My recommendations when people see me using my tripod and ask about buying one for their own work:
(1) Buy a good wide comfortable strap for carrying the tripod. I like the OP/TECH USA strap.
(2) Buy the heaviest carbon fiber tripod (a) that you can carry comfortably with the strap, (b) that has no center column - if it has a center column you will eventually extend it and vibration will ensue - and (c) that is tall enough to look at the ground glass or through the viewfinder while standing straight up - your back will thank you as you get on in years.
I am 5'11" tall, about to begin my ninth decade, and use my Gitzo GT2542LS with a GH2750 offset ball head for everything from a Leica IIIc to a Hasselblad 500C/M with a 180mm f/4 lens.
You make an important point. I don't always work with the camera at eye level but it is a comfort to have that capability available when it does work.Since you are beginning your ninth decade, you have the privelege of seniority regarding your Point 2.
But another cardinal rule of tripod use is that often the BEST location for the camera may NOT be at your eye level, but somewhere below that point; and by examining the various elevations by eye you can then set up your tripod to its initial position close to that ideal elevation. A younger person should not simply set his/her camera at eye level automatically.
Snow shoes for your tripod are required in deep snow. i have a set for my Manfrotto And they work for all my tripods.
That's why a ballhead worked so well when traveling with the 4x5 Gowland for months -- nuthin heavy up there! Would have worked even better with some type of friction control that some have. It was a Gitzo Ball No.2 on a set of simple Gitzo Studex legs. Pod and head weighed 3x the camera/lens/holder (7.5 lbs vs 2.5 lbs). Tall enough and a solid platform to work with standing straight up (I was 6'4" back then).
The camera/head combination I used on my first LF travels was a 4x5 Deardorff Special copy (India) on a video camera head. It actually worked well as the video head took care of pan and pointing up/down, and the camera's rotating back replaced tilt and allowed me to straighten horizons, trees, etc. But was glad to eventually move to a better pod/head.
I reversed the centerpost and used the Gowland upside down...Death Valley...up a side canyon, just keeping out of the sun for awhile. A scan of the only contact I've made.
Great: thanks!
My contribution about tripods is: buy the best, probably most expensive tripod you can buy the first time. Because if you go cheap, odds are you'll keep buying them until you finally buy the one you never thought you'd spend that much on.
With a camera as light as the Gowland, one has pretty good control, and that increases with use, of course. But I can also see how it could drive some folks a bit mad. I use a Gitzo G1376 Ballhead (on Al Gitzo legs) for my 5x7...has a pretty good size QL plate and I have carried the camera (5x7 Eastman View No.2) on the pod for very long distances. Not for everyone, but very usable.My concern with a ball head is that sometimes if the camera is heavy, it can flop around.
You said that you were 6'4", have you gotten taller? If so, please tell me how to become taller as I am still 5'6".
This maybe camera dependent. I find the quick release plate are faster, safer and more fool proof with the Hasselblad. Yes I double check that the quick release plate is firmly in place before I do anything else.
Ball heads are the root of all evil when it comes to anything heavy up there, like long lenses or a view camera, and potential vibrations. Maybe you can get away with that kind of thing and a Hassie with 180; but MF-wise, I often shoot a P67 with its 300, and the only realistic solution is no head at all - bolt the whole nine yards to the top of the tripod platform itself, and a really serious tripod to begin with, in this case, the same ones I use for an 8x10 camera, like the wooden Ries Vaughn is holding in a recent post. But some of these new "half-ball" devices seem logical, which firmly set into a scooped out area of the platform rather than bobbling above it via a stem.
You can always buy or make a 'U' shaped shooters monopod to steady either
?
Any pics?
The bulbs from toilet plungers are very effective as snow/mud shoes and in any location where there are a lot of big holes in the surface, like some metal bridges.
I still haven't figured out a good way though to explain why my car trunk hold three of them.
On the subject of viewpoint and models, in general leggy professional models are the only human beings who look better from a low camera angle. Most everyone else looks better from eye level - thus the preference for prism finders on wedding cameras.
I bought my Manfrotto snow shoes in 1995!
They get infrequent use, but always come with me on beach or creek and river walks where the legs may require extra safeguards against submarining. They were last used in late January this year.
I have not seen them available in Australia for a long while.
With a longer lens on a MF camera, a cradle like this comes in handy when using a high-quality, heavy-duty ballhead with a quick-release:
View attachment 308395
Also, I usually frame the image hand-held first and then put up the tripod at the appropriate height for the shot.
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