That old photographic nursery rhyme. But in the case of this accessory the song ends when the lenses do not all fall down...
Calling landscape and architectural shooters. Others as well - the wedding workers may wish to pause and consider this for the gardens shots. This is designed to make your tripod work so much easier - and the encourage you to try vertical as well as horizontal shots.
Getting yourself out of a rut is the thing - and getting out smoothly and safely. Leave the hard work and bad language to the 4WD adventurers - that's what they live for. Take your photos easily - but take them with a greater variety - and you may be selling a lot more.
The average magazine or book is an upright thing - only the coffee table and art publications tend to stretch out horizontally. Withe the upright format the cover has to have the same orientation - and you need to leave space for banners, titles, advertising, bar codes , and fingerprints. No good sending the best 1:3 panorama to the editor and expect the entire structure of the publication to change. If you want the cover, shoot upright.
But you may have that 1:3 pano for the inside, and the art print, and the award-winning club shot. What to do? Take both. And take them at almost the same time by keeping the tripod in the same spot and rotating the camera. If yo do this with a standard panand tilt head or a ball head you introduce a subtle difference to the images as you move the camera lens away from the original axis. The Atoll rotating mount keeps the shot the same - but shifts the format.
It is simple mechanics made superbly well, The camera goes on the back platform - the tripod on the front one. The lens pokes through the central aperture. You loosen the side screw, twirl it flat or vertical, and tighten up again. The ball or pan head position is not shifted. Note the standard foot sizes there so that you can shift the rig between various quick mounts.
It's been done before with rotating flash mounts, but not as elegantly or as completely. Unless you shoot your pictures in 1:1 format, you need one of these.
