Camera leveling

<p>This probably isn't the right forum for this, but I don't see a general studio techniques forum. Feel free to move it if there's a better location.</p>

<p>Does anyone have any tips or techniques, or even equipment pointers, to help me level my camera in two axes (left/right and fore/aft or roll and pitch as some would say it) when the camera is on a tripod in portrait orientation?</p>

<p>I can't find a surface on my Canon 50D other than the base plate that is flat and square to the image plane. Making the base plate allows me to get the roll axis correct, but I don't know how to square up the camera in the pitch axis.</p>

<p>The hot shoe level I use in portrait mode is useless for this, as are the fancy electronic substitutes. My camera a Canon 50D doesn't have a built in 3-axis level, and I need to get it very square and level to shoot some small (<12") bronze figurines in the studio.</p>

<p>Thanks,<br>

<br /><br /><br /></p>

<p>http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/780406-REG/Vello_BL_HS3_Three_Axis_Hot_Shoe_Bubble_Level.html</p>

A good level held flush to the LCD will work for pitch (fore/aft) leveling.

<p>I second Howards link</p>

 

<p>That looks good, thanks</p>

<p><Chas><br /><br /></p>

<p>Don't know what tripod you have but a lot of them have a bubble level on them so you get the legs right. It's not superprecision but the bubble level in the hotshoe or the bubble level in the camera is not that high precision either.</p>

<p>But I recommend a geared head. It's great for anything that requires precision framing. I picked up a <a href="http://www.manfrotto.com/410-junior-geared-head">Manfrotto 410</a> from the recommendation of several architectural photographers. I align the legs and then fine tune the head using liveview. If you already have or place something horizontal in the image you can zoom in and just use the arrows to check that it's in the same position over the entire frame. Perhaps even easier to do if you shoot tethered.</p>

<p>A ball head or even a pan and tilt head is much more work to get perfect framing with. I've noticed that a lot of people have never heard of geared heads before, even those with a lot of photographic knowledge.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>That linked 3 tube hotshoe level looks a little over-complicated, and difficult to read with the bubbles so close together in it. There are other <a href="https://www.photoproshop.com/product_info.php/cPath/21/products_id/238">hotshoe levels with just two tubes</a> at right angles to each other and with two hotshoe slides. Since the base of the hotshoe slide is square, any camera alignment can be achieved by choosing the right orientation of the level in the hotshoe.</p>

You could try holding up a longer base carpenter's level up to the front of the lens should true the pitch angle but of

course what you want is it parallel to the pitch and roll angles of the subject.

<p>@Joe, that one looks like what I want, but Euro purchases are too much trouble for me.<br>

@Ellis, of course what I really want is parallel to the roll and pitch angles of the subject, but I have yet to figure out how to do that without something like a laser rangefinder. Especially with smaller (<24") subjects.<br>

Thanks to all for your suggestions<br>

<Chas><br /><br /></p>

 

<p>iPhone running iOS 7 has a decent level built in to the compass app.</p>

I have fought this battle And one way is to first level the subject and if you can't do that

 

If you can move the objects to a platform you can level that's how to start and then use the same level when positioning

the camera.

 

If you can't move them use a protractor with a built in rotating level t hat you can be locked down on the pedestal or plinth

the object is positioned on. Specifically I use the protractor part of a STARRETT Starrett® Combination Square Set

Model# C434-12-4R to be very useful for this. Not cheap but worth it: http://www.amazon.com/Starrett-C434-12-4R-

Combination-Reversing-Protractor/dp/B00002254L/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384714655&sr=8-1&keywords=c434-12-

4r

 

There are likely similar tools but this what I use.

 

One final thought: Have you considered setting up a solid right angle support on the base of the sculpture and using a

Zig-Align mirror set up ( http://www.zig-align.com/zig-align/Copy.html ). that you can adjust the height of so that not only

can you make your camera square to the horizontal and vertical plane of the sculpture but also centered on its height.

<p>@Nick, and others who suggested using the smart phone app. The level for Droid phones doesn't work in any position but with the phone horizontal on its back. Which doesn't help when the camera is on it's side in portrait orientation. It isn't very useful even when the camera is in the normal landscape position because the hot shoe is the only place on the top of the camera that you can use to level with, and it's a bit small for balancing a phone upon.<br>

@Ellis, that protractor with level looks like it could be very helpful in getting the subject level and square in the first place. The Zig-Align toolset looks like exactly what I needed, but is a bit out of my price range for a one-time shoot.<br>

Getting the subject base level was no problem, a 4 ft carpenter's level on the shooting table and some shims beneath the legs handled that. My problem was complicated by the fact that even the figurines that were supposed to be vertical on their bases weren't.<br>

I ended up using a tape measure and a combination square and my eyeball and got everything parallel enough for the sculptor to like the work. And that's the bottom line.<br>

<Chas><br /><br /></p>

<p> </p>

:-)

<p>[[Joe, that one looks like what I want, but Euro purchases are too much trouble for me.]]<br>

<br>

Why would you need to spend Euro's to buy off Amazon.com or B&H? </p>

<p>The link Rodeo Joe embedded was for a UK supplier. I later found it here. But bought the 3-axis one Howard M recommended in the first reply. I'll be testing it and reporting back soon.<br>

<Chas><br /><br /></p>

<p>I tested the 3-axis bubble level that Howard M suggested in the first reply to my query, against the built-in level on a Manfrotto 410 3-axis geared head by shooting a 48" carpenter's level, held level. I then imported the files into Lightroom and used the Crop/Rotate tool to align the image with the grid.<br>

The level built into the 410 head has a very small circle, so didn't require much "eyeball" to determine when the bubble was centered. Unfortunately, when it was centered there was a 0.7 (%?) correction needed in LR to align the carpenters level with the grid.<br>

The alignment target "lines" on the 3-axis hot-shoe level are much larger than the bubble (perhaps as much as 2X), but some judicious "eyeball" judgement to center the bubble required less than 0.04 correction in LR to line up the carpenter's level with the grid.<br>

Unfortunately the 3-axis hot-shoe level is not internally consistent, it reads differently depending on the orientation in the hot-shoe! Marking one side of the level should (I hope) remedy this.<br>

I thanks Howard M for pointing out the 3-axis hot-shoe level to me and to all of you who made suggestions. <br>

<Chas><br /><br /></p>