It can not be used at the bottom of pole or on pole tripod adapter. It can be mounted on top of tripod or on top of pole. The mini rotator has a stop screw in the bottom, so it can not be locked being mounted. To change number of shots around you have to buy another ring with a different set up. The mini rotator is the smallest rotator with a fixed number of shots around depending on the top ring. Hope this helps a bit, but to make a good choice, "what is the difference" is not the only input to take your decision. No handheld Nadir, so you can use long exposures, Zenith shot taken in center of the lens - best quality - or for example in 2 shots +60° pitch 180° visa versa to get connection from blue sky to corners of roofs or other ground info. For easy nadir shooting you can add the Nadir Adapter to lower rail and off you go. Small new panohead that let's you shoot Zenith and Nadir in NPP position by fixing the lens ring in the rotator clamp on top of the vertical rail. Think of carrying it up to the mountain.Īnother option: If your "Pre" is shooting Nadir with Nadir Adapter for example and Zenith in NPP position, size and weight is not so important, I should go for R1-S. R1/R10 can be used with different rotators, Mini Rotator or RD5 for example, and this a small and light weight solution. Using R10 you have to unscrew and re fix your top clamp. Shooting on a pole most of us use the top tilted down to -7.5° and the lens ring footplate moved forward inside the clamp to get a smaller Nadir hole. Shooting on a tripod is different from pole shots. Next question: what do you like to shoot. Handheld nadir shots are easy for special situations: you should be trained to do it, you use shorter exposures, you do not shoot extended bracketing, 3 shots for example. You have to unscrew the top clamp to change your tilt set up. R10: static tilt to the chosen tilt version of the head for example + -5° and 0° position. No problem outside with objects further away, well inside shooting real estate for example. There is a built in zenith position in R1 as well, but it let's the camera "fall down and move aside", so no NPP position. Best zenith shot is one shot at +90° using the center of the lens. Zenith can be covered by using for example +5° tilt depending on your combination. To be close to NPP it has to be shot handheld. Nadir shot is out of NPP using the built in nadir position.
Nadir shot by tilting down to >90°, move tripod aside and use full viewpoint correction version in stitching. R1: adjustable tilt between -15° and +12,5° Just open the fixing knob to change to another tilt.
To set things clear: there are two versions of this series: R1 with adjustable tilt head and second R10 series with static tilt head.