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Arca Swiss Cube........ OMG!!

G

gazwas

Active member
Resistance is futile and deep down everyone who contributes to this section of the forum must know, all tripod heads eventually lead to the Cube. :LOL:

Unlike many expensive and "Lustful" purchases that usually get sold again within 12 months, the Cube really is a lifer IMO.

Have I said I'm loving mine?? :p
 
jotloob

jotloob

Subscriber Member
Vincent Goetz said:
a few years back I saw Graham shoot with a Cube. I owned one a few weeks later. money well spent.
Click to expand...
A few months back , I saw Grahams cube attached to the tripod by a very solid RRS clamp .
Today , I have two of these clamps . (for the clamp , see also his picture with the iPHONE above) .
There must be some mysterious influence .:ROTFL:
 
GrahamWelland

GrahamWelland

Subscriber & Workshop Member
I saw someone else's Cube and looked at it. I then had to buy one.

Now someone else will see /try your gear and the cycle will continue. It's just the natural order of things that passes down through time and camera gear.

:cool:
 
G

gazwas

Active member
Ahh, yes Graham-san! (said in terrible Chineese accent)

Its getting all Karate Kid now this discussion.
 
jotloob

jotloob

Subscriber Member
GrahamWelland said:
I saw someone else's Cube and looked at it. I then had to buy one.

Now someone else will see /try your gear and the cycle will continue. It's just the natural order of things that passes down through time and camera gear.

:cool:
Click to expand...
Take it easy Graham
It's just a bit CUBE talk :) (small talk) . There must also be some fun here .

BTW , if I would not have seen your RRS tripod/CUBE solution , I would not have it . And I am very happy with it . Thanks again for that good advice .:thumbup:
 
jotloob

jotloob

Subscriber Member
Graham

While you are in Australia don't only beware of dangerous spiders and snakes
but also of kangaroos . They like to steel CUBEs and ALPAs and they like to play with them .
Have a great time and good light for plenty of good shots .
 
J

jlm

Workshop Member
last bit for now:

after the above machining, i have my pan axis truly plumb when the pan platform is truly level for the full 360 degree rotation.

the second thing that really matters is (how) to determine the mounted camera is also level when the pan platform is level. I am using the Cambo WRS, which has bubble levels for both ways mounted on the top of the body. here is what i found:

to determine if the body itself was plumb: done by aiming a self leveling laser at the lens mounted on the Cambo: laser height set so beam hits center of lens; then a clear glass cover plate was fitted over the lens barrel, which reflected the beam back to the source; it was within 1/4" of being on the source over 14', i can live with that. (I am only setting forward/back level)
however with the pan platform truly level, the cambo mounted using a RRS base plate, the front-to-back reading on the Cambo level was considerably out; the edge of the bubble was all the way at one of the lines. So even if you are not panning, using that to set level will be incorrect. the solution will be to re-fit the cambo level.

the horizon and the grid function of the IQ can be used to check the left/right level.

what I am going to achieve is to have both the cube and cambo levels consistent and accurate for level, both ways.

all this time i have been leveling with the cambo levels and they are off. for example, if using the laser setup, I set the cambo bubble to level, the reflected dot is 2-1/2" high. (or if i set the cube bubble to level, it is 1-1/2" low.)
over 14', 1" out is about .4 degrees, but since it is reflecting the dot it is half that angle or say 1/4 degree per inch of dot mis-alignment. the cambo level is then out by a bit more than 1/2 degree.
 
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J

jlm

Workshop Member
weekend project coming up: the cube levels are inaccurate (badly mounted) and insensitive. as far as sensitivity, those vials are about 180 minutes (1/2 degree) for .100 bubble movement, similar to a carpenter's level.

i just received some much more sensitive spirit vials (150 seconds for .100 bubble movement) and will be fitting them to my cube and cambo. will still have the rough circular level on my RRS clamping base
 
MGrayson

MGrayson

Subscriber and Workshop Member
jlm said:
weekend project coming up: the cube levels are inaccurate (badly mounted) and insensitive. as far as sensitivity, those vials are about 180 minutes (1/2 degree) for .100 bubble movement, similar to a carpenter's level.

i just received some much more sensitive spirit vials (150 seconds for .100 bubble movement) and will be fitting them to my cube and cambo. will still have the rough circular level on my RRS clamping base
Click to expand...
Nice project! But over 60 times as sensitive? Isn't that going to be hard to dial in manually? I wonder if there's surveying gear that automatically levels loads as large as the cube.

--Matt
 
J

jlm

Workshop Member
i use a more sensitive level all the time, but you are right, if it is too touchy it won't be right. the test of the prototype will tell the story. if the sensitivity is too fine, the cube knob feel may be too crude, but at first attempt, just dropping the vial on the cube and trying it, it looks pretty promising.

any self leveling gear i have used stays floating a bit (transit-level, laser levels, etc.) and would not be secure.
 
AreBee

AreBee

Member
jlm,

jlm said:
i use a more sensitive level all the time, but you are right, if it is too touchy it won't be right. the test of the prototype will tell the story. if the sensitivity is too fine, the cube knob feel may be too crude, but at first attempt, just dropping the vial on the cube and trying it, it looks pretty promising.
Click to expand...
When I purchased a Cube I checked it with a precision spirit level. The result was exactly what Matt notes above: far too precise for the pitch of the head's gearing. Maybe my levels were simply too precise.

Please let us know how you get on. I, for one, am very interested not only to read about the levelling aspect, but the modification process itself. :)
 
RVB

RVB

Member
Is this the Cube beater?? :)

Just grabbed this snap earlier as it was being used to make a commercial for Alfa romeo outside my home... Arri Alexa I think....
 
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