Novoflex Panorama Plate 48 Base

2019-04-24T10:13:15

Order was canceled

David L.

2018-01-12T10:40:34

It is an excellent product. Well built.

satyajit p.

2016-05-15T13:24:50

First of all, kudos to Adorama for carrying this product. It is hard to find. This product can be used in three ways: as part of a larger Novoflex pano system; as a panning base under a ball head; or on top of a ball head between the ball and the clamp. In my case, I use it as a panning base under an Arca-Swiss p0 ball head. (The p0 already has a rotating clamp on top of the head but, for panos with the camera angled up or down, a panning base like this one becomes necessary.) There is a 3/8 connection on the bottom of this base and a 1/4-20 stud on top. Though I would have preferred a 3/8 stud, the 1/4-20 does allow for direct attachment of a camera body. A bushing is included which allows the base to be attached underneath heads with a 3/8 connection. This base is just slightly wider than the 60mm base of many tripod heads. This means that the numbers above the detent control lever—more on this later—are visible even with a head attached. The bubble level is not. There is a second pin visible in the product photos that is designed for the Novoflex panning system. It can be easily removed. (A side note: tightly attaching a head to this base will mar the finish of the base. Keep this in mind until you are sure you want to keep it.) The PANORAMA 48 is light and compact, the two biggest criteria for my own use which often involves hiking some distance. It weighs a mere 156g according to my calibrated scale, just slightly more than the manufacturer specifies. In addition to the standard panning function, which is smooth and well-damped, a lever allows the user to rotate the base in fixed increments. This is a nice feature that works well. I suspect that once I get used to having this functionality I will have a hard time going back to the standard, detent-free rotation of a standard panning control. That said, I found the number labels to be counter-intuitive. Rather than indicating the number of degrees each turn represents, the numbers indicate how many turns it takes to rotate the base 360 degrees. Perhaps there is a very good use case for this; for me, this isn't helpful at all. So far, I've described a five-star product. Why only three stars? First, the small blue locking knob must be turned with excessive force to prevent the base from rotating. The Feisol PB-70 base, which costs a mere 13.7% of price of this base, locks down tight with an easy twist. I'm not sure that any amount of force will truly lock down this base. Second, the small blue lock knob isn't captive. It can come off and "disappear". This seems like something out of Engineering 101. Knobs should be captive. In this case, the knob is attached to a relatively short and thin thread making it all the more likely to be lost. Third, the value-per-dollar is awful. One star. The Feisol PB-70, which uses standard anodized black materials instead of the ugly blue grey scheme of the Novoflex base, is one seventh the cost! ONE SEVENTH! And it performs better in some ways. Yes, the Feisol weighs 33% more and lacks the Novoflex's detent control but in no way does this justify paying 600% more. So am I keeping the Novoflex? Well, the decision was kind of made for me when I removed my p0 and realized that I messed up the finish of the PANORAMA 48. I couldn't, in good conscience, try to return it. That said, I would probably have kept it anyway. The detent system is cool and elegantly executed. And the weight savings is significant for my use. Thankfully, I can afford to throw away about half of what I paid for this product, because that is about how much I feel it is overpriced. Would I recommend that others do the same? Not necessarily.

TIMOTHY L.