backpacking with a Tiltall?

[Mark Sampson]

Look up Gary Regester of Plume Wafer soft box fame, as I mentioned before. (i've lost his contact info, sadly.) He is (or was) the keeper of the classic Tiltall flame- including replacement handles. Best of luck with your new tripod- may it support many photographic adventures!

[Bipin]

Look up Gary Regester of Plume Wafer soft box fame, as I mentioned before. (i've lost his contact info, sadly.) He is (or was) the keeper of the classic Tiltall flame- including replacement handles. Best of luck with your new tripod- may it support many photographic adventures!

Yes, thank you! Gary was who I was talking about when referencing a source for the "proper" Tiltall handles, though his name escaped me at the time. That said, some more compact knobs would be nice; something like a 5-point star that's easy to twist with gloves/mittens. The trouble I'm having is determining the max diameter for the metal shaft surrounding the female threads. This shaft must both screw into a 1/4'' male thread, while not being much larger than 1/4" itself in diameter, so it can fit within a cowling/tube.

[LabRat]

Thank you once again everyone for the copious amount of info, much of which was very helpful. It ultimately guided my decision to purchase a Tiltall - just a moment ago - at a phenomenal price.

As a Canadian student, the USD/CAD exchange rate on top of shipping can get a tad out of hand. The tripod didn't come with two handles, so I will need to buy replacements, but I figured this was an acceptable trade-off given what I paid. Finding the proper handles is an easy task - I know where I can get them - although to be honest, I'm not sure if I want them. A large gripe of mine with the Tiltall had always been with how far the handles stick out. I understand that the knobs accept a 1/4'' male thread. Are there any sort of knobs I can pick up at Home Depot or Lowes that should fit within the metal sleeve, surrounding the threads? I could easily pick up the proper handles, but I figure this is a good chance to do what I really want and create something that protrudes less.

The handles can be shortened, but are you talking about the head or yoke handles??? If the head handles are too long, they can be cut off, and if someone has a lathe, they can be drilled and tapped for the 1/4-20 thread, but before you do, the long handle comes in handy when trying to level the camera side to side as there is more leverage... The short head handle can aim forward to get out of your way...

When you carry the tripod around, if you loosen all the knobs a little, and aim the big handle up (in a bag, etc), they tend to push around out of the way without them sticking out all angles, so a little slimmer when transporting... A bag will make it a lot easier to carry around by itself...

So, did you find a vintage model???

Have fun with it!!!!

Steve K