Posted by PTravel on 07/05/06 18:57

"Toby" <zdftokyo@gool.com> wrote in message
news:44ab7770$0$60361$bb4e3ad8@newscene.com...
> >
> You do definitely need a level. It's very difficult to eyeball it through
> a viewfinder or on that small screen. If you have a tripod head that can
> be leveled then I would suggest getting a small circular bull's-eye level
> and finding a place to mount it on the head. If not, it sounds like you
> will have to mount it on the camera shoe. In that case, as I mentioned,
> you don't want a circular level, you want a tube level, since you only
> want to true the horizon, not the tilt. Check this out:
>
> http://www.adorama.com/TPBLS.html
>
> You probably couldn't make one for much less than that.

Fantastic, thanks! I just ordered one.


>
> One thing to keep in mind is that if you level the camera instead of the
> head, you are not necessarily going to get level pans (in fact if would be
> a huge surprise if you did). Leveling the camera will work for pans only
> if the camera is exactly parallel to the plane of rotation of the head.

Good point. I'll still look around for a stick-on level for the head (or,
perhaps, I'll just through a small one in my backpack and level the sticks
before I put the camera on.

>
> I'm not familiar with your tripod and head, but if it has a ball and cup
> arrangement for leveling with only pan and tilt axes, then it would work,
> since the horizontal relationship between camera and head is invariant,
> but if you have the normal kind of photo head with three axes, where the
> head is on an elevator and the angle in relation to the legs is fixed,
> then it won't work.

It's a Bogen 3160 fluid head, which only has two axes, on a set of Manfrotto
3444D carbon sticks. I'll have to manage leveling by moving the legs
around.

> Obviously you can set up fixed shots by checking the level, but as you
> turn the camera that changes unless by chance your tripod is exactly
> level. But I notice that for the stuff that you shoot you aren't doing
> many pans, so a little level like the one I mentioned would do you a world
> of good. I guarantee you that after a little while, when you can just
> level the camera and frame the shot without having to try to eyeball it,
> you will wonder how you ever lived without it.

For my none "At Night" videos, I shoot almost entirely hand-held. I've
finally worked out a technique that gets me sufficiently non-shakey shots,
as well as reasonably level ones, but it took me, literally, years. I can't
wait to try that level, though -- thanks for the suggestion.


>
> Toby
>

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