1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a panhead device for movably supporting an equipment or an apparatus such as a video camera or the like, and more particularly to such a panhead device that is arranged to be driven by power.
2. Description of Related Art
In performing a shooting operation with a video camera or the like, a panhead device of the above-stated kind permits a remote operation on the video camera which is mounted on the panhead device. For that purpose, there is known a motor-driven panhead, which is provided with a camera mount on which a video camera can be mounted through a camera screw for a tripod, a mechanism arranged to pan and tilt the camera mount with a motor serving as a drive source, and a control mechanism using a reflecting pattern and a photo-interrupter.
The use of the motor-driven panhead enables a remote controller to carry out remote operations such as panning and tilting. It permits also a simple automatic operation by which panning can be automatically made within a predetermined range of angles.
The conventional motor-driven panhead, however, has presented the following problems. The conventional motor-driven panhead does not permit not only manual panning but also manual tilting. Besides, it is difficult to effectively carry out fine control over panning and tilting operations on the panhead.