Is there a product to aid smoother panning.

Yes

Hague make one see http://www.b-hague.co.uk/pan__tilt_power_head.htm I must admit I have been thinking about one of these myself.

Paul W. H

Well you don't see the pros using power pans, what you see is years of practice on a good well set up tripod. Some time back I had the opportunity to work with a seasoned pro with over 30 years experience. The first thing I noticed was how he set up his Miller DS10 tripod head, he had more drag on it than I imagined he would have. This was so it didn't jerk.

We were doing 120 degree pans of aircraft taking off, he used the EVF and bought the tripod legs in so he could step around them without jerking the pan.

Try getting on a hill and using a good fluid head tripod, practice on cars on the motorway. HTH
Cheers.

Allan you are correct about Pro's using Pro equipment and what they can achieve.

I am an amateur and I cannot afford or justify paying for Pro kit so there has to be a Plan "B" to try and gadgets like http://www.b-hague.co.uk/pan__tilt_power_head.htm help.

Well thats my view.


Paul W. H

Almost any decent fluid head tripod will give you smooth pans, as long as the camera isn't overweighted for it. The cheaper ones usually won't stop nicely at the end of the move, but you can, with practice, overcome that. I don't see how you'd follow action with some powered device like on that link.

My 2 cents: Spend the money on a better tripod. I've yet to see a motorized zoom that can approximate a pro. The secret to a great pan/tilt is varying the speed during the move so that there is a smooth ramp-up and ramp-down. Besides, how are you going to control any other aspect of the camera while operating a hand-control?
The motor will also add extra weight to your kit, and you have to worry about a power source that is otherwise available to you for free (your arms). A remote pan/tilt head is best used in situations where you can't physically access the camera.

There was a tip in the tripod discussions about using rubber bands to pull the lever with.

I tried it, and the results are so good it's embarrasing.

I do a lot of remote filming, so use the pan and tilt power head for that. It isn't difficult, after a bit of practice, to use the head controls in one hand, and the lanc controller in the other.

It still needs to be set up on a sturdy tripod - but note that it (or at least the one I have from Hague) has a 1/4 inch thread instead of the 3/8 inch that are standard on my Manfrotto tripods.

Tried the elastic band, brilliant, cheap, just cannot believe how how smooth the pan is, thanks.