What are the types of Yuntai?

When it comes to photography tools, the first thing that comes to mind is cameras and lenses, but many accessories also play an important role in photography, such as tripods. Generally, there are spherical tripod, three-dimensional tripod, hydraulic tripod and cantilever tripod. Except for some high-end tripods, they are generally equipped with tripod heads. Different photographic needs require different ptz. Let's take a look at the type of Yuntai and the knowledge of purchasing. 1. What are the types of Yuntai?

1, spherical translation/tilt

Spherical pan/tilt is the most common pan/tilt type at present. Its main feature is that the movable body is a sphere, and the movement and fastening of the sphere are controlled by one or more rotating rods. Because of the high flexibility of the sphere, spherical pan-tilt is the best of all pan-tilt types in terms of convenience and quickness. In addition, because the structure of the spherical pan-tilt is relatively simple, it is also the lowest in volume, manufacturing cost and selling price. Because of this, almost all tripod brands have their own spherical Yuntai sales, and there are many innovations on the basis of spherical Yuntai.

Of course, the spherical pan-tilt is not a perfect pan-tilt structure, and the main problems are as follows: a. Because a sphere supports the weight of the whole camera, it is not as good as other pan-tilt structures in bearing performance. If larger spheres are used to increase the bearing capacity, the advantages in weight and volume will not be so obvious. B. Although the spherical pan-tilt is convenient and quick to operate, it is not good for fine adjustment, and it is not enough for some subjects that need high-precision pan-tilt adjustment, such as architectural photography, indoor space and video shooting. C. If the spherical part of the spherical pan/tilt is worn or ashed, it will greatly affect the use experience. Therefore, for the harsh shooting environment, only by purchasing a high-end table with reliable performance can we have a better experience.

2, three-dimensional pan/tilt

As the old enemy of spherical pan-tilt, 3D pan-tilt is the most common type of photographic pan-tilt. The principle of three-dimensional pan-tilt is that XYZ three axes can be adjusted independently, and the damping of each axis is clear, which is much better than that of spherical pan-tilt. Moreover, because of its simple structure, it is better than spherical pan/tilt in bearing capacity and reliability. Therefore, at present, 3D PTZ is the best choice for most heavy-duty technical cameras (headed by ALPA) and large-format cameras.

Since 3D PTZ is not as popular as spherical PTZ in the market, it is naturally because 3D PTZ also has quite a few problems. At present, the biggest problem of 3D PTZ is that users in the past now have a better choice. For example, for ordinary photographers, three-dimensional pan-tilt is not an opponent of spherical pan-tilt because it has three long adjusting handles. For example, architectural photographers, based on the improved three-dimensional pan/tilt, gear pan/tilt can be controlled more finely; For example, video users, hydraulic pan/tilt is the ultimate destination. Therefore, there are fewer and fewer three-dimensional Yuntai on the market at present, which belongs to the "future yellow flower" of Yuntai.

3, gear translation/tilt

Gear pan-tilt is actually a kind of three-dimensional pan-tilt, and gear-driven three-dimensional pan-tilt is gear pan-tilt. The biggest feature of gear pan/tilt is accurate three-axis calibration, which can be accurately adjusted to the position you need through gear transmission and locked. Compared with the ordinary three-dimensional pan/tilt, gear pan/tilt sacrifices the ability of damping adjustment, which means that it is basically no longer suitable for shooting videos and obtains the ultimate adjustment accuracy, so gear pan/tilt has become the favorite of architectural photographers.

Because the user group of gear PTZ is too specific, the adjustment range of each axis is much smaller than that of 3D PTZ (for example, Akac- 1), the adjustment speed is slow and the price is much more expensive than that of ordinary PTZ (for example, Akac- 1), so it is not suitable for ordinary photographers.

4. Hydraulic translation/tilt

At one time, the hydraulic pan-tilt was the standard pan-tilt for eco-photographers and sports photographers, and the heavy-duty hydraulic pan-tilt could only be seen in TV stations and movie shooting scenes. However, the rise of video creation in recent years has also caused the hydraulic pan/tilt to soar. At present, hydraulic ptz is no longer a niche product. Hydraulic ptz relies on internal hydraulic oil to provide uniform lubrication and damping, and has a dynamic balance system design, so it can stay at any position without external force. The biggest advantage is that when we move the hydraulic pan/tilt, the jitter is the smallest, and the load-bearing performance is the strongest (the hydraulic pan/tilt for industrial film and television can bear load 100kg), so it is especially suitable for ecology, sports photography and video creation. At present, almost all monopods are equipped with hydraulic pan/tilt as standard, just for video creation.

Hydraulic pan/tilt also has many shortcomings, one is its own weight and volume, and the other is that it can only provide a 360-degree horizontal pan/tilt within the range of plus or minus 90 degrees, and cannot control the horizontal axis of the camera. Therefore, it is necessary to set a hemisphere or ball bowl structure on the tripod, so that the tripod can be used normally in a horizontal state, which limits the application scope of the hydraulic tripod.

5. Cantilever Yuntai

Cantilever pan/tilt, as a direct competitor of hydraulic pan/tilt, is also a good hand at shooting ecological and sports themes. The design of cantilever pan-tilt is similar to the current three-axis stabilizer. By adjusting the center of gravity, the super telephoto lens can "level" the pitch axis on the cantilever platform, saving the photographer's shooting power. Cantilever pan/tilt is different from hydraulic pan/tilt. Cantilever pan/tilt is quite heavy, but its volume is larger than that of hydraulic pan/tilt, and it doesn't have the comfortable damping feeling of hydraulic pan/tilt, so it loses its feel in shooting. Therefore, at present, most "bird friends" have gradually replaced the same expensive cantilever pan-tilt with hydraulic pan-tilt

Although the cantilever pan/tilt has become very small, some manufacturers are still improving this kind of pan/tilt. For example, on the occasion of the centenary celebration of Gitzo the year before last, they released a hydraulic cantilever pan/tilt, which made the cantilever pan/tilt have an excellent feel of the hydraulic pan/tilt.

6, electric translation/tilt

Because the performance of brushless motor has developed rapidly in recent years, electric pan-tilt has actually become a product to be reckoned with. From simple electric pan/tilt to three-axis stabilizer and then to three-axis manipulator, it can actually be classified as electric pan/tilt in a broad sense.

For example, our common three-axis stabilizer can be simply used as a cantilever tripod head when it is used normally. When we make it rotate at a uniform speed, its jitter amplitude will be better than that of hydraulic pan/tilt. When we adjust the sensitivity of the control lever to the minimum, its accuracy is no less than the gear pan/tilt mentioned above. Even we can complete the inconvenient rotation delay and large-scale movement delay of ordinary mechanical ptz. If the three-axis stabilizer can't work without electricity, it is certainly not as practical as the mechanical pan/tilt, but the battery life of the mainstream three-axis stabilizer has reached 6- 12 hours, which is completely enough!

For the big category of electric pan/tilt, the biggest problem lies in price and portability. The price of a mainstream stabilizer can already be compared with that of a mid-to high-end pan/tilt, and its volume is much larger. Do you want to go out with 3-5 pan/tilt or 3-5 stabilizer?

Second, how to choose Yuntai?

1, depending on the use.

Spherical pan/tilt is the most widely used pan/tilt in the market now, because of its wide application range, simple operation and low cost. If you just shoot the scenery, then the spherical pan/tilt can satisfy you. If it is used for video and photography, you can also choose a spherical pan-tilt for photography and camera shooting, and make the spherical pan-tilt into a two-dimensional pan-tilt suitable for shooting video by fixing points.

If you want accurate composition, or specialize in composition, you should choose a three-dimensional platform. Because it can adjust each dimension independently, it can make more accurate composition.

If you specialize in video shooting, you need a hydraulic pan/tilt, which can maintain a certain direction displacement and is very suitable for scheduling smooth scenes.

If you are a bird catcher, you need a hydraulic or cantilever pan/tilt, and a new golden eagle cantilever pan/tilt that is more suitable for bird catching at present, which can meet the requirements of fast bird catching, vertical composition shooting and more flexible angle.

2. Look at the shooting style

If photographers prefer to shoot static scenes, then the stable pan-tilt is undoubtedly the first choice. At the same time, with the number of tripods (the less the number, the better the quality), the three-dimensional tripod head is a good choice, because it has no quick release design and is relatively more stable. For street photographers, lightweight spherical ptz is their key purchase type, because the flexibility and quick release design of spherical ptz can better meet their requirements for instant shooting. For the "soft girl" with less strength, try to buy a lightweight spherical tripod head to avoid the embarrassing situation that the screws can't be screwed at the critical moment.