I'd go for a big ol' Gitzo or a Bogen 3046 with a heavy duty head like the 3039. You can save some big money buying used. You couldn't chase me down and make me take a Ries but some love 'em.
You really need a heavy duty head for that big ol' camera.
And I'm thrilled with my Fujinon 300 CMW - great lens and not too pricey used!
I have to disagree with percy, I use my C1 with a wodden Berlebach 9043 and never had any problems with stability...
I'm with John, with the C1 is not a matter of tripod (even if it's an heavy camera so you need a sturdy tripod, but I found the Berlebach more than adeguate), but mainly is a matter of having a large platform to hold it...recently there was an interesting discussion on APUG about modifying the C1 tripod mount, check it out:
www.apug.org/forums/showthread.php?t=25934
Ciao
Marco
Chris - regarding your 480mm APO Nikkor, it looks like it will fit in a Copal 3 shutter. Check with SK Grimes to be sure of what is involved.
SK Grimes lens/shutter list
I got a quote from Grimes, about 6 months ago, for fitting a 480 APO Nikkor into a copal 3. It was over $400 to fit it, not including the shutter.
Matt - I got a similar quote for putting a 610 APO Nikkor into an Ilex #5, but wasn't sure if the 480 required the same extensive machine work to fit the shutter (essentially machining a new barrel that can be threaded into the shutter). From the quote you got, it sounds like the 480 is in the same boat.
Mating a barrel lens to a shutter is not cost effective if machining is required and a similar focal length lens is readily available in shutter. Mounting a packard shutter to the lens is an alternative. Or better yet, sell the lens and buy a used nikkor 450M in a copal 3.
Chris,
I have the green monster with all of the backs and a recessed lens board. The camera is capable of making good photographs but camera management can be a problem.
The first thing I would reccomend is to attach a sheet of 1/16 inch aluminum plate to the base of the camera. This will make it much more stable on which ever head or tripod quick release system you may choose. It is very eash to make. It took me about an hour to make the plate. There are 4 - 1/4x20 threaded holes at each corner of the mounting grid so bolting the plate on only requires that you drill holes large enough to accept the bolts. You will need to cut a hole in the center of the plate to allow the tripod mounting hole to be accessed but that was a piece of cake.
I sent a lens board to S.K. Grimes and had an adapter made that allows me to fit lens boards that fit my Wisner 4x5. That allows me to share lenses between the two cameras. I don't bother using the 4x5 back on the C1.
The recessed lens board also allows me to mount Wisner lens boards and with that I can put a 75 mm S.A. on and have an ultra wide lens for 5x7 or do circular images on 8x10.
Good luck,
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