Testing Tripod and Head Vibration

ABOUT TRIPOD, HEAD AND VIBRATION MARCH 2005 PAGE 1 OF 15

standard 80mm lens was used.3 ABOUT 40 mirror up 1st curtain stop

This article is an update of my previous writing 20 35.4um 2nd curtain stop about vibration in camera support. It was first published on-line in January 2004 and this is the 0 4th major revision. -20

1/8 sec

VIBRATION AMPLITUDE[um] -40 March 2005 mirror down

40 1st curtain stop October 2007: Minor corrections and copyright 2nd curtain stop 20 information is revised. 5.1um

0 [Testing tripod-head vibration at the Markins office using Nikon D2H, laser vibrometer and data -20 1/8 sec INTRODUCTION mirror down acquisition system]

VIBRATION AMPLITUDE[um] -40 Even with some decades of advancement in 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 camera technologies, stable support with tripod I begin this article showing two most common TIME IN SECOND is the most promising way to get a sharper pic- and well known examples of camera related ture. Even with fancy control algorithms for vibra- vibrations. One is about MLU (Mirror Lock Up tion reduction, using tripod is the only practical Function) and the other is about the need for a You can see the start and stop signs of every solution that gives us freedom in photography. higher shutter speed. event. If your camera has a MLU function, there is no reason not to use it. If not, your camera True understanding is about a different manner Mirror Lock Up of doing something. When you understand how should provide a really nice breaking mechan- much you lose by not using tripod, you may not Mirror and shutter are the main moving parts in- ism to reduce the mirror shock. When it comes to be able to make a single shot without one. side the camera. If there is no external vibration, a mirror shock issues, some cameras are good, those are the only sources of camera vibration. some are bad. But it should be noted that it’s 1 All rights reserved in all countries. No part of this ar- The vibration caused by mirror collision is quite ticle may be reproduced in any form or by any elec- big in most cameras. 2 Following graphs suggest tronic or mechanical means including information how much the vibrations caused by it would be. 3 It should be noted here that the signal level was big storage and retrieval systems without permission in due to an improper floor-spike combination. All the writing from the author, except by a reviewer who For this measurement Hasselblad 205FCC with vibration energy provided by mirror shock was may quote brief passages in a review. bounced from the hard laboratory basement floor. But I still want to present this data because it shows Contact information: the patterns of shock and vibration in detail. You can [email protected] 2 John Shaw said that the camera without MLU is not a see the typical response of my Hasselblad 205FCC in http://www.markins.com/ camera. later part of this document.

ABOUT TRIPOD, HEAD AND VIBRATION MARCH 2005 PAGE 2 OF 15 not the mirror down shock but the mirror up modules is inevitable. easily tell the difference. Avoid lenses that show shock that affect the picture quality. more movement. In case of a teleport lens, the quality of photo is Everything Is Important affected more because of the larger magnifica- Nowadays the medium format camera seems to tion, heavier mass and longer length. VR lens by draw more attention from someone who aims If you want to minimize vibration, you need to Nikon or IS lens by Canon or something like that for a higher resolution photo. Anyway most of take everything into account. Virtually every- is to minimize the vibration effect by controlling the medium format camera is for professional thing affects the picture sharpness. The perfor- the ray trace in a fashion that is just the opposite use. It means that it guarantees a better performance of the whole system is determined by the of the lens vibration. It is quite helpful in hand- mance in most situations. The mirror size of them weakest part. If the lens is not well built, especial- held shot. But these lenses are based on rota- is bigger but the weight of the body is enough ly the cheap standard zoom lens, the lens itself tional vibration measurement from built-in MEMS heavy to compensate the effect so that the re- can cause a lot of vibration. Generally speaking gyro sensors, the performance would be even sulting vibration in a medium format camera is a manual focus lens is stiffer in construction and better if the lens is supported by a tripod. As the quite small and in some cases outperforms the so much stable than an auto focus lens. sensor measures rotational vibration and controls 35mm format camera. Assume that you are using a state-of-the-art Digi- the ray based on sensing data, it can do its best 12 tal SLR camera and if your ball head cannot when vibration occurs only in rotational direc- 10 hold the camera stable, then you are going to tion.4 8 waste your money. Assume you put your tripod 6 4 on a ground thickly covered with autumn leaves. 12 10 2 If you don’t push the tripod’s feet deep to the 8 0 ground with spikes, then you cannot expect a 6 -2 -4 stable support. 4 2 -6 0 -8

80 VIBRATION AMPLITUDE [um] -10 -2 -12 60 -4 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 -6 40 TIME IN SECOND -8

20 [um] AMPLITUDE VIBRATION -10 [Hasselblad 205FCC with standard lens] -12 0 1.6 1.8 2.0 However, from my 3 month experience with Pen- -20 TIME IN SECOND tax67, making a shot without the MLU function -40 [Nikkor 80-400mm VR lens with Nikon F100] was almost impossible. For me, it was the biggest VIBRATION AMPLITUDE [um] AMPLITUDE VIBRATION shock I’ve ever experienced as for the mirror -60 Among many parameters considered for lens 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 shock. selection, the build quality related to vibration TIME IN SECOND should also be included. And it is quite simple. As you found here, this document contains a lot [Standard zoon lens on Sigma SD9] Just push any positions of the lens and you can of graphs. For the people who are not accus- Above is an example of a loosely assembled tomed with graphs or numbers, it would be bet- cheap zoom lens. In designing these kinds of lens, ter to have one number in mind as a reference. 4 You will see more data about vibration patterns in motor load has to be minimized without increas- later chapters. And your vibration controlled lens sys- A common film scanner has a scanning resolu- ing necessary power and cost. The assembly is tem would work best if it gets a clean, nice, symme- tion of 4000dpi. This can be interpreted as a min- loose to minimize frictional load while focusing. trical pattern of vibration. By providing such environ- imum pixel size of 6.35 x 6.35um2 (0.00635 x ment, you give the control system a simplest set of This means that a lot of vibration inside the lens 0.00635mm2) which is less than 10 micron in di- problem.

ABOUT TRIPOD, HEAD AND VIBRATION MARCH 2005 PAGE 3 OF 15 ameter. Let this be the starting point of our ar- From above results, following argument can be I’ve used some of the Contax RTS 7 series which gument of vibration analysis. The support system drawn. Sometimes human oriented vibration is has no middle stages in shutter pressing action. should perform at least the level of the minimum much bigger than the one caused by camera For me, it was harder to get to know the exact pixel size of the given camera image sensor or mechanism. A human oriented vibration means timing of shutter firing compared with most me- film resolution. a shake by operator who is surprised by a sud- chanical shutter. However, most SLR cameras den sound or shock by shutter and mirror. are good if they are used in handheld condition. Handheld Shooting, Fast Shutter Speed Usually the mirror shock itself does not make It's widely accepted that the shutter speed, if Holding a camera stable is not easy, even we much difference in handheld condition.8 handheld, should be faster than 1.5~2 times the want to believe that sometimes we could hold it angle of view of the lens, i.e., use at least 1/125s Handheld Shooting, Vibration bracketing stable. I had no idea how good one could hold. for 50mm lens and 1/250s for 180mm. By using So Mr. Mah, CEO of Markins 5 and me, tried So if I have to shot without tripod, I sometimes try faster shutter speed, the effect of vibration handheld shot using Leica R6.2 with Apo Macro vibration bracketing. Just like doing focus could be reduced. 100mm f2.8. The first graph was my data and the bracketing or exposure bracketing. But it’s al- other was Mr. Mah’s. These are the best results Handheld Shooting, SLR vs. RF camera ways better to get your tripod. You only have from us on that day. Mr. Mah held his breath two legs, only the weird lady at the beach near I’ve used many RF cameras including Leica M6, perfectly in good posture while taking the data Manfrotto logo has three legs.9 black-dial IIIf and legendary Leica M3. Each of 200 my Leica M was also equipped with the soft re- 150 lease 6 , which really works. Even the way one 100 presses the shutter matters when you are in the MAIN 50 realm of RF cameras. 0 We normally expect a sharper picture in RF Most of the experiments were done in well es- -50 camera. But having no mirror is not the only rea- tablished environment, so the actual magnitude -100 son. There are more dominant factors such as of vibrations could be greater by more than -150 shorter ray travel length, tighter tolerance be- three times in the field environment. And please VIBRATION AMPLITUDE [um] -200 tween assembly, less moving part, etc. The dis- do not try to compare results in different envi- 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 tance from front lens to the film is much shorter ronment even the systems used are identical. TIME IN SECOND than SLR camera. Because RF camera uses ma- 200 Resolution or Sharpness nual focus lens, it can be built to have more tight 150 tolerance than usual AF lens. I have to start this journey with some talks about 100 resolution. When we do talk about sharpness Some SLR cameras have bigger mirror shock 50 about the photo, we’re also considering the and this causes an unconscious reaction. Some- 0 contrast. But if we talk about resolution, it be- times this human oriented vibration is bigger -50 comes something simply mechanical. than the actual vibrations caused by mirror. You -100 may feel quite a strong shock in Leica R series -150 7 Contax RTS I, RTS II, RTS III, RX VIBRATION AMPLITUDE[um] camera but most of the shock is due to the mir- 8 -200 Recent Olympus EVOLT E-300 has mirror which oper- 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 ror down shock that is irrelevant to photo quality. ates in horizontal direction. I become very curious TIME IN SECOND about the feel of this kind of configuration as I guess the response of that camera will be a bit different. 9 On page 51 of American PHOTO March/April 2005 5 http://www.markins.com 6 http://rapidwinder.com/#softrelease issue

ABOUT TRIPOD, HEAD AND VIBRATION MARCH 2005 PAGE 4 OF 15

The reason I start this chapter with the word ‘res- when all the effects like film flatness, focusing ing the level of vibration and these are also in- olution’ is simple, to set the maximum allowable accuracy and other effects are included. 12 Re- terconnected. It is so small to be measured by level of vibration. In fact, dealing with all the cent digital SLR has another problem of its own. general measuring tools. physics of ray or light is beyond the level of this They generate more heat which can deform the In the field, all these parameters are responsible article. However, you are asked to accept the internal body structure causing thermal defor- for the final result. But to understand the nature general idea that the light rays on film is not a mation error. of camera vibration, parameters have to be mi- point but a circular shape, i.e. donut. Erwin Puts Practical maximum resolution is about 20~25um nimized. It took me most of the time to get to mentioned that the minimum donut size is about if the whole system is taken account. know the typical working range and error mar- 0.005mm in diameter.10 gin of various parameters. According to the article on EETIMES13 in 1999, Fuji We are dealing with hot donuts of 0.005mm in Super CCD is known to have 4.5um pitch be- Here some sample parameters are listed. diameter. tween pixels. And currently it is about a few mi- 1. where the tripod stands crons. And with some exceptions, image sensor has multiple color channels in planar orientation. 2. the method or material used on each So it becomes obvious that the vibration is more leg's foot dangerous in digital camera. If we regard the 3. the tripod vibration as a sharpness killer, the 135 format digital SLR is the easiest target. 4. center pole or direct attachment A rigid support plays an even more important 5. base attachment of tripod head role in an era of digital imaging. Especially for 6. ball or 3 way head itself the digital SLR camera you should use faster shutter speed and a stable support to make your 7. quick shoe or bolt mount So we are dealing with 5um donuts, baked hot, huge investment worthwhile. Even the VR, IS or 8. fixing of camera plate and camera ready to leave traces on the film or sensor. And if AS lens 14 can perform at its best when provided there are vibrations, all the sweet coverings on 9. Lens mount, shutter, mirror, body struc- with a stable support. Once you know the speci- donuts will scatter. If you want a tasty donut, try ture, body weight, etc. fications and price of commercially available not to vibrate the donut while moving them. MEMS gyro sensor, you can understand the limit Performance of the system is defined by the Canvas Consideration of these kind of vibration reduction system. weakest part or the joint. If you are a long time car owner, you would understand what I mean. I Images of light are finally captured on film or Tripod can’t remember the exact sentence but a copy sensor. And we enjoy the picture in various for- Testing a tripod system was more complicated like “90% of the Camry still on the road since first mats like print, projection, CRT monitor, LCD, etc. experiments than I first imagined. It is not simple launched” which claims a quite similar situation. So what is the determining number in terms of because there are too many parameters affect- It means it is well balanced product with lesser or final media of image? no weak point. When one is to live with some- We can find a good and well organized data at thing or someone for long time, having less weak 12 Robert Monaghan at Medium format club Norman Koran’s web page. 11 Practical limit of points is better than having a few wonderful as- http://medfmt.8k.com/mf/limits.html resolution is often mentioned to be 20~25um 13 http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG19991020S0073 pects with more weak points. At least, it is my 14 VR (Vibration Reduction), IS (Image Stabilizer), AS belief in selecting or designing a product. 10 See the document named ‘Leica R-lenses’ in official (Anti Shake). Whatever the name is, they all based on Leica homepage. miniature gyroscope sensor readout that tells how However, let me throw a spell to better under- 11 http://www.normankoren.com/Tutorials/MTF7.html much it vibrates in rotational direction.

ABOUT TRIPOD, HEAD AND VIBRATION MARCH 2005 PAGE 5 OF 15 stand the situation. I upgraded my spell casting External: wind, wave, ground vibration, etc. model the system with this equation. words from previous version. Internal: mirror shock, shutter vibration, user vi- F = m x" = m a “Locomotoor mortis!” or “Petrificus Totalis!"15 bration. Fsystem1 = Fsystem2 = Fequivalent Vibration: how much? m1 a1 = m2 a2 Amplitude: minimum under 3um in amplitude. So if one of the mass is big then its acceleration Normally it can be under 20um. Even with some and the resulting vibration will be smaller. care, it is easy to be more than 300um. Vibration: of which system? Frequency: frequency range of the resulting vibration depends on the length and design of The last equation is very simple. With given mirror the camera system. Typically it ranges from or shutter mass, we can have smaller response 20~100Hz. when the mass of the other side of equation is big. Is using heavier camera and tripod setup Vibration: look like what? the only solution? There is more. Rotational mode of vibration is dominant. It Vibration: rigid or flexible? means that when one end of lens goes down, the film side across the tripod goes up. The virtual setup assumed to be made of stone might be the most stable setup. Heavier tripod Vibration: measuring equipment? All that's listed and shown became a single might be the next practical alternative. On the stone including the floor 16 except the camera. I One needs to have very good and expensive contrary, if your camera is suspended from a think that you need this spell in very windy field. setup to measure and record vibrations from the single wire, this will be the minimum mass you This is the ideal vibration-free camera support camera. I used a precision capacitive gap sen- can get. Real world lies in between these two setup. If I remembered it right, Ansel Adams was sor and a laser vibrometer with an analog to dig- ideal situations. ital converter board and sometimes with a spec- carrying a big solid concrete block to make the There is a possibility of having heavier system if trum analyzer. support stable. 17 Precision machine tools always you can add mass effectively. You can do it by sit on top of the big solid epoxy granite bed. Vibration: basics tightly and rigidly adding parts. Loose linkage along the vibration path will end this possibility. Vibration: from where? Here is the most basic equation in vibration.18 Some of the plastic camera body and cheap AF F = m x"+ c x'+ k x lens are loosely assembled. It is inevitable to 15 http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art11045.asp The camera-tripod system is assembled with save battery power and keep the AF speed. Vi- http://gothlupin.tripod.com/s.html many parts including even the ground it stands. brations are reflected and added at these 16 In fact, the building also vibrates but we are not Every part interacts with each other. What is loosely assembled contacts, which makes any going to consider that. A giant step of a heavy guy transferred is a dynamic energy. This energy can effort to reduce vibration useless. can make the floor vibrate about 5um. have different forms such as deformation, acce- 17 As I’m searching for a reference, I encountered More Equivalent Mass: How? something similar recommendation at other site. leration. Whatever the form is, the amount is http://www.popphoto.com/idealbb/view.asp?topicI equal. With lots of simplification, we can finally You can increase the total equivalent mass of D=34882 “With any 500MM lens, proper shooting the system by rigidly attaching each part from a technique is not optional--it's required. Sturdy tripod is 18 I used " mark as a double derivatives, so x" means filter on lens to the ground on which the tripod Numero Uno. If possible, use a 20 ton block of solid acceleration, x' means velocity so as not to include stands. If any part along the system fails to pro- concrete.” symbolic font in this document.

ABOUT TRIPOD, HEAD AND VIBRATION MARCH 2005 PAGE 6 OF 15 vide enough stiffness, many different vibrations Markins Q-Ball head in other websites.19 Simplified Test Setup occur before and after that point. Using spikes Studio vs. Field Below picture shows the simplified test setup for and pushing deep into the ground let the earth testing each head unit. The main reason for be included in your setup. In studio photography, the situation is quite dif- doing this is to give same conditions for the ferent. We have plenty of chances to see the Use stiffer system, if you don’t want additional DUT 22 . The vibration was measured at point ‘B’ studio and it is easier to find 3 way heads than weight. You can increase equivalent mass by using a capacitive gap sensor from Lion Preci- ball head in studio. We should not be misled by using stiffer tripod and ball head. sion, Inc. 23 HP35670A dynamic signal analyzer this scene because actual exposure time is very was used for data saving and processing along But when the tripod stands on a hard indoor short in flash and studio light condition so the with HP-VEE pro software. 24 With exactly the floor with hard spikes, it will not hold the ground. effect of vibration can be neglected completely. same configuration, various ball heads and 3 This differs from the case of loud speaker with It’s Precision Measuring Equipment. way heads were attached and tested. Vibration spikes because such speaker has enough was given by firing Hasselblad 205FCC focal weight to make the contact rigid for holding the I’m in the field of micro/nano technology. What shutter. So as to give consistent amount of vibra- units which experience high vibration energy. I’m doing is measuring physical parameters, es- 25 pecially displacement or vibration, from chatter- tion, Hasselblad 205FCC body was loaded on Markins Q-Ball Head ing in machine tools to MEMS/NEMS 20 resonator quick release at ‘A’ position. The shutter was This article is not for promoting Markins products. using STM21. fired at 1/8 second using an air release. However, as I was exploring the nature of cam- The most worthwhile investment for a better pic- era vibration, I became convinced about the ture is a support. What we need is a stable sup- performance of Markins ball head. And as a port for a precision system. We can find a plenty mechanical designer myself, I want to share the of reviews and recommendations on cameras or joy of using a well design product. lens, but we can find relatively little on support With a lot of vibration experiments Markins Q-Ball system. I’d like to give information in both qualit- head was proved to be built to have high stiff- ative and quantitative manners hoping for your ness assembled with high quality parts. It might better understanding of situation. be better to have heavier head if your tripod is I’ll show you the result by 3 way head which heavier than usual. But the Markins M-10 shows might be an old model but one of the top mod- the same top level performance in much lighter els from Hakuba. The exposure duration is be- weight giving a better stability balance in most DATA tween the front two peaks. The following vibra- professional tripods. Putting too heavy gear on tions are after mirror is down. What you should top of the light weight tripod decreases stability see in these data is the pattern and amplitude of the whole setup. Someone might argue that 19 Nikonians club: http://www.nikonians.org/ of the vibration. It will tell a general hint about heavier head like Arca Swiss B1 gives more sta- Dpreview: http://www.dpreview.com/ the different characteristics. Mirror down shock bility by putting down the whole setup but this is Photo.net: http://www.photo.net/ true only when the center of mass on top is in WebSiteOptimization: 22 device under test 23 perfect position which is hardly achievable in http://www.websiteoptimization.com/speed/tweak/b http://www.lionprecision.com/ allhead/ 24 http://www.agilent.com the field. Nature Photographic Society: 25 One might think that it was a medium format cam- http://www.naturephotosociety.org.sg/ASP/Article.as And the durability of internal, external parts of era, so the vibration would be greater than 135format. p?DBAPublishDate=7/1/2004 the Markins product is just amazing. You can find 20 Micro/Nano electo-mechanical system But the truth is that it isn't. It is superior than most 135 more articles and opinions about the quality of 21 Scanning Tunneling Microscope format camera.

ABOUT TRIPOD, HEAD AND VIBRATION MARCH 2005 PAGE 7 OF 15 was even doubled in this long-armed head. sidering individual deviation even among the 100 80 100 same model. However there are some differ- 60 80 ences in patterns of vibration 40 60 It should be noted again that experimenting 20 40 0 20 with this setup was not easy. Except Markins M10 -20 0 and M20, all tripod heads were sliding (rotation- -40 -20 al). The actual sliding speed was so slow that it -60 -40 was hard to get the feel of sliding without help of

VIBRATION AMPLITUDE [um] -80 -60 a high resolution displacement sensor. I could -100

VIBRATION AMPLITUDE [um] -80 easily see the motion with a speed about 0.20.30.40.50.60.70.80.9 -100 TIME IN SECOND 0.20.30.40.50.60.70.80.9 2~4um/sec at point ‘B’. This made it difficult to [Arca Swiss B126] TIME IN SECOND release the shutter for experiments. 100 [Hakuba 3 way] 100 80 80 Similar pattern was obtained for this unusual off 60 60 center configuration ball head from Gitzo. While 40 40 usual ball head from Gitzo will work fine, only 20 20 0 light camera setup seems acceptable for this 0 -20 specific kind of head. -20 -40 -40 100 -60 -60

80 [um] AMPLITUDE VIBRATION -80

VIBRATION AMPLITUDE [um] AMPLITUDE VIBRATION -80 60 -100 -100 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 40 0.30.40.50.60.70.80.91.0 TIME IN SECOND 20 TIME IN SECOND [FOBA27] 0 [Markins M20] -20 One may get the wrong impression that the re- -40 100 -60 80 sult of FOBA is the best. But remember that the

VIBRATION AMPLITUDE [um] AMPLITUDE VIBRATION -80 60 mass of the M10, M20, B1 and FOBA are different, -100 40 and FOBA that we used has no panning base. 0.10.20.30.40.50.60.70.8 20 And what I came to know is the durability of FO- TIME IN SECOND 0 BA is not that good compared with Markins or [Gitzo off center ball head] -20 Arca Swiss. My experience of that specific FOBA -40 It is important to align the origin of vibration with -60 ball head under test is that it was not smooth in major structure. Providing offset will work if the

VIBRATION AMPLITUDE [um] AMPLITUDE VIBRATION -80 operation. It has something close to the stick load on top is light and only if the vibration is -100 and slip feels of the cheaper ones. Recently 28 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 coming from outside not from inside. there are many new ball heads released in the TIME IN SECOND Available professional ball heads were tested [Markins M10] with the same condition. All are reported to be 26 CLA(clean-lubricate-adjust) by Mr. Mah very good from users around the world. Their 27 Only ball head tested here having no panning function performances are almost equal in practice con- 28 2007

ABOUT TRIPOD, HEAD AND VIBRATION MARCH 2005 PAGE 8 OF 15 market. But the consistent performance is not an result possible. If there is wind, all these differ- easy character to be obtained. Some may show ences cannot be seen. The effect of wind will good holding performance in fresh condition dominate in image blurring. but the performance degrades very quickly. 40 40 If you look into the details of the graphs, you will 20 notice that there are big difference between 20 7.45um Markins ball heads and others. This is due to 0 some micro slip29 at the contact area of the ball 0 and its counterpart. However the Markins ball -20 8.3um -20 heads held the test bar firmly in any moment.

VIBRATION AMPLITUDE [um] -40

Long Teleport Lens with MLU and Self-Timer Test VIBRATION AMPLITUDE [um] -40 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 When you really want to record the image with TIME IN SECOND TIME IN SECOND high resolution, you should do MLU and use self- [Markins M20 #2] [Hakuba #1] timer. Next experiments were taken using with

205FCC Hasselblad camera, 250mm f4 lens at 40 40 1/8 second after mirror was locked up. 20 20 8.85um Again I started with 3 way head. This time 3 way 7.93um head performs good. There are less energy in- 0 0 duced by mirror-up shock and it has very large holding contact surface compared with typical -20 -20 ball head. That means, if other situations are VIBRATION AMPLITUDE [um]

VIBRATION AMPLITUDE [um] AMPLITUDE VIBRATION -40 ideal and if the mass center of lens and camera -40 is well balanced at the geometric center, it can 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 perform really okay. I’ll list 2 test results for each TIME IN SECOND TIME IN SECOND head set. [Hakuba #2] [FOBA #1] Again, these results were obtained in very ideal 40 indoor conditions. These are probably the best 40 20 8.75um 20 29 In the result of Arca Swiss B1, it looks better in dam- 0 pening. But closer look of the 3rd peak reveals that it 0 slipped a little downside. The vibration was damped -20 -20 8.5um by consuming a frictional energy. The following vibra-

tion decreased by frictional damping. It worked well VIBRATION AMPLITUDE [um] -40

VIBRATION AMPLITUDE [um] AMPLITUDE VIBRATION -40 this time, but if the impulse happens when the lens is in 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 its lowest position, it will increase the amplitude. It de- TIME IN SECOND TIME IN SECOND pends on luck. However, Markins M20 and M10 with- [FOBA #2] stand the mirror down shock and continue to vibrate [Markins M20 #1] in upward direction. This means that they do not slip.

ABOUT TRIPOD, HEAD AND VIBRATION MARCH 2005 PAGE 9 OF 15

vibration, we have a blurred grey image of do- 40 nut. It is almost impossible to get rid of the small

20 vibration. We have to live with the blurred do- 9.8um nuts. The only difference is the amount of blur. 0 These are the best brushes that we have today for making photography. Narrowing your eye will -20 help visualize the results.

VIBRATION AMPLITUDE [um] AMPLITUDE VIBRATION -40 The donuts diameter was assumed to be 0.005mm and vibration signatures of previous 0.50.60.70.80.91.01.1 experiments were used. TIME IN SECOND [Arca Swiss B1 #1]

40 [FOBA #1]

-20 11.5um

VIBRATION AMPLITUDE [um] AMPLITUDE VIBRATION -40

0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 TIME IN SECOND [Arca Swiss B1 #2]

There are so many environmental parameters [Markins M20 #1] that cannot be neglected. So please don’t try to compare the products with this kind of not- [FOBA #2] simplified experiments. Instead, I’ll give you some fun stuff using above data. Variations among each experiment are greater than equipment difference. This is the reason I Anyway, what we can get from above data is recommend a vibration bracketing for a critical that we should always use MLU function. shot. Blurred Donuts If you ever astonished by a really sharp print, Do you remember that we are dealing with hot then you will admit that result by assuming donuts of 0.005mm in diameter? 0.005mm sized donuts is not an exaggeration to carry my point. Motions of donuts being exposed on film is simulated for each vibration record. If there is no vibration, the resulting image will be a single black [Markins M20 #2] donut in maximum contrast. Because there is

ABOUT TRIPOD, HEAD AND VIBRATION MARCH 2005 PAGE 10 OF 15

This will pose an even more serious situation in One setup was built with FOBA and Manfrotto digital image sensors. (Bogen) 055 and the other with the Titan Atlas Markins M1030 and Gitzo.31 Let's look at the results of Nikon D2H, the same shutter box is used in Nikon F5. Result just below is by Markins M10 setup.

20 15

10 5

-5

[Arca Swiss B1 #1] -10

-15 [Without Mirror Lock Up] VIBRATION AMPLITUDE [um] -20 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 TIME IN SECOND Following is the result using Manfrotto 055 tripod and FOBA. I’m pretty sure that no better result could be expected with Arca Swiss B1 considering all the previous results that it shows micro slip in extreme conditions like a big load or a high frequency load.

30 Do you recognize the M10 ball head with white ball? [Arca Swiss B1 #2] It is the one on the test bar movie at Markins homepage that is severely tortured for years. I guess this After I built a simulation program with real vibra- [With Mirror Lock Up] M10 is the most unfortunate Q-Ball head ever made. tion data, I became inclined to do the simula- Other ball heads meet great owners and share the tion for MLU case, too. I put the ‘NO MLU/MLU’ Vibration weakens the contrast a lot. joy of taking photography, and see the world. But this data and got following images. The vibration is Machine Gun Test: Motor Drive M-10 always holds the test bar, only taking cameras not only worsening the resolution but also wea- without film. And even sometimes, Mr. Mah hangs Here is another fun test. The Nikon D2H was shot kening the contrast. over the test bar to show its holding force to office continuously in two different setups. The very first As you see in the example without using MLU, all visitors. So I am adding special comment for that spe- photo in this article was taken while doing this the surrounding donuts have to work together to cific M10 here. experiment. The front of camera was tilted build a visible image. So if the neighbor of one 31 Arca Swiss B1 on Manfrotto 055 is an unbalanced about 15 degree downward. Vibration was donut with red color is blue, the film will record setup in my opinion. Too heavy thing on weak tripod is measured by a laser vibrometer having 0.1um/s the red donut with blue casting, resulting purple. not good. We already have Nikon D2H on it. So I of velocity resolution. didn’t try that combination.

ABOUT TRIPOD, HEAD AND VIBRATION MARCH 2005 PAGE 11 OF 15

20 hear the sound generated by the shutter driven The result is also something that cannot be 15 at full speed at Dpreview website.33 reached by a portable(!) tripod. 10 If you want something really sturdy, then look at Loose Assembly: Just Not Good 5 the result here with the same Nikon D2H test with Auto focus lens is convenient but not without 0 Markins M10 and ‘Linhof Heavy Duty Two-Section sacrifices. You can easily locate badly designed -5 Pro Tripod’. 34 The weight of tripod itself is 16.oolb AF lenses. For less power consumption and fast -10 (7.26kg). tracking speed, they give up the quality of tight-

VIBRATION AMPLITUDE [um] AMPLITUDE VIBRATION -15 ness. If your lens shows a lot of playing among -20 0.00.51.01.5 parts, it will never know where to put the donuts. TIME IN SECOND If you want more information see the article by Robert Monaghan in Medium format library.35 Tripod also played a role here. Tripod legs were not pulled out in both cases. So the only suspect AF lens is more apt to vibrate than MF lens. that caused this difference is the material of This is an example using Sigma SD9 with standard each tripod. Assume you have long cylindrical zoom lens. rods, one in wood and the other in crystal, with same diameter and length. Now hit one end of 20 each rod. The sound generated will be quite dif- 15 10 ferent. Energy propagates more easily in homo- 5 geneous material. From this ground, we can ex- 0 pect more dampening in carbon fiber material. -5 20 We can suspect one more reason. Because -10 15 there is a gyro-force acting on the ball head -15 10 caused by the motor drive FOBA tends to slip [um] AMPLITUDE VIBRATION -20 away from fixed position. It can stand static 5 -25 0.00.51.01.5 force but fails to hold its position if dynamic force 0 TIME IN SECOND such as impact is given. This is also a clue why -5 we need very large load capacity in ball head. -10 I bought this camera with the cheapest lens be-

VIBRATION AMPLITUDE [um] AMPLITUDE VIBRATION -15 cause of limited budget when we need a digital You can see the very detail by zooming in this -20 camera for work. I was also curious about the pdf document. Close examination will tell you 0.00.51.01.5 Foveon X3 sensor. It’s true that it generates less how the slips in micro range affect the vibrations. TIME IN SECOND Moire patterns 36 but it becomes worthless with a Signal pattern in Markins M10 is very consistent bad lens construction. It becomes like the while FOBA pattern contains very low frequency torque). Forcing it slowly or hitting with soft material is above even with Gitzo 1227 tripod and Markins drift under 1Hz. This low frequency vibration is not enough. A high frequency impact load makes it M20 ball head. Every part in zoom lens plays ar- due to an insufficient holding force in presence easy to pull out the bolt. This applies exactly the op- bitrary colliding with nearby parts. I’m not saying 32 of high frequency impact load. You can also posite way in tripod ball head case. that the entire lenses from Sigma are bad. The 33

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond2h/page6. 32 Assume a tightly fixed bolt or screw, to unscrew it asp 35 http://medfmt.8k.com/third/af.html one usually apply an impulsive load (to be specific, 34 http://linhof.com 36 http://www.mathematik.com/Moire/

ABOUT TRIPOD, HEAD AND VIBRATION MARCH 2005 PAGE 12 OF 15 camera system under test was so loosely assem- at no cost. This is one of my conclusions. Try your- bled that it seemed just like driving an old car on self to be a sniper if your camera has no MLU an unpaved road. Top quality tripods and heads function, if you get your tripod free. There should become useless. It is so easy to ruin your setup. be a situation that makes your effort worthwhile. You only need to have one minor element that is However, don’t persuade anyone that one can not proper. A slightly touch of your lens will result beat a regular tripod unless you have a third leg. like this. Windy Condition 40 Wind is often the main source of vibration in 30 outdoor photography. A really sturdy tripod sys- 20 tem is required. In a windy condition, the ball 10 head is better than the 3 way head because the 0 wind pressure would be smaller. Screw type tri- -10 pod leg is better than lever type. Main structure -20 on top also has to be designed aerodynamically.

VIBRATION AMPLITUDE [um] AMPLITUDE VIBRATION -30

-40 10 0.00.51.01.52.0 8 TIME IN SECOND 6 Above is another case which is not for the worst 4 case; this is a regular situation. This signal was 2 0 measured at the end of Nikon 80-400mm VR lens -2 mounted on F100 camera. A customer who vi- -4 sited the Markins office willingly took part in our -6 experiment and did operate his equipment on VIBRATION AMPLITUDE [um] -8 -10 tripod very carefully. We can learn from this ex- 0246810 perience that we need to have a little time be- TIME IN SECOND fore actually taking shot to minimize vibrations [Gitzo 1227 1.56kg (3.03 lbs) tripod] during equipment manipulation. We can also 10 use a self timer for the same purpose. However, 8 it will not work if the self timer does mirror up just 6 before the shutter release. The mirror should be 4 2 at up position far before the shutter action. 0 Try to run 100m in 11 seconds. -2 -4 It occurred to me that a human body has so -6 much potential that it might be possible to hold VIBRATION AMPLITUDE [um] -8 -10 a camera very stable. If we practice, if we keep 0246810 in good shape, we can hold it better than some TIME IN SECOND cheap tripod. I mean something we get virtually [Manfrotto (Bogen) 055 2.5kg (4.85 lbs) tripod]

ABOUT TRIPOD, HEAD AND VIBRATION MARCH 2005 PAGE 13 OF 15

In this setup, the direction of wind changes by tice using one’s equipment properly with good the front wind guide. So the vibration amplitude knowledge of it. was oscillating according to the wind speed In the same manner, one can still be happy if and direction. one knows how much the equipment can pro- I heard much about a windy situation from Mr. vide. Having normal chances of success does Mah but I could not fully understand or agree not mean that something is impossible. But it is what he said until I tested the tripod with this very important to know whether your equipment small fan. I couldn’t believe my eyes. guarantees higher chances or not. So use faster shutter speed when your tripod and head are Again Manfrotto 055 37 tripod and Gitzo setup not for professionals. This kind of practice will with Markins M10 ball head and Nikon D2H guarantee you the similar quality of image. camera were tested for comparison. At this time, What I want to emphasize is that there is a dif- only difference is the tripod. You may want to ference and we need to know the difference. You can also see that without the center column know how strong the fan can generate but I Finally we should think and act based upon it. you get a higher natural frequency and a nar- couldn’t find any specifications. It is only a small rower envelop, which means a stiffer system. desktop fan for personal use. The wind was far Tuning Tripod: Markins Tripod Base TB-20 and TB- from being strong. 30 30

If there is no such difference, there is no reason Having too many adjusting parts is not good in 20 to pay twice or three times much money on your terms of vibration reduction because it might be 10 tripod. One last comment about this test is that a the reason for an excessive vibration. Markins Markins tripod base TB-20 was used, replacing recognized this and provides a simple but great 0

Gitzo center column. I’m sure that this also helps solution. -10 a lot in reducing the wind effect. -20

Some other remarks [um] AMPLITUDE VIBRATION -30 Vibration comes from so many sources. There is 0 100 200 300 400 no simple solution. DATA INDEX (0.2 seconds) [With Markins tripod base] This article is not suggesting that you must buy 30 professional equipment to reduce the effect of vibration. Professional equipment will guarantee 20 a higher chance of success. We don’t have to 10 pay all the prices when nobody but oneself cares about the blurred images. One can try 0 bracketing. One can try later. But if one wants -10 higher chances then one should learn and prac- -20 With a Markins tripod base, the vibration was [um] AMPLITUDE VIBRATION 37 I have no malicious intention on Manfrotto tripod. I decreasing more rapidly. In other word, using -30 also used Manfrotto 190 for a long time before I up- Markins tripod base, the camera becomes more 0 100 200 300 400 graded to Gitzo. Manfrotto 190 or 055 are the most DATA INDEX (0.2 seconds) common tripod selections when one first considers stable than with the original center column. [With Original center column] getting one. Availability is the only reason.

ABOUT TRIPOD, HEAD AND VIBRATION MARCH 2005 PAGE 14 OF 15

Previous results are the vibrations in different se- if there is no motion, the result will be a 430 for means we need an enlargement between 8x tup using a Hasselblad with macro bellows. With each black pixel. Then the pixel with value of and 32x to see the detail in the negative.” above measured data, we can visualize the dif- 430 will be saved as black in image file and val- This again means that in 20”x24” enlargement ference, again by assuming donuts of 0.005mm ue 0 will be saved as white. you can see the difference. And if you record in diameter. your image with a very stable support, you will see the detail which you cannot see in a smaller print. A whole new world is just in front of you. It’s not just about resolution; the whole things are different including contrast or color definition.

FINAL NOTE

This report can be written and posted with a great help and advice from Mr. Mah, who de- [0.005mm donuts, same as the donuts image on signed the Markins Q-Ball head series. I tried to

the left column] visualize what I learned from him through his [Resulting brush size: Base vs. Column] words and photos using my knowledge and And as the aperture changes the size of donuts I’ve tested and compared with several cameras background. will also change. In next example the donuts di- and lenses in different situations. And I can easily ameter is set 0.01mm. Both are simulated with With a small (considering the amount we spent conclude that using a Markins tripod base is the same vibration traces. on lens and body upgrade) investment and ef- simply a better solution. Also to get a stable sup- fort, we can get much better pictures. And we port, avoid using any soft material along the should believe that we can make a better pic- support. So avoid plate or any modules with cork, ture using current cameras and glasses. They rubber on top. It will increase the amplitude and can perform better if we provide them with a decrease damping. Soft materials will not work more stable support. as a damper unless your gear is really light as in case of a point–n-shot camera. I’m a usual guy. I used and upgraded a lot of gears since I started taking photography. Until I Vibration Visualization Procedure: How to draw changed my main gears to Hasselblad from Lei- donuts ca, I paid little attention to my tripod. Mr. Mah This part is to explain the procedure to draw opened my eye with the prints having stunning each donut image. The image is a simulated sharpness and contrast. It was an astonishing result with the experimentally obtained real vi- experience to see some subtle details in a big bration data. I assumed a donut size of 0.005mm [0.01mm donuts, same as the donuts image on print that could not be seen in film even with the in diameter as a basic feature. Then actual vi- the left column] best loupe. bration trace during exposure was extracted. In In Erwin Puts10 document, he mentioned that “In As a general guideline, I referenced that the next image, the total data number during expo- normal conditions and at a distance of 25cm maximum obtainable resolution is about sure is 430, and the time is about 0.2 seconds. So the eye can discern about 3 to 6 Lp/mm. This 20~25um. But what I encountered in so many

ABOUT TRIPOD, HEAD AND VIBRATION MARCH 2005 PAGE 15 OF 15 prints of Mr. Mah suggests that we can capture A product has to be something that helps many new products and all are changing so fast. more in our film. However, I could not make simi- people. We become hard to resist the new technologies lar print. His tripod is much better than mine. And and bigger or better numbers in specifications. I sometimes argued with him that he was doing I’m far behind him about the technique and the over-engineering. What I mean is that he rede- photographic eyes. But I think that the following signs or upgrades materials without thinking is a more important reason: the techniques or It’s time to slow down, and reduce vibration. about the cost. I believe that the M10 is enough practice of using the whole equipment like a for most situations but I guess he wants more. fine musical instrument. What he was doing is like an endless journey to Thanks for your interest and patience up to this I’ll try to convey my experience with Mr. Mah but get a perfect one. Little by little, I came to un- last line. it will be hard. Once you know the difference it derstand that he was keeping the first mind and brings, you cannot take a single photo without sticking to the basic. tripod. I mean a real good tripod and a head. I believe that Mr. Mah is someone who wants to Spend money for a good support system is worth make products that can help people. This is also more than upgrading lens frequently. It is just like the reason I write this article. Better understand- putting cheap OEM tires on your Porsche or ing of the phenomenon might help photo- Lamborghini. You cannot expect a real perfor- graphers use their gears in right way. mance with such combinations. And you also The conclusion that this document is written for is need to learn how to drive them up to the max- simple. imum performance level. Use good tripod. Special Thanks to Mr. Mah at Markins Use good ball head. Mr. Mah’s main interest is to make a good pho- Know how much you can get. tograph. He first made his own ball head after As I’m preparing the final part of this document, having spent huge money on many heads and I found an interesting article. 38 A long review tripods available in market then. And he is an with a title of ‘Technology and Happiness: why experienced and admired engineer and de- more gadgets don’t necessarily increase our signer. He is also a professional photographer. well-being’ attracted my eye. It’s very sophisti- And even I’d rather not follow his practice but cated review, but I want to cite one of the bold the fact that he had used and tried almost all lines. the top level equipment will explain the utmost quality of the Markins product. Considering how many decisions about new technology are based on little evidence, it From the beginning, Q-Ball heads are destined seems plausible that people can get stuck with to be ‘The Borne Supremacy.’ technologies that don’t make them happy but In 2003, I read a book about product design are hard to get rid of. published at Oxford as I was giving a lecture I think we should stop and ponder upon what about engineering design. The book claims that the technology brings. Nowadays we have too only 20 percent of the products since the Indus- trial Revolution were successful in fulfilling following statement. 38 Technology Review, MIT, January 2005