Introduction And Description; Perfect Balance; Illuminated Level Bubble; Pan And Tilt Drag - Vinten Vision blue5 Operator's Manual

English

Introduction and description

The Vision blue5 pan and tilt head has been designed to support and perfectly balance a range
of professional digital video cameras. The head embodies an adjustable spring counterbalancing
mechanism and LF drag assemblies for pan and tilt motions, and an adjustable camera mounting
plate. The placement of the pan and tilt brakes, drag controls and counterbalance allows the
operator to easily adjust the settings whilst operating the camera.

Perfect Balance

The balance system is adjusted using the Perfect Balance knob [11] located at the rear of the
head. Maximum and minimum payloads that can be balanced, and the range of tilt angles
achievable with the payload, are dependent on the weight of the camera payload and on the
camera's Centre of Gravity (C of G) height.
The counterbalance chart (Fig. 3) shows the range of payloads and C of G height that can be
maintained in balance. The shaded area of the chart corresponds to those payload/C of G
combinations that can be balanced over the full tilt range. The areas to the right indicate the
progressively reducing tilt range with greater load and higher C of G. Where a payload/C of G
combination falls outside of the chart range, it will be necessary to increase or decrease the
weight or the C of G height to enable the head to balance the load.

Pan and tilt drag

Both pan and tilt mechanisms incorporate the patented Vinten lubricated friction (LF) system to
ensure smooth movement of the camera about these axes. Pan and tilt drag is adjusted using
the pan drag adjustment knob [13] and tilt drag adjustment knob [5]. The whip-pan facility is
unaffected by the pan drag setting.

Pan and tilt brakes

Both pan and tilt brakes allow each axis on the head to be locked at any chosen position. The
pan brake lever [4] and tilt brake lever [3] are located on the left-hand side of the head.

Illuminated level bubble

Levelling the head is achieved using the level bubble [15]. In situations of low light, the level
bubble can be illuminated by pressing the push button [12]. The bubble will remain illuminated
for 15 seconds. The battery for the level bubble is contained within a battery compartment [10]
located under the platform.

Pan bar

Pan bar mounting points [16] are located at the rear of the head on either side of the platform.
The pan bar [8] is attached using a pan bar clamp [7], with angular adjustment available on the
mount serrations. A fixed pan bar is supplied, with an option to fit another pan bar, if required.

Camera mounting

The camera is attached to the head using a slide plate [2] that is attached to the camera and
then loaded from the rear of the platform [9] and secured in position by the slide plate clamp [6].
The clamp prevents inadvertent removal of the camera from the head. The slide plate [2] is
supplied with a 1/4 in. camera fixing screw and pin [1] and two 3/8 in. camera screws.
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