Got the camera, and got the adapter from Kaidan.  This is being used with the Kaidan 990 Pano Head, and the 4500 adapter.  The adapter seems to be giving me some paralax errors, not front-to-back, but side-to-side, as it were.  It seems that the adapter that Kaidan sent me is cut too thin.  I've taken some cardstock, and built it up under the camera mount, and that seems to help somewhat.  Has anyone else had the same problem from the Kaidan rig, and if so, how did you fix the issue?

D. Rose

As far as I know the CP4500 is to be used only with the Kaidan CS (Camera Specific) III Panohead and adaptor. Using the adaptor on the old Kiwi heads will not work as these were only (to my knowledge) only ever made for the CP9XX series.

Were you told differently? I cannot find the Kiwi or 990 Panohead listed on Kaidans website anymore!

Regards, Smooth

One way to determine if the left/right centerline is lense center might be to rotate the 4500 lens face down... then slide the camera body to where the lens is what you think in directly over the pan head point of rotation and take a picture.

Remove the compact flash from the camera and open the image in Photoshop or your favorite photo editor.  Print the picture.

Draw an X through mid center from the 4 corners of the picture to locate the mid center of the image on paper.  This [X] intersection on paper should be right over the pictured pan head rotation point.

Might have to do it a couple times until you get close enough .. then you will REALLY know if your left to right alignment is on center point.. it should be rather obvious.

Smooth, you're right, the 990 pano heads were made for the CP9XX series, and are no longer available.  However, the Cradle Kit for the 4500 used with the QuickPan III CS IS available, and on Kaidan's page it states that it will also work on the 990 head.  The problem seems to be that with the smaller dimensions of the 4500, the camera is now slightly offset from center.

Dave, your idea is a good one, but with my configuration, I cannot rotate the lens down.  What I'm trying to do now, though, is to use the bolt on the rotator as my center indicator, and I'm getting it pretty close that way - similar to what you've described.  I'll play with it some more and see if I can't get it knocked out.

Thanks for the tips.

D. Rose