Kaidan KiWi+, KiWi-L User Manual

KiWi™-L / Kiwi™+
User’s Guide

Photographic VR
P anor amic Tripod Head

Designed f or the prof es sio nal,
priced for the novice...

Copyright Information

Copyright © 2001 Kaidan Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. First Edition,
March 2001. Products mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective
companies. Patents Pending.

Information in this manual is subject to change without notice and does not
represent a commitment on the part of Kaidan. No part of this manual may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechani­cal, including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval sys­tems, or translated to another language, for any purpose other than the licensee’s
personal use and as specifically allowed in the licensing agreement, without the
express written permission of Kaidan.

Kaidan Warranty and Return Policy

A • Limited Warranty

In the event of a defect in materials or workmanship, Kaidan will repair the
product with new or rebuilt parts for a period of three-hundred and sixty five
(365) days from the date of original purchase. Such work will be performed free
of charge. Follow the Product Return Procedure (Section D following).

Likewise, any software purchased from Kaidan also comes with a one year
warranty if your disc or media is defective or damaged. This warranty is ex­tended only to the original purchaser and is not transferable. A purchase receipt
or other proof of original purchase will be required before warranty performance
is rendered.

This warranty only covers failures due to defects in materials or workman­ship which occur during normal use. It does not cover damages or failures which
are caused from accident, misuse, abuse, neglect, mishandling, misapplication,
alteration, faulty installation, modification, service by anyone other than an au­thorized representative of Kaidan, Acts of God, or by products not supplied by
Kaidan.

This warranty covers any damage incurred during original shipment of prod­uct to customer. Any item resold, or distributed by, and not explicitly manufac­tured by Kaidan will be covered by their respective company’s product warranty.

B • Warranty Exclusions

There are no express warranties except as listed above.

Kaidan shall not be liable for special, incidental, consequential or punitive
damages, including, without limitation, loss of goodwill, profits or revenue, loss
of the use of this product or any associated equipment, cost of substitute equip­ment, downtime costs, or claims of any party dealing with buyer for such
damages,resulting from use of this product or arising from breach of warranty
or contract, negligance, or any other legal theory .

All express and implied warranties, including the warranties of merchant­ability and fitness for a particular purpose, are limited to the applicable war­ranty period set forth above. Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation
of consequential damages, or limitations on how long an implied warranty lasts,
so the above exclusions or limitations may not apply to you.

This warranty and any claims which arise with the Kaidan product(s) are
governed by the laws of the state of Pennsylvania. By purchasing this product,
customer acknowledges and agrees to these Limits and Exclusions. If a problem
with your Kaidan product develops during the warranty period, immediately
contact Kaidan for assistance.

C • Product Return Policy

All Kaidan products come with a 30-day return policy (a minimum 10 percent
re-stocking fees will apply) from date of purchase, with the exception of software
or videotapes.

Both of the aforementioned items are copyrighted and subject to the laws
concerning intellectual property. Kaidan will replace defective software/video­tapes free of charge upon return receipt of defective item(s). Products returned
under this policy, excluding replacement of defective items, must be shipped at
purchaser’s expense. Purchaser must ship product with an approved traceable
service, such as FedEx, and with appropriate levels of shipping insurance for the
item being returned. Kaidan will not be held responsible for returned items lost
or damaged in transit.

Kaidan will issue a refund to customer’s account if the following condi­tions are satisfied:

1) Receipt of item(s) in a restockable condition.

Criteria for Restockable Condition is as follows:

• All parts are included in box; hardware, manuals, discs, nuts/bolts, tools.

• No signs of damage; scratches, bent parts, missing pieces, markings, alter-

ations, or additions to the product.

• All packaging materials are intact; foam, peanuts, cardboard, bubble bags.

• No signs of excess usage or wear to the product.

Items of Non-restockable condition are subject to the following:

• Restocking Fees - a minimum of 10 percent and possible additional fees
based on the condition of the product (how the product best meets the criteria
above), at Kaidan’s discretion.

Non-Restockable Condition - constitutes the following:

• Missing parts; hardware, manuals, discs, nuts/bolts, tools, and packaging
materials; foam, peanuts, cardboard, bubble bags.

• Signs of damage; scratches, bent parts, missing pieces, markings, alter­ations, additions to the product.

• Signs of excess usage or wear to the product.

• Damage or loss incurred during uninsured shipping to Kaidan. In this case,

Kaidan cannot issue any type of refund. Customer will be responsible to sub­mit claim with their shipping company.

• If damages occur in shipping, customer must submit claim with shipping
company prior to any action by Kaidan.

Items Part of Special Bundle

If item(s) are part of a special bundle offer, return of part of the bundle will
void any special pricing and the item(s) remaining in the possession of the cus­tomer will revert to their regular Suggested Retail Price (SRP). The credit, to
customer, will reflect the difference of the actual product SRP from the amount
of credit due customer.

Shipping Costs

All shipping costs, VAT, duties and return costs are sole responsibility of cus­tomer. If customer purchases thru Kaidan distributor or reseller, customer is
responsible for all shipping and VAT costs incurred by that distributor or reseller.
These charges are non-refundable.

For instructions on the return of your product, follow the Product Return
Procedure below

D • Product Return Procedure

When returning a product, customer must first contact Kaidan (or the dis­tributor/reseller) and obtain a Return Material Authorization Number (RMA#).
After receiving the RMA#, customer will be instructed to return product directly
to Kaidan. Returned goods must be shipped with an approved traceable service,
such as FedEx, and with appropriate levels of shipping insurance for the item
being returned. Kaidan will not be held responsible for returned items lost or
damaged in transit. RMA numbers are valid for 15 days, and the product(s)
must be received by Kaidan before the RMA expires. We are unable to accept for
return any product(s) received after the expiration of the RMA.

Return Packaging

The product packaging must reflect customer name, address, RMA# as well as
Kaidan information:

Kaidan Incorporated
703 East Pennsylvania Blvd • Feasterville, PA 19053 • U.S.A.

Attention: Return Department per RMA# ______

Contact Information: Voice: 215-364-1778 • Fax: [phone]
http://www.kaidan.com • E-mail: [e-mail]

Assembling the KiWi™

1

UNPACKING THE BOX

The KiWi-L or the Kiwi + are shipped in a single box and con­sists of two major components. The components are detailed
below. NOTE: Only the Kiwi+ is shipped with four detent discs
(12,14,18, and 20 positions). Please make sure that all parts
are included. Examine the parts for any signs of shipping dam­age. In the event of shipping damage, immediately contact
Kaidan to process claims.
If any items are missing or you notice any damage, call Kaidan
at 215-364-1778, between the hours of 10:00 am and 6:00 PM,
Mon-Fri, EST.

Vertical Bracket

Fore-aft Indicator

Camera Adj. Shoe Knob

Captive Camera Knob

Twin-Axis Bubble Level

Locking Knob

Friction Cap

Twin-Axis Bubble Level

Side-to-Side Indicator

Horizontal Bracket

Kiwi +

Vertical Bracket

Fore-aft Indicator

Camera Adj. Shoe Knob

Captive Camera Knob

Side-to-Side Indicator

Horizontal Bracket

Kiwi-L

Page - 3

Assembling the KiWi ™

ATTACHING THE VERTICAL BRACKET

To assemble the KiWi, simply slide the Vertical Bracket onto the
Horizontal Bracket in the orientation shown in the various im­ages in this manual. Note: The bottom of the Vertical Bracket
has a clamping mechanism with a spring-loaded nylon ball which
keeps tension on the horizontal bracket while sliding the vertical
bracket back and forth. Before installing the Vertical Bracket
onto the Horizontal Bracket, make sure the Purple Clamping
Knob is turned all the way out in a counterclockwise direction,
which will release the clamping mechanism inside the bottom of
the Vertical Bracket. When attaching the Vertical Bracket to
the Horizontal Bracket, some force will be required initially to
overcome the tension of the spring-loaded ball in the bottom of
the Vertical Bracket.

Slide Vertical Bracket
onto Horizontal Bracket

Purple Clamping Knob

Page - 4

Using the KiWi™

2

ATTACHING YOUR CAMERA

To mount your camera, first select the appropriate slot in the
Vertical Bracket that will best locate the tripod mounting thread
on your camera. You may need to reposition the Captive Camera
Knob in order to achieve this. To remove the knob simply slide
the knob along the slot to the end that has the threaded hole.
Carefully unscrew the knob out of the threaded hole, being care­ful not to crossthread the knob. Replace the knob into the appro­priate slot by reversing the procedure. Note: Whatever side of
the Vertical Bracket you mount your camera on always keep the
offset portion of the Vertical Bracket towards the rear of the cam-

era. Attach your camera by threading the knob into the threaded

tripod hole of your camera. Note: The camera knob is a two piece
knob, (not shown), with a inner and outer knob. Before installing
the camera knob in the Vertical Bracket, turn the inner knob
clockwise into the outer knob until it won’t turn anymore. Next
install the knob into the appropriate slot then into the tripod
mounting hole of your camera. Turn the inner knob into the cam­era until it bottoms out, then turn the outer knob clockwise until
the camera is tight on the Vertical Bracket. Don’t worry about
getting the camera level at this time, as this is a task you’ll need
to do when you’re ready to shoot. Note:If you have a large body
camera that has very long distance from the tripod mounting
surface to the center of the lens, the Vertical Bracket might have
to mounted on the Horizontal the reverse
of how it is shown below with
the camera facing in the other
direction.

Threaded Hole ( 1 of 3 )

Captive Camera Knob

Camera Shoe Adj. Knob

Offset towards rear of camera

Saddle Clamp Locking
Knob

Page - 5

Using the KiWi™

REMOVING THE FRICTION CAP

The KiWi+ needs to be disassembled in order to install or change
detent discs. The detent discs come in various settings and pro­vide the different angular click-stops. (NOTE: See Disc Selec­tion Chart In Appendix A).

To start, the friction cap must be removed. Loosen the knob
located on the side of the friction cap. It does not have to be
removed from the cap, but just backed out far enough so that
the cap can be unscrewed from the axle. Unscrew the cap. At­tached to the cap is a rubber washer with a nylon facing.

Page - 6