zone vi junior tripod and majestic head

I have a zone vi junior tripod. It came with a bogen 3047 head. So far, so good. I have taken some good photos with my speed graphic with this setup. But the hexagonal platform is a bit small and I have had problems with swiveling when I use my Arca Swiss 4x5 or Tachihara 8x10. So I swapped the bogen 3047 for a Majestic 1200 geared head. This head has a nice big platform so the camera doesn't swivel around. But there is more vibration at first until I let it settle down. What do you think?
Set up the camera and film holder and let the vibration settle down? Or go back to the bogen? Or try something else? Or move to Samoa?

David Michael Bigeleisen

The Majestic is a great head, but it is more suitable for a much heavier set of legs or a studio camera stand in my opinion. I've got two of those, and the 3047, as well as my favorite Bogen 410 which I use for most of my 4x5 work.

Anyway, I think the real problem is two part regarding the hex plate. One is that you are simply not tightening it nearly enough. The second is that I have always thought that Bogen used poor materials for the cushion on these things. I went to a leather store and bought a scrap end of cured deer hide (about an eighth inch thick) which I have used to replace the pads on all of my tripod and stand heads. Just peel off the old one, clean up residual adhesive and then use contact cement, two coats, to substitute the deer hide and trim with an Exacto knife. It is a better cushion and grips FAR better than the original pads.

My tightening technique consists of tightening the plate down as hard as I can while it is actually about a quarter to a half inch off of its needed orientation. I then attach it to the tripod and turn the whole camera like a big torque wrench until it lines up with the tripod. That always locks it down tighter than I can do it by hand and even better than with pliers. After I figured out how to do that, I have never had a problem with a camera of any size (including 8x10) rotating loose.

Good luck.

Tim

The Majestic head really does need heavier legs. The one I have has the original 1" aluminum legs and weighs 12 pounds. Rock solid, though, with no vibration. I put a piece of 1/8" rubber on the platform with contact cement to reduce the possibility of swivel. Works great.

If I remember rightly, the Zone VI Junior is about 12 pounds. You might check out the Gitzo rational series 5 heads. The new ones are nice, but they've been around for a long time, and so buying used is definitely an option. I have one from 1970, and it works great. You'd need a round spacer so that the head would sit flat on the large top platform of the Zone VI.