Testimonials

M2 Giga - Total game changer.

5 Stars - The M2 Giga is an excellent pano head for heavy cameras and larger telephotos. I bought it to shoot cylindrical and flat panos using focal lengths beginning at 35mm. When you mount a lens around 100mm or more, the features of the M2 really begin to stand out, including that it’s rock solid. For instance, with a 200mm lens mounted on a full frame Canon, I elevate 7.5 degrees and rotate 5 degrees, moves that are positive and easy with this head. I think the M2 is faster and easier to use than a robotic head, but I’m assuming the photog in question already has pano experience. For example, to shoot a flat pano that covers, say 120 degrees FOV, looking at the viewfinder, I figure out what exposure I should use by moving to different parts of the scene to double check my exposure estimations (easy and fast with a manual head). I then move the camera to the left, right, top, and bottom to figure out what the limits are for this picture–moves that are also fast and direct with a manual head. After focusing, depending on the DOF of the lens that’s being used, I set the scale on the rotator to 0 for left-most rotator position (this is a great feature of the M2 head). That way I only have to remember one number at my far-right stop point. Depending on the pano head you’re currently using, you may have to convert the A and B distances for this head, since the scales don’t start at 0, as they do with the NN3 or NN5. Here’s a specific example that might help. On a NN5, the correct settings for a Canon 5DS with a 24-105 lens at 105 would be: A = 58, B = 66.5. The values for the same camera and lens on the M2 Giga would be A = 128, B = 96.5. For my setup, I add 70 to convert A from NN5 to M2 Giga and add 30 to the NN5 B distance for the M2 setting (I have the upper rail of the M2 starting at the 30mm mark on the scale). Here’s an example of a 1.5 gigapixel pano taken with this head, Canon 5DS, 200mm. The panorama will auto play for a bit over 3 minutes. Furthermore, this was shot on a cloudy winter day–the subject is the new arena where the Detroit Red Wings & Pistons play and downtown Detroit. I don’t work for Nodal Ninja and would not recommend anything if I didn’t think it was good, even if I had been foolish enough to buy it. http://bigdogpanos.com/html/mtroof013018B-10.html Here’s another auto play but taken with a 105mm: http://themasonic.com/evgal_arena.php - Dave M.