On 7 Jun 2003 09:33:30 -0700, sandyprice@msn.com (mikep76) wrote:

>One other option I have been considering, but have not been able to

>get sufficient info on from the manufacturer, is the Manofrotto Lanc

>pan lever controller. It is MUCH more expensive, but boasts a

>"professional" zoom controller which seems to offer "infinite" zoom

>speeds, which should also mean it will ramp up and down smoothly at

>zoom start and stop. However, after two or three visits to the

>Manofrotto website with no details posted, I lost interest in it. If

>anyone on this forum has experience with it, I would love to hear it.

The Manfrotto has been recommended to me, but I bought

a Varizoom with variable-speed zoom control, looked inside,

and it was obvious that the slowest zooming speed is

determined by the camera and not the controller. In other

words, the controller cannot "ramp up and down smoothly at

zoom start and stop", darn it, since there is always a

minimum starting/stopping zooming speed, and it is well

above zero... Best results I've had so far are either with

the VX2000 on-camera rocker (easy to hold at the slowest

zoom speed) or with the Canon Lanc controller (with the

slowest speed selected, and the rocker suddenly "mashed"

or released (this allows better timing of the zoom start

than the on-camera rocker does). Combining the zoom start

with camera movement (or a dissolve) almost solves the

problem of sudden starts/stops with the zooming (the

VX2000 zoom ring permits gradual starts/stops, but after

that, it is difficult to maintain a zoom speed, or to

zoom very far...).