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Tripod Feature Possibility ??

jvora

Member
Hello All :

Did not know where to post the topic as its not a MF related - But as I frequent this section the most and hold in high regard participants who reply regularly, I figured this could be the place -

--

Sharing an idea I have had for a while - Perhaps you can comment if the approach is possible/practical.

Currently, I select which Tripod to use based on the type of Head attached on it - This in turn is dictated on what I am shooting - If's its Architecture or Product, I'd want a 3-Way-Pan Head - If it was People, then a Ball Head, etc. - You get the general idea.


I'd like the option of selecting a Tripod based on its own features ( large/small, heavy/light, number of leg sections, etc. ) and then selecting Tripod Heads to suit what I am shooting - The switching could be achieved by sliding/snapping the Heads on and off just like we do with Quick Release Plates when attaching Cameras onto Tripod Heads.

At present the way Heads are attached to Tripods, the mechanism does not permit such fluidity - Can manufactures not incorporate a simple yet efficient Quick Release mechanism ?

Your thoughts ?



Jai
 

kdphotography

Well-known member
You'll want to take a look at Really Right Stuff.

They have devised a great quick release clamp that sits on your tripod legs. With a quick release of the lever, you are able to release the head quickly without the use of the usual tools. It simply requires a plate to be attached to the bottom of each head.

I use this technique (borrowed from Graham) to easily swap my Arca Swiss Cube from my RRS tripod to studio tripod or to my studio camera platform; and similarly for other heads and bases.

ken
 

Leigh

New member
A pan/tilt head will do anything you need to do in photography.

That greatly simplifies your selection process.

Ball heads are designed for video, not photography.

- Leigh
 

GrahamWelland

Subscriber & Workshop Member
You'll also want to look at the B2-LLR clamp for the tripod head (or smaller depending upon the tripod). After getting my cube stuck on a tripod that I had to check and getting it damaged in transit I had a chat with RRS and I started using the clamps. I don't claim to have invented this - just showed some others the light :D

A pan/tilt head will do anything you need to do in photography.

That greatly simplifies your selection process.

Ball heads are designed for video, not photography.

- Leigh
You might try asking a wildlife shooter about the applicability of pan/tilt vs ball head. As much as I might agree for landscape etc, it doesn't fit all needs.
 

Leigh

New member
You might try asking a wildlife shooter about the applicability of pan/tilt vs ball head.
I've shot wildlife using a pan/tilt head.

The error on which your response is based is assuming that one axis must be locked down.
Not true. They can both be loose simultaneously if that's appropriate for the situation.

One significant advantage of a pan/tilt head is that you can lock one axis down while leaving the other free.
That is not possible with a ball head.

- Leigh
 

Shashin

Well-known member
And yet I do all my photography with a ball head. Oddly enough, what is called a video head is a pan/tilt head. I wonder why the video guys are using the wrong head?
 

tcdeveau

Well-known member
+1 for the RRS dovetail quick release. Makes swapping things (like tripod heads) out really easy. They also have a pan/tilt (or "video") head nowadays.
 

GrahamWelland

Subscriber & Workshop Member
Ben,

When you can't unscrew it, is when the problem occurs. In my case it cost me $450 to get my Cube fixed due to the extraordinary abilities of baggage handlers to destroy just about anything.

It sounds simple, but sometimes you can be on the road and just simply not able to remove the head when you want to due to expansion, friction, etc etc. I ALWAYS remove my tripod head when I travel yet there was just that one time where I couldn't get enough leverage to unscrew it (and if you've seen me, you'd realise I'm no wimp either) and then .... so, lesson learned, and a much more flexible and practical approach taken. Now I can swap and change anytime between any head/tripod as needed.

The error on which your response is based is assuming ....
With all due respect, there is no error ... just a difference of opinion.
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
That's where your experience counts, I've never had a problem but I only ever change at home not in the field where I assume temperature, grease and grit would make it a challenge. Does having the head on a quick release not add another point of instability? It doesn't seem that it would be as secure or as vibration resistant compared to sitting on the flat rubber pad which is a similar diameter and shape?
 

GrahamWelland

Subscriber & Workshop Member
I would guess that in theory it's less secure than a bolt/rubber pad but to be honest the RRS clamps are pretty darned secure when closed so it's really not an obvious vibration point. Obviously less interfaces are to be preferred so as with all things it's a compromise of mechanical simplicity vs flexibility I suppose.
 

ondebanks

Member
I've shot wildlife using a pan/tilt head.

The error on which your response is based is assuming that one axis must be locked down.
Not true. They can both be loose simultaneously if that's appropriate for the situation.

One significant advantage of a pan/tilt head is that you can lock one axis down while leaving the other free.
That is not possible with a ball head.

- Leigh
On many ball heads (mine anyway), there is an independent pan lock at the base, in addition to the ball friction control and ball lock. So you can indeed lock one axis down and leave the other one free (only the pan one, but that's the most useful one to have free).

I used a pan-tilt head for years, but have since moved over to ball heads - except for a gimbal head that I use for long/heavy setups, which of course is a variant of pan-tilt.

One thing I do not miss at all from conventional pan-tilt heads is their inability to do left-right roll (horizon-tilt) levelling in both directions, without having to either turn the tripod around 180 degrees and reverse the camera as well, or having to slightly shorten the tripod leg on my right hand side. Their 3rd axis was invariably designed to flip 90 degrees to the left only, and even if they also allowed a couple of degrees tilt to the right, it was sometimes not enough to level things up on uneven ground.

Ray
 

SHV

Member
"I'd like the option of selecting a Tripod based on its own features ( large/small, heavy/light, number of leg sections, etc. ) and then selecting Tripod Heads to suit what I am shooting - The switching could be achieved by sliding/snapping the Heads on and off just like we do with Quick Release Plates when attaching Cameras onto Tripod Heads."
*******
I use the RRS leveling base with quick release to do what you describe. Quite often I just use the leveling base without a ball head, it positions the camera quickly and locks down tightly.

TA-3-LC-HK Leveling Base

Steve
 

jvora

Member
Thanks for all the replies -

RSS products are yet to be made available in India and thus I stick to the ones available here ( i.e. Gitzo and Manfrotto ) - Good to know that such an option is already available and that the feature is practical - Perhaps, other manufactures will follow in the future !


Thanks,

Jai
 

jotloob

Subscriber Member
You'll want to take a look at Really Right Stuff.

They have devised a great quick release clamp that sits on your tripod legs. With a quick release of the lever, you are able to release the head quickly without the use of the usual tools. It simply requires a plate to be attached to the bottom of each head.

I use this technique (borrowed from Graham) to easily swap my Arca Swiss Cube from my RRS tripod to studio tripod or to my studio camera platform; and similarly for other heads and bases.

ken
I have (borrowed from Graham as well) equiped all my tripods with the above described solution . That enables me to swap heads between the tripods within just a couple of seconds .
 

ondebanks

Member
I have (borrowed from Graham as well) equiped all my tripods with the above described solution . That enables me to swap heads between the tripods within just a couple of seconds .
The world would be a far, far better place if absolutely everything in it had an Arca-style dovetail or clamp.

But it doesn't.

This is my proof that there is no such thing as "Intelligent Design" in the creation and maintenance of the universe.

Ray :grin:
 

GrahamWelland

Subscriber & Workshop Member
In all fairness you could argue that the 3/8-16 bolt on the tripod is a universal standard, unless of course it's 1/4-20 of course :D

It's all a conspiracy by hardware vendors to get you to buy their clamps, plates, brackets and other fiendishly expensive gizmos. Photographer kiddy crack ... perhaps second only to camera bags.
 

jotloob

Subscriber Member
In all fairness you could argue that the 3/8-16 bolt on the tripod is a universal standard, unless of course it's 1/4-20 of course :D

It's all a conspiracy by hardware vendors to get you to buy their clamps, plates, brackets and other fiendishly expensive gizmos. Photographer kiddy crack ... perhaps second only to camera bags.

I don't quite agree .
The 3/8-16 and 1/4-20 threads were used for camera and tripods since many many years . Have a look to these two heads from the 1920s .
They have the 3/8-16 thread on top and bottom .
And I believe that these threads were used since the beginning of camera and tripod production .

View attachment 82258View attachment 82259
 
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