360 Precision Mark II (my version)

After being sick and tired of what this head doesn’t have I decided to make a few modifications to suite my style of shooting. Welcome to the Precision Absolute Head Mark II. If you have the head (this is an achievement already as you might not get one after you pay or one that works) you will know the head has no way of adjustment in between -45, 90 and 45 degrees.

So a specially crafted piece of plank works a treat. Then there is the technical placement of the canon filter cap to adjust / refine the composition. In my extensive trial and error I have found the B&W cases for my ND filters also work well.

If you are wishing to point the lens down ward …. wait for it… YES… your piece of plank can be turned vertically. Awesome hey.  Or if you are “without plank” a pro pack of Velvia 50 film also works a treat. For adjustment just remove a roll from inside the box so it collapses a little. Sorry no picture available. If you don’t shoot film, then maybe try your shoe. I have not tested this as yet.

Moving on… now after each rotation of the head to take the next pic the dents are so severe you have to wait for your tripod to stop wobbling or the whole tripod pushes into the sand a little each time, thus hurting your stitch. Solution…. get rid of the dent ring all together and save yourself valuable seconds in between shooting. It’s not like you know which ring is for what as the thing comes with no instructions anyway.

For my Mark III version I am looking at removing / grinding off the lug off that inserts into the back of the 1ds Mark II. This will allow me to then move the camera up or down and I can then put my plank into retirement. Maybe it can keep open a door or something.

Also my head is set up for the 24-70mm lens. If you want to use other lenses on the head you are meant to buy additional arms. In the shots you can see my 70-200mm f2.8 is on and it works perfectly when stitching. My image titled Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb two posts ago was taken with this set up.

These images can be clicked on to view the technical placement of the plank and lens cap in better detail.

For those interested the plank was bought from Bunnings to make my chicken coop. Was about $3.40 from memory. I’d say each plank could make about 6 Mark II adjustment pieces. Or you could even make lengths of different size. Wow ! I just thought of that then, I may have to check my wood scrap heap for more piece.

Oh the world of professional photography is a fun one.

Kulnura, NSW

When on my way to a commercial shoot I spotted this location on the side of the road and once I was done I stopped and took a few sequences of shots and this one was my favorite. This will be a great spot when all the leaves start to come back or in Autumn when they loose them. I will be back for sure.

This would be a great location for a model shoot. Just got to find me a model.

5 image stitch at 24mm.

What a day… Freshwater Beach

Today – Sunday 27th of July 2008 – I was doing a one on one course with a couple and the day started nice and sunny. About 3.30pm this storm started to roll in. In 9 years of shooting landscapes I have never been able to be in a position to see a sight like this unveil before me and it was an amazing sight. We left the beach just in time and boy did it bucket down in rain and hail. This storm made the 6pm news.

This shot is 8 images shot at 24mm and covers about 270 degree view of Freshwater Beach on the Northern Beaches. Crazy stuff. Also shot it on slide.

Soldiers Beach, Central Coast, NSW

On this morning I shot this sequence of shots and then when the sun breached the horizon I walked across rocks to another area to take advantage of the new light. Because it wasnt far I just picked up my tripod (camera, head still attached) and walked. When I walked down a slight slope I failed to see it was covered in slippery slime and I slipped over and came crashing down. My knees took a bounding but my camera was perfect… god it hurt but it would have hurt more to see me camera gear damaged.

Approaching Storm, The Entrance

The icy wind on this day had to be experienced to be believed, the weather changed so quickly from a hot sunny day to overcast and rain in mere moments. This image is stitched in Photoshop CS3 which I am liking over PTGui at the moment. I have been doing a lot of reading and watching online tutorials on Camera RAW and 95% of the post production of the shots that made this image up is done in Camera RAW prior to opening in CS3 and joining.

Word of advice before buying the 360 Precision Head

————————————————————————
BEFORE YOU BUY THIS HEAD I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU READ THIS WHOLE POST AND THE COMMENTS FROM PAST CUSTOMERS AND ALSO FROM THE OWNER OF THE COMPANY.
I WELCOME PEOPLE TO POST THEIR EXPERIENCES BOTH GOOD AND BAD.
————————————————————————

There is a lot of talk among people on which panoramic head to get as stitching is becoming popular. But I wanted to point out a few things on my purchase of the 360 precision absolute head that people might want to take into consideration before forking out a good sum of money.

1. My 360 head was set up for the 24-70mm lens. On receiving my head via FedEx the box contained no receipt of purchase, no instructions nothing other than the head and a bag of screws and washers (spares im assuming, well I hope so anyway). I got two dent rings and one was already fitted in the head. So three dent rings all up. The dent rings are double sided giving me six shooting options, the rings arnt labled at all so you dont know what settings they are for. (Once again I guessing).

2. Prior to buying the head all my email enquiries were answered within 12 hours from Matt at Precision. Since buying the head I emailed them asking about the three rings and any form of instructions on what I got. This was 10 – 14 days ago now and I have sent the same email to their orders email and Matts email address all tagged correctly as per their website instructions to avoid their SPAM filters. I tried emailing via their website’s tech support page but the page fails and you cant send anything. To date no reply from them at all.

3. When you go to the website for help on your precision the only page with details is how to put it together ie two screws the rest of the pages are “Under Construction” and have been like that for a very long time.

4. I joined their forum and was told I’d have my account activated within 24 hours…. still waiting and its been 6 days now. So I guess that wont be happening either.

5. Their is no doubt the head it well made and the information on the site is accurate about its quality and ability and isn’t embellished. Their lack of after sales support and communication has a lot to be desired. The head comes with a 5 year warranty and I’m just glad it looks almost indestructible as a business that doesn’t answer simple, polite emails asking about the head they just paid $1500 for wouldnt honor any warranty.

6. I know the dents on the head and working it out isn’t rocket science but I expected emails to be answered with info on the product that was bought and all my emails to them have been polite and there is no reason at all for them not to reply.

Thats my 2 cents worth on the item without going into any design aspects that need improving for people not wanting to 360 degree virtual tours. I have given up on expecting any form of reply and after a quick google search on the product I wont be expecting any either. I have posted some general info (as comments) that I found… all of it points to a company with no customer service.

First 360 Precision shot – Avoca Beach

Finally my new 360 Precision head arrived by FedEx. This is one serious chunk of metal. After working it out and a quick call to my mate Christian I felt ready to give this thing ago. So here it is my first stitch. I have cropped it in a standard 6 x 17 format. This is a 7 images at 50mm. Stitched in 16 bit with a file size of 587MB @ 300dpi. (17116×4279 pixels) before cropping to 6 x 17. Editing the water is a pain and this shot needs more work as one image threw the water out as it was a full wave curling.

I did upload this as a 6 x 24 but I like the more focused composition of 6 x 17 for this image.

This image is pretty much the field of view with my Linhof 90mm and this shot is a lot sharper than what my tranny would be and is grainless when viewed at actual pixels and I have a file 3 times the size what I would have scanned my tranny too.