| Joined: | Sun Apr 1st, 2012 |
| Location: | South Lakeland, UK |
| Posts: | 4066 |
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I have looked at numerous specialised panoramic heads at astronomical prices. I found several quite adequate heads on You Tube made of wood. The reason the likes of the Manfrotto heads are so expensive is they are made to be adjustable for almost any conceivable lens and camera combination. To make the adjustments rigid that involves precision slides and adjustments which must be fairly rigid. The machining of the precision slides and adjustment mechanisms must be very expensive. I don't intend using a wide range of cameras or lenses for panoramas so I don't need adjustments, except for the 'least parallax error' movement, which is easy enough to create with a simple slot.
I am gathering the materials to make the pano head from aluminium, but plan to make a prototype of wood just for a start to figure out the measurements and any snags I may encounter.
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Robert.