Monopod Adapation

[jwesq]

This is for those of you interested in Reportage.

I use a Sunex fisheye which is very fast to use. As it has a fixed aperture, all I have to worry about is ASA and shutter speed and because it's fixed focus, I know that everything between about 14 inches and infinity is going to be sharp.

The slowest part of a shot has always been setting up the tripod - the legs get in the way for close ups and you can't get low viewpoints easily.

Therefore, I've adapted a monopod which doubles up as a walking stick. It's height is ealily set from about 15 inches to 5 foot 6 inches.

I've attached an old Panosaurus camera plate to the top of the monopod with a Manfrotto quick release plate to hold the camera. This has let me move the camera back, so the lens itself is only about an inch off the vertical.

I use a two way spirit level on the hotshoe to get the levels right and have taped a 'Walkers' compass to the rear end of the plate so it's simple to get 90 degree rotation segments.

With a little practice, you can set up and take the panorama within 30 seconds.

This panorama from a cleft in the rocks would have been impossible to take any other way.

www.j-a-willetts-esq.com/cleft.html

I haven't done any post processing on the zenith or nadir. If you look closely at the nadir, you will see a small grey square - the footprint of the monopod.

John

[sandy]

I have been using a monopod quite a bit with my Canon 1Ds and Sigma 8mm 3.5 fisheye. Using a little math I found that if my monopod is extended to put the middle of the lens about 50 inches off the ground and if I tilt it back 4 degrees it puts the nodal point of the lens right over the foot of the monopod as I rotate around it. Sweet. I screw the camera directly on the monopod but put a shim (a popsicle stick thickness) under the back side of the bottom of the camera which causes the camera to tilt down 4 degrees. Then I put a two axis level in the flash bracket and tilt back the monopod until the camera shows level. This forces the monopod to tilt 4 degrees and now the nodal point of the lens is right over the foot of the monopod. Pow, pow, pow, pow -- four frames taken (no nadir or zenith needed to get a full 360x180 pano) and I'm done. No hole in the zenith, and the hole in the nadir is only about an inch in diameter (the diameter of the foot of my monopod) and can be filled easily in Photoshop in seconds.

I had not thought of using a compass to make the 90 degree rotation points precise -- what a great idea! I had been eyeballing the rotation points up until now.