Kaidan QuickPan Panoramic Tripod Head User Manual
®
QuickPan
Panoramic Tripod Head
User’s Guide - V1.2 - 12 Jan 2005
QuickPan III / IV Panoramic Tripod Head Overview
Welcome to the Kaidan QuickPan III / IV and Panoramic Photography
Thank you for purchasing a Kaidan
QuickPan III / IV Panoramic Tripod
Head. This manual is designed to help
you understand how to use your
QuickPan III / IV to create quality
panoramas. This document will be revised from time to time and updated
versions can be downloaded from the
QuickPan III / IV page on the Kaidan
web site.
QuickPan III / IV Overview
The QuickPan III / IV family is built
around a sturdy and precise Rotator
Base with interchangable indexing
ClickDiscs (or rings QP-III). There
are several camera brackets that slide
and lock onto the Rotator Base. The
QuickPan IV rotator design supersedes the QuickPan III rotator and
uses a new flat detent disc design.
A panoramic tripod head makes it
easy to capture a sequence of photos
that are stitched to form a complete
panoramic image. It holds the camera
in the portrait orientation, positions
the camera so that it rotates around
the optical center or nodal point of
the lens and provides a repeatable
and adjustable click-stop indexing
mechanism.
QuickPan IV Rotator with Optional Twin-Axis Adapter and Compact Camera Bracket
The QuickPan III / IV Family
Introducing the QuickPan III / IV Components
Rotator Base (QuickPan L, III & IV)
This heavy-duty design is lighter and more compact than previous models and the competition.
The QuickPan bases employ interchangeable
indexing ClickDiscs or rings that support various
click-stop positions. These can be easily swapped
at any time and contribute to the light weight.
The indexing mechanism requires no lubrication
or adjustments and has no loose parts. The base
contains an integral circular bubble level and accommodates either 1/4” or 3/8” tripod threads.
The latest QuickPan IV Rotator Base (Aug 04)
will also accept older Kaidan camera brackets
(i.e. KiWi+, QuickPan).
Twin-Axis Adapter
The Twin-Axis Adapter is designed to support most
digital and film cameras that are equipped with
fisheye lenses, or will appeal to those users who desire two independent axes of adjustment. It can be
used with either the Standard Camera Bracket or
with the Compact Camera Bracket. The two axes
of adjustment positions the lens in such a manner
so as not to capture any more of the Rotator Base
than necessary. When a camera equipped with a
circular fisheye lens is installed on the bracket, only
a small segment of the Rotator Base will appear in
the image. This feature makes the Twin-Axis Adapter
ideal for those using iPIX software, Panoweaver and
other software applications that use circular fisheye
images. Both camera brackets support optional
Quick Release Camera Plates.
Standard Camera Bracket
The Standard Camera Bracket is designed
to support most digital and film cameras in a
portrait orientation. Used primarily to shoot
single-row cylindrical panoramas it is adjusted
along the horizontal arm to locate the camera
in the side-to-side orientation. There are three
slots in the bracket, that when used with various
positioning aids, provide the fore-aft adjustment
of the camera's nodal point, over the rotational
center of the tripod head. Earlier models used
an aluminum bracket while recent models use a
high-strength composite material (inset). A Quick
Release Plate is optional.
Spherical Camera Bracket
The Spherical Camera Bracket is designed to
support most digital and film cameras and to
permit the angular up/down elevation for the
capture of multirow spherical and QuickTime®
VR Cubic panoramas. This bracket is ideal for
those software applications that stitch multiple
rows of images, including up/down "cap" shots
such as REALVIZ Stitcher. The Spherical Camera
Bracket can also be positioned at a level zero
degrees, thus fulfilling the same functions as the
Standard Camera Bracket. You can also use the
Spherical Camera Bracket for shooting singlerow cylinders as well. An optional Arca-Quick
Release Camera Plate is also available.
QuickPan III Rotator Base
How to install and remove the indexing rings and adjusting the indexing force
Installing
Indexing Rings
1) Slide the Indexing Ring onto
the Rotator Base from the bottom, keeping the portion of the
Indexing Ring with the degree
label facing up until it makes
contact with the brass plunger.
The brass plunger will eventually snap into the hole that is in
the side of the Indexing Ring.
2) Rotate the Indexing Ring
to line up the notch on the top
of the Indexing Ring with the
black slanted alignment pin at
the top of the Rotator Base.
The pin will eventually go into
the notch.
3) Depress the brass plunger
and push up on the Indexing
Ring until the brass plunger
pops into the plunger hole and
the pin slides into the notch.
Removing
Indexing Rings
On the lower portion of the
black Indexing Ring, there is
gold colored pin visible through
the hole in the side. Insert the
tip of a ball point pen or a paper clip end into the hole and
push the gold pin inward till the
Indexing Ring drops down, then
slide the Indexing Ring off the
Rotator Base.
Adjusting the Force
of the Spring Plunger
The screw, shown at left, can
be used to position the spring
plunger up and down. You can
use a screwdriver (or a coin) to
adjust the indexing or click-stop
force. The spring plunger is set
from the factory, but you may
find that you prefer a harder
click-stop action.
Be sure to not overtighten the
plunger so that the metal body
of the plunger would come in
contact with the indexing ring.
Also be sure that the plunger
is not set deep enough as this
will cause excessive play in the
indexing action.
QuickPan IV Rotator Base
How to install and remove the indexing discs and adjusting the indexing force
Installing Detent Discs
1) To install or change the
Detent Discs simply loosen
the silver thumbscrew on
the side of the black Rotator
Hub by turning it in a counter
clockwise direction. Do not
remove the screw, just turn
several times. You do not need
to remove the head from the
tripod.
2) Once the thumbscrew is
loosened, pull the Horizontal
Bracket Assembly upward out
of the Rotator Hub. You may
need to wiggle it a bit as you
lift it out of the hub.
3) Once the Horizontal
Bracket Assembly is removed,
the Detent Disc can be
changed by grabbing the
protruding tab on the detent
ring and pulling it up out of
the Rotator Housing.
Silver
Thumbscrew
Note: The QuickPan IV rotator uses a stainless steel
ball plunger that is different from the plastic nosed
plunger on the QuickPan III. Be sure to use only the
stainless steel ball plungers (available from Kaidan) on
the QuickPan IV rotators.
4) The new Detent Disc is
installed by pushing it into
the recessed area in the top
of the Rotator Hub as shown
at left.
5) Replace the Horizontal
Bracket Assembly into the
Rotator Hub. Push the assembly down into the hub
to fully engage and collapse
the plunger, then tighten the
thumbscrew.
Adjusting the Force
of the Spring Plunger
The screw, shown at left, can
be used to position the spring
plunger up and down. You can
use a screwdriver (or a thin
coin) to adjust the indexing
or click-stop force. The spring
plunger is set from the factory,
but you may find that you prefer a harder click-stop action.
Be sure to not overtighten
the plunger so that the metal
body of the plunger would
come in contact with the
indexing ring. Also be sure
that the plunger is not set
deep enough as this will cause
excessive play in the indexing
action.
QuickPan III / IV Rotator Base
Tripod threaded bushing adapter
The QuickPan III / IV Rotator Bases comes
with a tripod adapter bushing which accommodates both 1/4 inch and 3/8 inch
tripod mounts.
1/4 inch Tripod
If your tripod has a 1/4 inch threaded
mount, leave the brass bushing in the
center hole in the bottom of the rotator as
shown at right.
3/8 inch Tripod
If your tripod has 3/8 inch threaded mount,
remove the brass bushing by unscrewing it
in a counterclockwise direction and screwing it into the adjacent hole in a clockwise
direction using a coin (or large screwdriver)
as shown at right.
Use the spare outer hole to store the brass
bushing when you're using the 3/8 inch thread.
That way, you won't lose the bushing!
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