Setting up Really Right Stuff pano head with Canon 5DmkII, 16-35mm f/2.8 L II & 24-70mm f/2.8 L

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I have had to retire my DIY panning setup as a) it can't hold up the 5DmkII with grip, lenses & etc b) the sharp edges keep taking chunks out of my head as I carry my tripod around on location.  I opted for the RRS (Really Right Stuff) single row pano package: http://reallyrightstuff.com/ProductDesc.aspx?code=Pano-Elem-Pkg&type=3&eq=&desc=Pano-Elements-Package%3a-For-single-row&key=it

The package incorporates the PCL-1 Panning Clamp and the  MPR-CL II Nodal Slide.  To mount the 5DmkII body (with grip), I also purchased the matching L-bracket: http://reallyrightstuff.com/ProductDesc.aspx?code=BGE6-L&type=0&eq=&desc=BGE6-L%3a-L-plate-for-Canon-BG-E6-grip&key=it

Delivery was amazing; about 4 days to country victoria, Australia.

 

Here is the camera setup on my tripod in the process of setting the nodal slide distances.

[caption id="attachment_178" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Canon 5dmkII with 24-70mm L f/2.8 on RRS pano slide"][/caption]

I placed two light stands in front of the lens, one at the Hyper Focal Distance for each selected focal length and one about 5 meters away.  I have only done the setup at f/11 for each lens, given that is a pretty common f-stop for my landscape work.  I generally have the focus set on the HFD win doing landscapes, so the test setup should be reasonably realistic.  The Live View was turned on and I found it quite easy to get very close the correct settings using the x10 magnification and the preview button next to the lens.  Once I was close, I took a number of shots with the light stands lined up in the dead centre of the frame and almost at both edges.  Once I had alignment on all three, the value was recorded and repeated for both lenses and the various marked focal lengths.

The RRS slide has a side scale that starts at 1 and goes to 18 cm.  The example below, I have called 6mm.

Here are my results:

Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 L II on Canon 5DmkII body

 

16-35mm f/2.8 L II @ f/11 focused at HFD
Focal Length RRS Slide position
16mm 36.5mm
20mm 41.0mm
24mm 41.5mm
28mm 41.5mm
35mm 38.5mm

 

Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 L on Canon 5DmkII body

24-70mm f/2.8 L @ f/11 focused at HFD
f/11 focused at HFD
Focal Length RRS Slide position
24mm 5mm
28mm 15.0mm
35mm 19.5mm
50mm 32.0mm
70mm 48.5mm

 

Now off to take some panos....