Advice on getting a level horizon?

[Olsen]

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I have been struggling 'all my life' with getting the horizon streight. And still do. The best hardware remedy is the excellent auxiliary viewfinder for the Tri Elmarit with the built in spirit lever. I have even used it on my 1Ds II. Just excellent!

 

A last line of repair is the software function in Photoshop: Image - Rotate Canvas - Arbitrary. Here you can correct any tilt of the horizon.

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[fotografr]

Glad to hear that this is a known RF issue rather than just me or the lens or the M8. I guess that it is just impossible for the viewfinder to reflect the actual perspective view of any given lens, which means that the framelines are redundant for that purpose.

 

I like the idea of the spirit level, the best place for this might be within the camera body with an indicator shown within the viewfinder?

 

I have ruled out using an external VF and will therefore just keep going through trial and error until I get it right more times than I do now.

 

This isn't a rangefinder issue, at least it isn't in my case. I get unintentionally tilted horizons far more often using my Canons than with my M8. Using the M8, I rarely have to make an adjustment in Photoshop.

[jaapv]

My saviour is PSE, it has an automatic function: just draw a line across the horizon and it rotates it to correct. I sometimes rue living in a flat country; in hilly surroundings nobody notices my crooked horizons

[Max Alfy]

As a 10 years Leica M user, I found the self-timer of the M8 to be a brilliant addition.

 

I use it systematically, set at 2s, for all hand-held shots which do not call for catching the "decisive moment" (children and the like). It is relaxing, and avoids having to synchronize with breath or heart pulsations. The 2 seconds delay is just long enough to cancel the mechanical effect of a (lighter) pressure on the shutter button, and to polish the horizon line.

 

I find it equivalent to a monopod, and is worth trying!

 

Max

[popum]

Geoff

 

I'd love to see a picture of the camera support technique you described.

 

Mike

[wparsonsgisnet]

David, do you use a monopod? This might go a long way toward helping deal with horizontals.

 

It also has the advantage of holding up the camera -- and, most important to me, of letting me slam the shutter down.

[albertknappmd]

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while tricks in post-production certainly have their very useful place, I still use a Manfrotto spirit level for many landscape photos... It really helps.

[AlanG]

I was hesitant to post because it seems obvious to me that if one is using a tripod then a spirit level would be a pretty simple solution. Or lacking that just back away from the camera and you can line it up with something in the distance. I've used spirit levels on all of my cameras for years and a level has always worked for me. (Many of the cameras I've owned had several levels built in.)

 

But handholding is another matter and I think it comes down to practice and paying attention regardless of the camera one is using. Some years ago I became very concerned about shooting architectural views level as I was often working handheld from lifts, ladders, and cranes. I would hold either a Rolleiflex 6006 which is an SLR or a Cambo Wide 4x5 that had a simple optical viewfinder. So I made a beeping level that attached to the camera. I constructed it with four mercury switches and a dual sounding buzzer into a box that was about 1x2x3 inches. I bought everything I needed at Radio Shack. It made one sound when centered left to right and another sound when centered front to back. When I got both tones, the camera was level. I used it for a while and then found I was so trained I didn't need it. This should be pretty easy for anyone to make and it didn't cost much to do it.

 

My beeping level was pretty crude but functional. I thought about ways of making the device better perhaps via tiny inclinometers but I lost interest. This may be a job for Mark Norton who should be able to design one in no time. (Are you reading this?) Since most cameras now have orientation sensors in them, I wonder how hard it would be to have a method that either beeps or shows a light in the viewfinder when the camera is level. This would certainly be more useful to me than the face recognition technology that is in some new cameras.

 

A digression -

 

A Linhof Technika 70 (rangefinder camera) that I used to use had a level indicator in the viewfinder that was a fore and aft pendulum not a spirit level. By using a mirror or prism it displayed a pointer at the top of the viewfinder that moved left to right as you tilted the camera up or down. This was a bit confusing to use at first and I always thought it was a peculiar "solution." I guess Linhof figured that "professional photographers" could easily tell by observation if the horizon was level but that they'd need help for the other axis. I've never heard of another camera with this feature. Oh, and the viewfinder was set for a vertical format, so when you rotated the camera to shoot horizontally, the level was useless. So Linhof went to all that trouble and only gave half of a solution that only worked part of the time.

[nryn]

My saviour is PSE, it has an automatic function: just draw a line across the horizon and it rotates it to correct. I sometimes rue living in a flat country; in hilly surroundings nobody notices my crooked horizons

 

Small tip for those who use Photoshop: use the measure tool to draw a line across the horizon (or something else you want to be horizontal or vertical). Then, if you go to Rotate Canvas->Arbitrary, the correct angle will already be in the input box.

[stuny]

Lars -

 

Speaking of theodolites, while in the Air Force I used a Wild T3-AM theodolite to transfer a reference to true north to the gyroscopically stabilized guidance system of an ICBM. I prefer taking pictures

[geoffreyg]

Geoff

 

I'd love to see a picture of the camera support technique you described.

 

Mike

 

Here are some shots, showing this. Again, steady with the left hand, only operate shutter with right hand, and push against the flat palm of the supporting left hand.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Geoff

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[rwfreund]

One needs a reference.

I note that there are several self-leveling laser levels on the market.

Perhaps if one werte to put such a level on a hat so that a level line might be drawn across your subject upon slight pressure from an eyebrow mounted switch.

Then the task would be to line up the line with the framelines.

There would be a bit pf parallax error for close subjects, but it would work fine for distance (better at night of course)

My spectacles are always giving me problems, but I get a whole lot better shooting without wearing glasses.

The added benefit is that there is absolute chimp prevention unless I bring my reading glasses.

-bob