[Ari]

I am going to be picking up some work for a 360 vr tour company and I need a pano head. Not sure about camera weight rating. I am looking at these:
Nodal Ninja Panoramic Tripod Heads, QTVR Pano Heads, Rotators, Levelers, Amateur and Professional Photographic accessories
Anyone out there have experience with these types of heads? Any suggestions? Any cost effective suggestions? These gigs don't pay a ton of money (but I am hoping to get a lot of them). Would like to be able to recoup costs whithin a reasonable amount of time.....
Thanks!

[Russell-Evans]

The easy way, Gigapan Epic 100, $449.00. No experience with it, just know it exists.



Thank you
Russell

[Ari]

Thanks, but I'm not going to have to do any pp so that may do too much for my needs - just uploading the pics to the client. I am looking at these two, but can't figure out if the difference is worth the price:
Manfrotto by Bogen Imaging | 303PLUS QTVR Geared | 303PLUS | B&H

Manfrotto by Bogen Imaging | 303 QTVR Panoramic Head Kit - | 303

Any input from anyone?

[D W]

Thanks, but I'm not going to have to do any pp so that may do too much for my needs - just uploading the pics to the client. I am looking at these two, but can't figure out if the difference is worth the price:
Manfrotto by Bogen Imaging | 303PLUS QTVR Geared | 303PLUS | B&H

Manfrotto by Bogen Imaging | 303 QTVR Panoramic Head Kit - | 303

Any input from anyone?

I used the geared one. It will take K7 plus 12-24 no problem.

The gear is used to calibrate and adjust the camera position with different lenses and different nodal points. The no geared version work by sliding back and forth.

[atupdate]

If you don't need to shoot 360 vertically, I would think a geared head like the Manfrotto 410 would work. It has 360 markings for landscape and a bubble level.



I have one for sale along with a very sturdy tripod for $200 in the marketplace. Dorn't worry about the sale pending on the head, as I have an extra one.

Marketplace link: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/photographic-equipment-sale/78482-sale-ma...ared-head.html

Tim

[Wheatfield]

manfrotto has a specialized pano head that seems to work well and is relatively inexpensive.
You only really need to worry about nodal point adjustment if there is stuff really close to the camera. The Arca style plates that are used by most manufacturers nowadays (Manfrotto is a notable exception) will allow a lot of for/aft movement of the camera, especially if you buy a longer plate.
Generally this is all that is required for panos, the specialty heads are nice, but are also a solution to a somewhat non existent problem.

[Ari]

All:
Thank you for your very good advice! I have decided to go with the Manfrotto geared head - I want to get these jobs done as quickly as possible (there are a lot to do) and I think the geared head will help speed everything up. While I loathe spending this kind of money on essentially a unitasker, such is the wonderfully expensive world of photography

[panoguy]

All: Thank you for your very good advice! I have decided to go with the Manfrotto geared head - I want to get these jobs done as quickly as possible (there are a lot to do) and I think the geared head will help speed everything up.

Might be a bit late to help you out, it seems, but if anyone else looks up this thread...

Just get the Nodal Ninja 3.

It's better built, smaller, lighter, just as flexible (you "set it and forget it" - gears? WTF for?) and most importantly for you... it is far less expensive for getting into 360 panos.

Spend your money on a good tripod or the 10-17mm fisheye, if you haven't already got one.

That said, I've also owned and used the Manfrotto 303SPH, a 360 Precision (hella $), Agnos Mrotator, a home-built head, as well as a goofy-cool Novoflex panohead that I borrowed from a friend (also hella $) and some stuff cobbled from macro-rails and large-format camera gear.

Why so many panoheads? After 9 years of doing 360 panos, you get like this.

My current setup is a Nodal Ninja 5 (the larger one for cameras with grips) and their RD-16 rotator. That rotator is pretty much a clone of the Manfrotto 300 rotator base, but it feels more "positive." I also have the Nodal Ninja 3 as a "backup" if I take the battery grip off my K20D, or want to loan it out to someone else. Nodal Ninjas are very precisely machined from aluminum, and can take a lot of abuse and weight.

But why not the trusted and respected brand of Manfrotto? Simple: the 303SPH is not a purpose-built device, rather a collection of mounting plates and macro rails with a rather sloppy rotator on the bottom.

The Manfrotto also weighs an f-ing ton, and barely collapses to the size of a workman's lunchbox (which could hold 3 Nodal Ninja 3's). Heck, almost all of the other panoheads I've used easily trump the Manfrotto, with the exception of my wooden home-built head... but that's because I suck at woodworking.

Finally, if you intend on doing a lot of these 360s, or even just a few, the "gearing" won't help you for anything but the initial setup of finding the "no parallax/ nodal point." Once you've found it (with any head) you tighten the screws and never move that rail again... (well, unless you have lots of different lenses to use, which isn't for 360s, but high-res "mosaics" and even then most folks have a preferred tele for that!)

Oh yeah, the Nodal Ninja also includes "rail stops" which allow you to disassemble the whole head and never lose that "point" when you put it together again and mount your camera.

But then again, don't take my word for it alone... read this guy's take on both (from a few years ago):

Rosauro Photography - 303SPH VR Head Review, Panoramas, Toronto Virtual Tour

Rosauro Photography - NN3 VR Head Review, Panoramas, Toronto Virtual Tour, 360&deg Panoramic Views

Finally, the same guy has a good overview of the process (for a Nikon guy...):

Rosauro Photography - Intro To Panoramas, 360&deg Panoramic Views, VR Head Reviews