Thanks Gerald. My simple test was pushing on the Gigapan with one finger and it flexes at the base. Doing the same with my RRS multi-row pano gear, would lift one of the tripod legs, and need far more effort.
I have been looking at the RS VR, and as you say, it looks like they built the best they could and put a price on it. I have no issue with this as most gear we buy under Dante's guidance falls in this category. My only concern was the fancy LCD (reliability) and the myriad of cables that appear to come out of the unit. Also, it appeared that the camera was always show in portrait mode. One other use I saw for the RS was astrophotography. Do you know if you can program it to behave like a guided equatorial mount? I was looking at a Losmandy GM11 for this, and maybe sticking with something designed for the purpose is best.
In comparison, the GP appeared to offer a more "contained" solution. But as affordable and elegant as it seemed, it is quite useless to me at this point. I will speak to them again and see what they say. I am just put off by the stupid response I have received so far. I suspected that as soon as they asked for a video, I would get something back like the response above.
Cheers,
Jag
The camera does mount in portrait (unless you use an L bracket). No issues with this at all though. I know it seems a little odd coming from a Gigapan, but this is simply how it is when you have two separate motors mounted on the X and Y axes.
Funnily enough, I've thought about the equatorial mount thing before. I had an idea ages ago for doing a timelapse with a fisheye that stayed centered on the sun all through the day, but never got around to doing it.
There's no specific program for it, but you could do it by setting up the VR Drive on the tripod so that it's pointing north at 23 degrees, lock into your target with X and Y motors, and then just run the Y motor at the appropriate speed (I think). Never done this though. The guys at Seitz are certainly smart enough to work out a way of doing it without having to tilt the mount I'm sure (although you'd still of course have to align it to something).
I've had no issues with reliability of anything -the LCD screen (whilst resistive not capacative) works perfectly and I'd hate to have it any other way.
Cable wise, you have one that connects the two motors, and one that connects the base unit (x-motor) with the camera for normal control. If you want the VR Drive to fully control the camera for unlimited bracketing options (certain Nikons and Canons only I believe), then you need to run a second USB cable between the base unit and the camera. This does give unparalleled control though.
I know I might be coming across as a bit of a fanboy when it comes to the VR Drive, but it's just one of those pieces of kit that it's hard not to rave about.
One last thing that's worth mentioning is that Seitz are very good when it comes to releasing firmware updates. Just one example - a few weeks back, I had a chat on Facebook with another VR Drive owner who was asking for a spreadsheet that I use to calculate minimum shutter speed to use in the "speed" mode dependent on sensor characteristics, lens focal length, and speed of rotation of the mount. He forwarded the discussion onto Seitz, and within 2 weeks, they released a new firmware that did this calculation in the unit itself. Now, when you set up a speed mode program, the minimum shutter speed to use is displayed right on the screen of the unit.
Yes - this thing is expensive, but it simply reeks of quality (remember - these guys make the ALPAs), and is an absolute joy to use.
Regards,
Gerald.