Buy Manfrotto 303SPH QTVR Spherical Panoramic Pro Head (Black)Manfrotto 303SPH QTVR Spherical Panoramic Pro Head (Black) Product Description:
- Specifically designed for multi row panoramic photography.
- Sliding plate design gives precise alignment.
- Index markers.
Product Description
The 303SPH is a multi-row panoramic photography head. It has sliding plates to locate the camera over the panoramic axis of rotation, plus a sliding plate which rotates around the front/back tilt axis. This allows the camera to be rotated on both horizontal and vertical axes around the camera/lens nodal point, so multi-row panoramic photo sequences (cubic VR photos) can be taken accurately and easily. Using the 303SPH ensures that software used for photo stitching produces a precisely composed VR environment with minimum post-production intervention or software correction. All plates and rotation index guides on the 303SPH have clear markings to allow easy repositioning of the camera once nodal point position has been identified and noted down. The 303SPH’s vertical bracket can be unlocked and rotated through 90° (then re-locked) so that the head takes up less space in transport, and so that the sliding plate mechanisms are protected against knocks and bumps. The 303SPH comes complete with an extra set of sliding plates for use with cameras of different sizes. Attachment: 1/4-Inch and 3/8-Inch screws; attachment (bottom): 3/8-Inch female thread; color: black; -180° / +180° tilt range; height: 12.60 in.; independent pan lock; load capacity: 8.82 lbs.; material: aluminum; panoramic rotation: 360 °; weight: 5.36 lbs.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful.
The right tool for the job
By L. T. Beasimer
This panoramic head is sturdy and effective. The manufacturing is solid and Bogen provides the high quality that they are known for.PROS: The right head for spherical Multi-row images.CONS: For the price, it should include a leveling bubble. Luckily my Bogen 3021BPRO tripod has one so it is not really missed. The head is heavy and bulky. While this may not bother some, I tend to lug my equipment around on my back while walking around. The head folds up well for its design; however knobs still stick out awkwardly for packing in a camera bag.Even though the CONS might seem to outweigh the PROS, they don't. This head is the right tool for the job.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful.Amazing panorama head
By E. Senturk
If you are looking for a perfect, sturdy panohead and if you don't mind about the weight 303sph is the best. I have both nodal ninja 3 and 303sph. I can definitely say that 303sph is much better than nn3.PROS of 303SPH :303sph is much more sturdierYou can easily set the click stops in 303sph with a single boltYou can easily slide the rails back and forth.Cons of 303sph :Big and heavyPros of NN3 :Light.Perfect for compact cameras.Cons of NN3 :Doesn't feel sturdyYou have to disassemble the part at the bottom and put another plate inside to set different angles for click stops.If you want to make fine adjustments it is impossible. Because, you tightly screw the knobs and after you unscrew it the camera mount stuck on to the rail because of the rubber part between the rail and the knob. So you have to push the camera really hard to make the rubber part detach from the rail.Last knob that you screw the camera, it is so narrow and almost same size with the rail, so there is no way to screw it tightly, or unscrew it if you managed to screw it.Ok, NN3 might not be the direct competitor of 303sph, may be NN5 is, but if you are planning to use your panohead with a DSLR like D3 or D300 with a battery grip, I will definitely recommend you to buy 303sph.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
Functional, but not perfect
By E. Winemiller
I've been using a home made pano head for about a year, and I've also been looking at the Really Right Stuff head, so that is what I'm comparing it to.The construction is pretty heavy duty. After moving, vibration settles down much quicker than it did with the home made rig. About the heaviest combo I've put on it is a 5D Mark 3 with a canon 16-35 f2.8 II, and there is no sagging. So from a strictly functional perspective, it does the job well.It uses it's own type of mounting plate. The plate has rubber on the bottom to help grip, but there is no mechanical ridges or curves to keep it straight or centered. I used it once with this plate and didn't see any sagging or shifting. However, I didn't like that to attach it requires eyeballing to ensure it's straight and you need to remove any existing plates or L brackets. I'd really have liked a connector that just clamps down on an arca swiss style plate. I think the RRS head does this, but it was twice the cost. The kit comes with a couple of shorter rails meant for P&S cameras. They are exactly the same as the mounting plate minus the rubber. A little time with one of the shorter rails, a dremel tool, and a drill was enough to make a plate that mated to my RRS camera plate. Now it lines up perfectly every time, I don't have to remove my existing plate, and there is metal lip that keeps it from rotating.The markings could use some work. There are a couple of places where a single line on the plate or bracket would help center it on other attachment sites. I end up using other marks (e.g. it's 55mm in one direction and 55mm in another direction) instead of a single spot. Additionally some of the places that are marked are in places where you can't see the numbers on the rail. You have to use the edge of the bracket instead of the big white arrow that was intended. None of these are big problems, but just refinement issues.The clamp that does the rotation around the horizontal axis is so far forward that it's in the field of view of my fisheye. For quick panos, 3 shots with the fisheye was always a nice option, but probably not with this head. Maybe with more shots and the right post workflow, I could get the clamp out of the image, but if I've got to shoot more shots anyways, I might as well just shoot with a wide angle and not deal with the post issues.I like the mechanism for positive stops rotating around the vertical axis. You simply move a screw to the appropriate labeled hole and each click is the selected number of degrees. The horizontal axis rotates nicely, but with enough stiffness that it will hold without locking it down so you aren't working to keep it straight while you lock it down.Two of the screws that you might adjust in the field (adjust positive stops and unfold/fold the arm) are cabled to the head so you won't drop and lose them. That's a nice touch. The screw (1/4 or 3/8ths) that attaches the plate isn't of course, but the plates are key holed so it's likely the screw will stay with the plate if dropped.Sliding the plates to adjust them to the nodal point is challenging when doing fine adjustments. Moving 5-10mm is easy. Just bumping it 1 is a fiddly thing. A fine adjust dial would have been nice, though of course would have added cost.The finish on the plates and rails seems to be pretty soft and comes off easily.
Latest Price: See on Amazon.com!
More Info: See on Amazon.com!
See Customers Review: See on Amazon.com!
