kipkeston
Well-known
gitzo g-lock collets and rss heads here.
Shok
Low Roller
I confess I have no idea what you guys are talking about.
My tripod is bloody old, and looks like this:
It's durable and I like it because it doubles as a mace...
My tripod is bloody old, and looks like this:
It's durable and I like it because it doubles as a mace...
Roger Hicks
Veteran
You'll ntice that I also mentioned 3-way heads -- independent movement on 3 axes, just like P+T -- and the NPC ProHead is also 3-axis.
Admittedly I was thinking of rangefinder cameras when I wrote my original comment -- this is RFF, after all -- but again, I did say that I use bulky, slow-to-use P+T heads with bulky, slow-to-use LF cameras, which to me are the obvious choice for architecture. In fact I also use a plain tilt-table tripod (Gandolfi) with LF: level in one plane with the legs, in the other with the tilt-top, and swivel the camera on the platform.
As for levels, several of my cameras have them built in, especially my LF cameras. With the Alpa you can even see the bubble level through the viewfinder -- and of course there's the Voigländer bubble level. Both the Alpa and the Voigtländer work fine with a B+S head. Or there's the Q-Top with a built in level under the (rotating) QR plate: level the head, put the camera on, rotate.
In the studio, for pack shots, where precision is paramount, I use a pillar-type stand (IFF), usually with either a 3-way head supplementing the tripod's own movements or (with 8x10 inch) a BIG ball and socket with the camera hanging under the gallows-arm.
So although I'd agree that you're absolutely right that it depends on what you're photographing, I'd still back most other designs of head against P+T for most applications -- and I think I have examples of most types of designs that there have ever been.
Cheers,
Roger
rbiemer
Unabashed Amateur
I've got a Velbon Maxi something--fairly small folded up--and it came with a ball head. Works ok and I haven't had any trouble with the leg latches so far.
Rob
Rob
Muggins
Junk magnet
I'll confess now that I bought what I could afford when it was available - a plasticky Stitz with a pan head (I assume that's what the flat ones are!). Works for me, but I've no doubt a more demanding photographer would want better.
I also have one a bit like Shoks (nice bit of kit, by the way) - but mine is an Ensign, with a peculiar double-ball arrangement for adjusting position, and has the added advantage that once you've belted someone round the head with the heavy end, you can then impale them with the pointy brass feet.
I also have a Kodapod: http://www.bvipirate.com/Kodak/Kodapod-1.html
It's currently clipped onto a bookshelf with an SLR on it - the Gorillapod's great-great-grandfather!
Adrian
I also have one a bit like Shoks (nice bit of kit, by the way) - but mine is an Ensign, with a peculiar double-ball arrangement for adjusting position, and has the added advantage that once you've belted someone round the head with the heavy end, you can then impale them with the pointy brass feet.
I also have a Kodapod: http://www.bvipirate.com/Kodak/Kodapod-1.html
It's currently clipped onto a bookshelf with an SLR on it - the Gorillapod's great-great-grandfather!
Adrian
peter_n
Veteran
I use a Gitzo G-1228 but keep it in a Tiltall bag... 
Anyway, so obviously collets and I replaced the center post with a Markins base plate and there are Markins spikes on the bottom leg sections. I prefer a ballhead for speed and use a small(ish) Linhof model with an Arca-Swiss QR clamp. The Linhof has excellent ergonomics and doesn't creep. This rig is good for everything I use; Leica M, Exakta SLR, Fuji S5, and a Fotoman 617.
Anyway, so obviously collets and I replaced the center post with a Markins base plate and there are Markins spikes on the bottom leg sections. I prefer a ballhead for speed and use a small(ish) Linhof model with an Arca-Swiss QR clamp. The Linhof has excellent ergonomics and doesn't creep. This rig is good for everything I use; Leica M, Exakta SLR, Fuji S5, and a Fotoman 617.
FallisPhoto
Veteran
That's all well and good, but I'm just wondering how, unless maybe you ran over it with a truck, you could ever wear out a Tiltall?
FallisPhoto
Veteran
One of my favorites is pretty darned old too, would also make a good mace, is called a Davidson, and (after restoration) looks like this:
Art deco rides again!
lukjan
Member
Gibran tripod?
Gibran tripod?
Hi Roger, I have seen this article some time ago and found it really interesting,
especially the Gibran tripod, it must be something special to have a place at the MOMA. I searched for it but couldn't find a picture, so if you have any around I would really like to see it.
Cheers, Lukjan
Gibran tripod?
Hi Roger, I have seen this article some time ago and found it really interesting,
especially the Gibran tripod, it must be something special to have a place at the MOMA. I searched for it but couldn't find a picture, so if you have any around I would really like to see it.
Cheers, Lukjan
delft
Established
I use a Gitzo basalt thing with collets and a smallish manfrotto ballhead.
This is much easier to carry around in the field than the aluminium / lever / 3-way-head thing i used before. Also: in cold weather, the basalt is much nicer to handle with bare hands.
Greetings,
Dirk
This is much easier to carry around in the field than the aluminium / lever / 3-way-head thing i used before. Also: in cold weather, the basalt is much nicer to handle with bare hands.
Greetings,
Dirk
JeffGreene
(@)^(@)
I use a Leitz mini tripod and head with my rangefinders and a Gitzo aluminum explorer with a Manfrotto RC 410 Geared head which I use for medium format.
Bruin
Noktonian
After a lot of research a couple years ago, I got a Feisol CT-3301N and Markins Q3. Feisol is like the CV of tripod makers - excellent quality and outstanding value for a CF tripod. I got mine for under $190 shipped, and the updated ones you can get today are still a great deal. I almost got a Kirk BH-3 but the Markins is lighter (under 14 oz.) and more compact, for not much more money. My philosophy is to splurge on the ballhead, save on the legs!
Shok
Low Roller
One of my favorites is pretty darned old too, would also make a good mace, is called a Davidson, and (after restoration) looks like this:
Art deco rides again!
*drools* That's brilliant! I'm a sucker for anything deco!
BTW mines a "Hansa" model. It's got dual mount threads to take the smaller and larger mounts.
Found for $20 in an op-shop a few months back.
oris642
natural person
Another vote for a Feisol CT-3342 and a Photo Clam PC-40 ballhead from Kerry at www.reallybigcameras.com. Today was the first day I carried it for three hours (photogaphy class) and I never noticed I was carrying it (total weight = 3.25 pounds). Just got Kirk plates since the PC-40 has a built-in Arca-Swiss style clamp.
FallisPhoto
Veteran
Well, Davison's are sold on ebay all the time, usually for $20 or under. They are very good tripods, in a very basic no-frills way (the modern Tiltalls are heavily based on a Davidson design), but hardly anyone knows to look for them. There are two of them on ebay right now, going for $10 and $11, for example (although they are not black, like mine, but silver). They came with either a really rugged center column (that looked like an "I" beam), or without one (like mine, with longer legs).
Edit: Forgot to mention it, but the camera is an Agfa PB-20, modified to take 120 film (I removed the film cradles).
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oftheherd
Veteran
Make that 3. Somebody must have been reading this thread and put one up for $60.00 as a pro antique. And looking at the photo of that one, I realized that I had one, although in black, not gold. I got it from a former supervisor/friend. It has that same weird star crank. Mine is also missing the p/t handle. I have been intending to bring it to work to see if one of our machinists wants to turn a handle for me when he has nothing better to do. Who knew?
plummerl
Well-known
In my case, one of the feet worked itself out of the leg. I believe this was a case of a defect from birth. In order to put it back in, I will have to fashion a ring compressor.
dwaoka
emmigrant
I have Manfrotto setup 055XPROB legs with 808RC4 head, I'm 192cm tall so long tripod legs allow me to frame comfortably without bending my back. I use it only for MF.
FallisPhoto
Veteran
Cool! The Conquest was the only one with the star-shaped handle. That was their top-of-the-line medium and small format tripod (although it will handle a 4x5 press camera with no problem at all). Get a new handle installed, replace the pad at the top with some new leather, touch up the paint, polish the metal and it will probably look like new.
BTW, on mine, I got a can of Red Devil black gloss polyurathane enamel and the color matched perfectly. By dabbing at it until it dried with the end of a round artist's brush with the tip chopped off square, I got the texture to match too. You can't tell where the chips were now. I used a wood scraper to brighten the aluminum in those grooves around the top.
rumbliegeos
Well-known
I have a Gitzo 320 Studex (aluminum with collets), a Manfrotto 3021 (aluminum with lever locks) and a Manfrotto 3001 (aluminum with lever locks). The Gitzo is the heaviest, most stable, and longest to set up. I would trade them all in a nanosecond for a good carbon fiber tripod that is usable for someone over 6 feet tall.