Hi Forum Folks,

I own a very old Sachtler Panorama 7+7 fluid head, but am much more familiar with the newer "video" series from Sachtler where spring tension is adjusted by a series of on/off levers.

Just to be clear, I'm not talking about fluid drag, which is adjusted with large dials for pan and tilt with.... you guessed it, seven levels of drag on this head. I'm talking about the adjustment to counter-balance the mass of the camera. When properly adjusted the camera should stay wherever you leave it, tilted up or down, and not return to the center or fall forward or backward.

The front of the old film style Panorama has a red adjusting control. Here's a picture of one of these heads:

http://www.gallusproductions.com/images/fullimages/DSCN0009.jpg

You can see the control in the front of the head. I can adjust it to have no spring tension, or way too much tension for my D30 Sony camera. Does anyone here know how this control is supposed to work? I would appreciate your help!

Regards,
David

Anyone can help David?

Rob, now I know why your post count is up to nine trillion lol

I’m afraid I can’t help though; I am more use to the newer Sachtlers…

Have you tried calling Sachtler in New York? Someone might know, or know someone who does...
+1 516 8674900

Anyone else who can help David?

Now there's a good example of the global community.... getting a phone number of a place nearby from a helpful guy in Manchester, across the pond!

I have found a blow up diagram of the panorama head on Sachtler's website. I think the answer is the old heads had a single spring tension that can be set to "zero out" in a variety of positions. The control seems to be a pin that engages a plate attached to the spring. The various holes in the plate are reached by tilting the head, making that tilt position the center, and causing the spring to return the head to that particular position. The spring is either on.... or off. No adjustable tension.

No wonder they came up with better ideas. Still, with my D30 camera and the tilt drag set to 5, it's not a problem to leave the spring disengaged. Since I paid $650 for the head, sticks, spreader and case..... I'd best not complain!

Thank you both for the replies, gentlemen.

Regards,
David

I have one of those old panorama heads too, and i was told that mine was obsolete to get parts for. So now im thinking of getting rid of it, i'm just not sure where to sell it other than ebay...any ideas?

You could try Whitehouse AV, they sell used equipment. Although, it would have to be in good condition.

BTW You could use one of these heads for years and not need to have any repair work done on it.

Hi David, folk,
That is an oldie. we have repaired several of them and have a couple on the shelf for spare parts. The balance has only one engagement position and it can be engaged in a number of different tilt angle positions. With only one engagement position there is usually some "springback" which can be an issue for operators with lighter cameras. Some of the older shooters have a hard time switching to newer heads which balance much more nicely and actually want the springback they are used to !
Good luck and if you need some parts just let me know.