Architechtural photography and levelling

[Eliot_Z_Cohen]

I live to give.... [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Isn't the ultimate best way to judge in the viewfinder (or ground glass ...) using a grid screen or focus points? Most DSLRs are too curvy, and I wouldn't trust a cheap plastic level other than to rough it in.

[DouglasUrner]

If you're working with a DSLR it will be hard (in my experience) to get everything lined up just right in the camera. It's just too hard to see -- guess I'm getting old.

But if you're willing to work with PTMac it is quite easy to do the last tweak on the computer.

Doug

[Terry_Uy]

I got the grid viewfinder screen for the 1d but it's hard to align because it's tough to see in dim interiors and even the lines in the scene aren't perfectly straight due to lens distortion plus it's easier to use and align the levels

I don't know if you can get it perfect "in camera" once you look at the scene with a Photoshop grid super-imposed. Look at any older architectural photography and you'll see where they carefully disguised and avoided tell-tale lines along the edges. Even with my Arca 4x5 and 90/4.5 (which are very bright) I would still have to correct the last 1% in Photoshop. Certainly that exceded the accuracy of any of these cheap levels we're discussing here - we'll need lasers to get it better.

[Waleed_Alzuhair]

Hey Terry,

I use the Manfrotto 475 tripod with the Manfrotto Grip action head. I've always depended on using the camera's AF points as leveling references with the horizon and composition I wanted..

[John_Luke]

Terry-

I use the Zircon Video Level 5.0
http://doitbest.com/shop/

Manfrotto 410
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controll...oughType=search

Level and plumb as follows:
Stand with your hands outstretched to the side looking straight ahead. "Level" refers to the orintation of your arms. "Plumb" refers to if your nose is pointing up or down.

To make "level", the camera is not mounted yet. I place my Zircon flat across my Arca plate on the tripod head, which is orientated the wide way, just like my EOS body. I adjust the corresponding head control knob to correct that plane.

To make "plumb", I then mount the camera, I remove the lens hood, and place the Zircon the tall way directly on the front of the lens housing over the glass. Don't worry, it never touches the glass. (If a tilt lens, zero it out first.) I adjust the other head control knob to correct that plane.

The advantage of independent tripod head controls is that once you nail down one plane, adjusting the other plane doesn't affect the first one you nailed down. I used to use the Bogen pistol grips, and ball heads, but abandoned those because if you want to tweak one direction, you have to loosen the whole thing, and thereby you loose orientation of everything and you're starting over.