Kaidan 950 User's Manual
Contents
1. KAIDAN fae A yest Users Guide Photographic VR Panoramic Tripod Head Designed expressly for the Nikon Coolpix 900 900S and 950 Digital Cameras Copyright Information Copyright 2000 Kaidan Inc All Rights Reserved First Edition September 2000 KiWi is a trademark of Kaidan Inc Other products mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies Patents Pending Information in this manual is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Kaidan No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechani cal including photocopying recording or information storage and retrieval sys tems or translated to another language for any purpose other than the licensee s personal use and as specifically allowed in the licensing agreement without the express written permission of Kaidan Kaidan Warranty and Return Policy A Limited Warranty In the event of a defect in materials or workmanship Kaidan will repair the product with new or rebuilt parts for a period of three hundred and sixty five 365 days from the date of original purchase Such work will be performed free of charge Follow the Product Return Procedure Section D following Likewise any software purchased from Kaidan also comes with a one year warranty if your disc or media is defective or damaged This warranty is ex tended only to the original purcha2. atilt head If the tripod does not havea tilt head a QuickTilt leveler can be purchased from Kaidan for usewith the KiWi 900 950 Once the KIWI 900 950 is level double check to see if the camera is mounted level in elevation Use the Camera Adjustment Shoe and place it against the camera By placing the shoe snugly against the camera it will help to vertically align and position the camera Youre now ready to begin capturing your first panorama You should also at this timereview thedocumentation of the panoramic stitching softwarethat is being used in order to get recommendations for exposure settings and other camera settings Page 9 Using Other Lenses How po Locate my Camera s Nopat Poinr Theprior instructions cover the Nikon Coolpix standard lens and the Nikon wide angle lens Since the Coolpix 900 series has a threaded barrel you can screw on other 3rd party lenses These lenses will have a different mounting location or nodal point along the bracket and youll need to discover this location Follow these steps and youll be able to easily locate the nodal point for any camera and lens combination Simply put the nodal point is the point inside your camera where the light rays converge and flip over When shooting an immersive panorama it5 necessary to rotate about this point to eliminate the image mismatch caused by parallax er ror Parallax error can be easily demonstrated by this simple experiment Close one
3. shows the proper mounting with the adjustment shoe in front of the camera Figure B Camera knob View of Vertical Camera Bracket with camera attached using the 24mm wide angle Nikon lens Note theslot below thecamera mounting holes will accept the camera knob and can be used to locate the camera in accordance with the nodal points of other 3rd party lenses see Chapter 3for instructions Mounting Hole for using wide angle Nikon lens Mounting Holes for other accessories Flash Bracket Sunshade Mounting Hole for standard camera lens Mounting Slot for use with 3rd party lenses amp the Camera Adjustment Shoe Access Hole for external Flash Sync connection Page 8 TAKING THE PHOTOS The KiW1 900 950 has a female 14 20 thread on the bottom of the Indexing Hub for mounting to most standard tripods When ready to shoot make surethat the KiWi 900 950 is securely attached to thetripod Usea tripod that is sturdy ideally onethat has a center support system of braces to help keep the camera and KiWi 900 950 from excessive flexing It may be possible that your tripod uses a larger 3 8 inch thread If this isthe case you can purchase a 3 8 to 4 adapter at a camera store or photographer equipment supplier When ready to shoot It is important that the unit is level Observe the twin axis bubble level on the KiWi 900 950 while leveling the tripod Of course this task is much easier if the tripod is equipped with
4. de angle setting of the camera Use the position detent disc when using the optional Nikon 24mm wide angle lens for the Coolpix 900 950 camera To removethe Friction Cap loosen the silver colored Retaining Knob which is lo cated on thesideof theFriction Cap It does not haveto beremoved from the Cap but only backed out far enough to allow the Cap to be unscrewed from the axle You can look into the opening in the center of the cap to see when the Retaining Knob is clear of the hexagonal shaped axle Rotatethe cap counterclockwise and remove it from the unit Retaining Knob Friction Cap Vertical Bracket Oncethe Friction Cap has been removed separate the Vertical Bracket from the Indexing Hub You might need to wiggle the pieces as you pull them apart Page 4 Removinc amp REPLACING THE Derenr Disc Once the Indexing Hub is removed the detent disc can be removed from its re cess in the bottom of the Vertical Bracket The disc may slip out once the Index ingHubisremoved fit sticks insidetherecess simply insert thetip of a ballpoint pen or a pin small enough to fit into the detent disc ejection hole on the top of the bracket and push the detent disc out of the detent disc recess With the disc removed a different disc can be inserted to change the angular spacing The position detent disc included with your bracket is for use with theoptional Nikon wideanglelens availablefrom Nikon for the Coolpix 900 950 T
5. e condition Criteria for Restockable Condition is as follows e All parts are included in box hardware manuals discs nuts bolts tools e No signs of damage scratches bent parts missing pieces markings alter ations or additions to the product e All packaging materials are intact foam peanuts cardboard bubble bags e No signs of excess usage or wear to the product Items of Non restockable condition are subject to the following e Restocking Fee s a minimum of 10 percent and possible additional fees based on the condition of the product how the product best meets the criteria above at Kaidan s discretion Non Restockable Condition constitutes the following e Missing parts hardware manuals discs nuts bolts tools and packaging materials foam peanuts cardboard bubble bags e Signs of damage scratches bent parts missing pieces markings alter ations additions to the product e Signs of excess usage or wear to the product e Damage or loss incurred during uninsured shipping to Kaidan In this case Kaidan cannot issue any type of refund Customer will be responsible to sub mit claim with their shipping company If damages occur in shipping customer must submit claim with shipping company prior to any action by Kaidan Items Part of Special Bundle If item s are part of a special bundle offer return of part of the bundle will void any special pricing and the item s remaining in the possession
6. e in the left hand side of the viewfinder Rotate the pan head so the two objects move over to the right hand side of the viewfinder Unless youve managed to unwittingly locate the right nodal point position you should noticethetwo objects will movewith respect to each other as theVertical Bracket is rotated from left to right Slidethecameratothefront or rear as required to eliminate this relative movement Good No relative movement between object when rotating camera from side to side PEST Eee ya BE 3 ay Looking through the viewfinder align a close object brick wall with a faraway object telephone pole As the camera is rotated from sideto side there should be no relative movement between thetwo objects Bad Relative movement between object when rotating camera from side to side If as shown to theright thetwo objects move with respect to one another in theviewinder slidethe camera fore or aft in order to eliminate this movement Here the telephone pole has moved behind the brick wall Page 1 Srep 3 DETERMINING THE ACTUAL POSITION If you wereusinga SLR camera in theprevious steps you could havelooked through theviewfinder in order to determinethe nodal point However with the Coolpix 900 series the viewfinder is not viewing the exact same image as what the CCD imaging chip isseeing Therefore in order to accurately deter mineat what posi tion along the slot does the nodal point lay youll ne
7. ed to take a series of test shots The best way to do this isto start with the camera at the front most position of theVertical bracket Usingtheobject alignment techniquementioned previously take a sequence of left right pairs of test shots Each pair will have the vertically aligned objects in the left and then the right side of the viewfinder After each pair of photos slide the bracket rearward a small amount and repeat the pro cess Slide the bracket the same increment each time i e 0mm Placing a tem porary strip of tape in order to measure and mark the increments should make it easier to record your results Be sureto record the scale setting for each pair of images When youre done you should havea pair of left right images for each position of the camera along the slot Transfer the images to your computer and inspect each left right pair Yourelookingfor the pair of images that hastheleast relative movement between thenear and far objects Go back to your recorded markings and determine which location on the tape corresponds to the best pair of im ages In some cases you might find that no pair of images is optimum n that case you should look for the two pairs that are closest and reshoot a test pair between those pairs With alittle trial and error you will be able to accurately determine the nodal point for any lens Once youve found the position you can mark that location with the Camera Ad justment Shoe or leave a piece o
8. eye and hold your index finger upright about six inches away from your open eye Rock your head from side to side Notice how your finger moves with respect to the background This relative movement is due to the fact that youre not rotat ing your head around your eyes nodal point which issomewherein thecenter of your eyeball Instead youre rotating about your spine which is several inches to therear and off to oneside lt isthis relativesideto side motion that wewill strive to eliminate when setting up a camera for VR panoramas Step E THE Easy Part THE SIDE TO SIDE ADJ USTMENT Oncethe camera is fastened to the KiWi 900 950 Pan Head the center of thelens will be directly over the pivot axis No side to side adjustment will be needed Page D Step 2 THE SLIGHTLY HARDER Part ForE AFT Abj USTMENT Put the Captive Camera Knob in the long slot of the Vertical Bracket This will allow you to slide the camera along with the Camera Adjustment Shoe as re quired Note This step is most easily accomplished outside Find avertical edgeor line such as a doorway or edge of a building Position the unit and tripod about four feet away or as close as possible with the edge still in focus when looking through the view displayed on the LCD screen of the camera Looking at the cameras LCD find another vertical edge or object that is far away such as another building or teleohone pole Align thetwo objects and rotatethe Vertical Bracket so they ar
9. f tape as a marker for future reference Page 2 KW 900 950 ADDENDUM We have included a friction pad cork strip to be used with the Coolpix 950 camera only See Fig A below for the correct placement NOTE If you are using the Coolpix 900 camera the cork does not need to be installed CORK LOCATION FOR 950 5 J UNE 2000 Page B
10. ill requirethe B position detent disc The 24mm Nikon lens requires the use of the position detent disc MOUNTING THE CAMERA The KIWI 900 950 also comes with a Camera Adjustment Shoe to help keep your camera mounted vertically It also makes it easyto removeand replaceyour cam era in the same position Before the camera is attached loosen the knob on the Camera Adjustment Shoe Oncethe knob is loosened the shoe can slide forward or backwardsto help position the camera You may need to removetheshoeand reposition it against either thefront or the back of the camera depending which configuration is selected Camera Adjustment Shoe Knob is on the other side Page 7 MOUNTING THE CAMERA CONTINUED The KiWi 900 950 is designed to be used at the standard wide angle setting or with the additional 24mm wide angle Nikon lens The two threaded mounting holes directly above the slot on the camera bracket will position the camera at its proper nodal point setting for either configuration The diagram below shows the proper mounting holes for the camera When using the camera with the standard lens FigureA shows the proper mounting with the adjustment shoe behind the camera Figure A Camera adjustment Camera knob Shoe and knob pen a a J View of Vertical Camera lt a pe Te ATE Bracket with camera attached using the standard camera lens When usingthecamera with the optional 24mm wide angle Nikon lens mounted Figure B
11. nty period set forth above Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages or limitations on how long an implied warranty lasts so the above exclusions or limitations may not apply to you This warranty and any claims which arise with the Kaidan product s are governed by the laws of the state of Pennsylvania By purchasing this product customer acknowledges and agrees to these Limits and Exclusions If a problem with your Kaidan product develops during the warranty period immediately contact Kaidan for assistance C Product Return Policy All Kaidan products come with a 30 day return policy a minimum 10 percent re stocking fees will apply from date of purchase with the exception of software or videotapes Both of the aforementioned items are copyrighted and subject to the laws concerning intellectual property Kaidan will replace defective software video tapes free of charge upon return receipt of defective item s Products returned under this policy excluding replacement of defective items must be shipped at purchaser s expense Purchaser must ship product with an approved traceable service such as FedEx and with appropriate levels of shipping insurance for the item being returned Kaidan will not be held responsible for returned items lost or damaged in transit Kaidan will issue a refund to customer s account if the following condi tions are satisfied 1 Receipt of item s in a restockabl
12. o install a different disc simply align the keyed slot and push the disc into the recess M ake sure the disc is properly seated and flush to the bottom surface of theVertical Bracket With the new disc inserted reassemble by inserting the In dexing Hub back through the bearing in the Vertical Bracket REPLACING THE FRICTION Cap Replace the Friction Cap by threading the Cap back onto the axle Continue to thread thecap so that there is no free play between theVertical Bracket and the Indexing Hub The rubber washer on the bottom of the Friction Cap should be slightly compressed When the drag feels adequate turn the Friction Cap so that the threaded shaft of the Retaining Knob is aligned with the closest flat on the axle Tighten the Retaining Knob to lock the Cap in place Rubber Washer Page 5 AD USTING THE DETENT FORCE Thespring plunger that provides the detent action can also be adjusted to vary theforce Usea flat blade screw driver to movethe plunger in and out as desired A convenient way to adjust the plunger is to screw the plunger all the way in until it gently bottoms out Then unscrew the plunger about onecompleteturn Page 6 Shooting Panoramas How MANY Shorts The KIWI 900 950 is designed to be used with Thenormal wide angle setting of the camera lens The optional Nikon 24mm lens screw on Other third party lenses usable with the Coolpix 900 950 camera Thenormal wide angle setting of the camera w
13. of the cus tomer will revert to their regular Suggested Retail Price SRP The credit to customer will reflect the difference of the actual product SRP from the amount of credit due customer Shipping Costs All shipping costs VAT duties and return costs are sole responsibility of cus tomer If customer purchases thru Kaidan distributor or reseller customer is responsible for all shipping and VAT costs incurred by that distributor or reseller These charges are non refundable For instructions on the return of your product follow the Product Return Procedure below D Product Return Procedure When returning a product customer must first contact Kaidan or the dis tributor reseller and obtain a Return Material Authorization Number RMA After receiving the RMA customer will be instructed to return product directly to Kaidan Returned goods must be shipped with an approved traceable service such as FedEx and with appropriate levels of shipping insurance for the item being returned Kaidan will not be held responsible for returned items lost or damaged in transit RMA numbers are valid for 15 days and the product s must be received by Kaidan before the RMA expires We are unable to accept for return any product s received after the expiration of the RMA Return Packaging The product packaging must reflect customer name address RMA as well as Kaidan information Kaidan Incorporated 703 E Pennsylvania Blvd Feaste
14. rville PA 19053 U S A Attention Return Department per RMA Contact Information Voice 215 364 1778 Fax 215 322 4186 http www kaidan com E mail info kaidan com UNPACKING THE Box Setting Up Your KiWi 900 950 The KIWI 900 950 is shipped in a single box and consists of the components de tailed below Please make sure that all parts are included Examine the parts for any signs of shipping damage In the event of shipping damage immediately con tact Kaidan to process claims If any items are missing or you notice any damage call Kaidan at 2 364 1 78 between the hours of 9 00 AM and 6 00 PM EST Mon Fri Vertical Bracket Nikon Coolpix Camera not included Captive Camera Knob amp Mounting Holes for standard and wide angle settings _ 4 Not visible Access ee ee Flash Sync aa Bubble Level Friction Cap and Retaining Knob Angle Indicator Indexing hub The KiWi 900 950 also comes with two detent discs 44 and 38 positions not shown and a camera adjustment shoe attached to the vertical bracket Page 3 REMOVING THE FRICTION Cap The Friction Cap needs to be removed in order to change detent discs The discs providethemeans for establishing and changingthenumber and spacing of the angular increments of the tripod head The two discs that come standard with the KiWi 900 950 provide for 4 and B shots per revolution Use the B position detent disc when capturing images with the normal wi
15. ser and is not transferable A purchase receipt or other proof of original purchase will be required before warranty performance is rendered This warranty only covers failures due to defects in materials or workman ship which occur during normal use It does not cover damages or failures which are caused from accident misuse abuse neglect mishandling misapplication alteration faulty installation modification service by anyone other than an au thorized representative of Kaidan Acts of God or by products not supplied by Kaidan This warranty covers any damage incurred during original shipment of prod uct to customer Any item resold or distributed by and not explicitly manufac tured by Kaidan will be covered by their respective company s product warranty B Warranty Exclusions There are no express warranties except as listed above Kaidan shall not be liable for special incidental consequential or punitive damages including without limitation loss of goodwill profits or revenue loss of the use of this product or any associated equipment cost of substitute equip ment downtime costs or claims of any party dealing with buyer for such damages resulting from use of this product or arising from breach of warranty or contract negligance or any other legal theory All express and implied warranties including the warranties of merchant ability and fitness for a particular purpose are limited to the applicable war ra
Download Pdf Manuals
Related Search