Lightest tripod/head for Chamonix?

[Greg]

When I had a 4x5 Chamonix I used a Linhof Levelling head.

[Jeff Keller]

I also like the Acratech panoramic head for both ease of use and rigidity. I use mine on a lightweight Novoflex tripod with a built-in leveling head.

I don’t think this is the lightest, but my favorite solution is the acratech panoramic head on a leveling base. It’s much lighter than any sturdy ball head I’ve used and much easier. I have a feisol with a leveling base built in. I don’t know if yours does.

[nitroplait]

I was taught here on LFPF to not use any head

Adjust the legs

or use a 1/2 Ball Head

Exactly. Just omit the head.

[Doremus Scudder]

I got a Bogen/Manfrotto 3025 head years ago and never looked back. It's a three-way head, but smaller and more compact than those with long arms on the knobs. Plus, with its design, you can unlock all three knobs and position it just like a ball head, or just unlock one or two as you need. See the thread here https://www.largeformatphotography.i...-customization for Ulphot's modification (replacing some knobs with levers).

I think the current number for Manfrotto is 056, or you can find it under 3D Junior (although there's nothing really "junior" about it - it holds my Zone VI camera at full extension with a 450mm lens just fine). I think there are quick-release versions of this type of head as well, if you like quick releases (I don't - I simply flip up the camera plate to the vertical position and screw in the mounting screw that way; no accidental releases that way with the camera ending up on the ground).

Best,

Doremus

[Alan Klein]

https://www.amazon.com/Neewer-Adapte...s%2C117&sr=8-3

My 3-way head does the adjustments. The bowl you recommend is good if your shooting videos.

[Alan Klein]

I got a Bogen/Manfrotto 3025 head years ago and never looked back. It's a three-way head, but smaller and more compact than those with long arms on the knobs. Plus, with its design, you can unlock all three knobs and position it just like a ball head, or just unlock one or two as you need. See the thread here https://www.largeformatphotography.i...-customization for Ulphot's modification (replacing some knobs with levers).

I think the current number for Manfrotto is 056, or you can find it under 3D Junior (although there's nothing really "junior" about it - it holds my Zone VI camera at full extension with a 450mm lens just fine). I think there are quick-release versions of this type of head as well, if you like quick releases (I don't - I simply flip up the camera plate to the vertical position and screw in the mounting screw that way; no accidental releases that way with the camera ending up on the ground).

Best,

Doremus

I wound up using my Gitzo with three-way head from my medium format Mamoya RB67 equipment which weighs slighyly more than my Chamonix 4x5. 45H-1

[Drew Wiley]

The lightest AND most stable option by far is NONE - no head at all. I've haven't used a tripod head for decades with any view camera. They're totally redundant in most cases. Old time surveyors were expected to do it all with leg adjustments only; and they had to be far more precise than photographers, often in quite precarious places. With some practice, it's actually quick and easy to do.

Wobble-bobble ball heads with their projecting stems are the root of all evil when it comes to vibration. But this newer half-ball concept, where a hemisphere is tightly seated in a scooped out part of the tripod top, makes a lot of sense. I'd buy one if I wasn't already so comfortable doing things the headless manner.

[Tin Can]

Agree

[darr]

My travel tripod for my Ebony RSW45 is an RRS series #1 tripod with an Acratech Leveling Base with Quick Release Clamp.
I prefer a leveling base for 4x5. Similar to just the legs but with a quick way to balance the load.

The larger tripod that stays in the studio is an RRS series #2 with an Acratech Leveling Base (no QL) and a Panoramic Head.

I swapped out all RRS ball heads but my BH30 (on a Gitzo 1550 for APS-C traveling) after realizing leveling bases work the best for me.
I also attach a FotoPro E6 Gimbal to the leveling base of series #1 for stitching digital files out in the landscape.

Here is a page on my website with pics and info about my tripods, heads, leveling bases, etc.

[Alan Klein]

Does a leveling head create a problem such as: You want to lower the view. So when you release it to move the camera to point down, there's some shift left or right. In other words, unlike a three-way head where you can control motion only in one of three directions, the leveling head allows unwanted shifting in a second direction?

Do ball heads create similar problems?