schwer, I have admired your photos and appreciate your detailed explanation of the process.
I especially appreciate the insight about how cropping allows you to move the horizon line -- one of the challenges of rotational panoramic photography for sure!
I especially appreciate the insight about how cropping allows you to move the horizon line -- one of the challenges of rotational panoramic photography for sure!
Thanks so much for your kind words. From the very first roll of film I shot with my very first Rolleiflex camera, the one accessory I craved was the panorama head. I was in my early twenties when I started shooting with a Rolleiflex 2.8F and after buying the camera, which was a real extravagance for me, It took a while to find the money to buy a panorama head. Once I did I never looked back.
The presentation of my work was a response to the realization that no matter what I did to disguise the seams between frames I would never be able to present a panoramic image that was not a sequence of images. I decided use the panorama to expand the square format without leaving the square behind. Please remember almost all of my work was done long before there were readily available computers or stitching programs. Obviously things are quite different today.
The attached image was shot with a Rolleiflex 2.8E camera and the new version of the panorama head. As I recall I did not have the Rolleifix with me. I shot this image close-up without rotating the camera at the correct point. It worked anyway but required more cropping than it may otherwise have needed. I think this also created the round distorted shape of the background. Its more than twenty five years since I shot this image so I am working from distant memory.
Thanks again for your kind words.
Chris
The presentation of my work was a response to the realization that no matter what I did to disguise the seams between frames I would never be able to present a panoramic image that was not a sequence of images. I decided use the panorama to expand the square format without leaving the square behind. Please remember almost all of my work was done long before there were readily available computers or stitching programs. Obviously things are quite different today.
The attached image was shot with a Rolleiflex 2.8E camera and the new version of the panorama head. As I recall I did not have the Rolleifix with me. I shot this image close-up without rotating the camera at the correct point. It worked anyway but required more cropping than it may otherwise have needed. I think this also created the round distorted shape of the background. Its more than twenty five years since I shot this image so I am working from distant memory.
Thanks again for your kind words.
Chris
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Mr. SCHWER THANK YOU FOR THE IN DEPTH EXPLANATION OF YOUR WORK..VERY MUCH APPRECIATED! !
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