Gitzo Leveling Base how do you.....

[rknewcomb]

Looking at pictures of the Gitzo leveling base to use on my tripod, I don't understand exactly how you turn the screw to mount the camera. I see that little lever on the side but the travel of that doesn't seem like enough to turn the screw enough to mount a camera. Can anyone explain how this works?
I appreciate the help.

[Phil Hudson]

Perhaps the large rubber knob underneath tightens the camera screw? I've seen one or two like this before but not the Gitzo.......

[BarryS]

Normally, people put a tripod head on top of the leveling base, so the screw may not turn at all. It's meant to save the trouble of adjusting the legs to level the tripod. With a level tripod platform, you can pan a film/video camera on a fluid head without introducing skew or do precisely aligned panoramas with a still camera on a pan base.

[Jeff Keller]

The knob at the bottom of the post is the lock/release so that it can be leveled. It might be possible to rotate the entire post when it is loosened but most Gitzo posts have a built in anti-rotation key.

[eric black]

if you are not using a ball head you will need to spin the camera onto the mount- the lever on the side takes care of final tightening. The bottom is for the leveling as stated above. I had one of these for a while with an Arca B2 ball head on top- it was fast but heavier than I preferred. I have gone back to just a ball head as my workflow didnt really require this item.

[Mike Boden]

The lever on the side is for tightening. What you do is spin the tripod head onto the screw and then slide the lever to tighten it into place. The key is starting with the lever in the unlock position so that when you slide it after the head is on, you're actually tightening it.

As for the leveling action, the 'spindle' that drops down and points to the ground locks/unlocks the ball assembly that allows you to level the head. Simply grip this with your hand and rotate it.

[Frank Petronio]

Some people attach a quick release to the top and use it as a lightweight, low profile head. Which is great if you don't need it to tip 90 degrees for your smaller format cameras or if you use a "L" plate with two axii.

[rknewcomb]

Thanks for all the great help. I have one of those small Linhof M679 cameras that has the tripod head built into the bottom of the rail. Its a very nice head but in addition to pan, it only offers tilt forwards and back on this early model. I need a way to level it up left-right. I didn't want to put this nice Linhof head on another head so I was thinking about a leveling base. Having never actually seen one, I didn't know how they work.
Thank you again.

[Tom Schaefer]

You would normally mount a tripod head to that
screw, then mount your camera. Mine has a kirk ball
head attached. A little heavy but still worth having
Tom

[Jean-Louis Llech]

The system is quite simple : the lever on the side of the leveling base is linked with the head screw. When the lever is on the left side, the screw is free. Screw the head as far as possible, and then pull the lever as far as possible towards right direction. The head is very firmly locked to the leveling base. Nothing more simple.

Concerning the leveling system, turn clockwise the small rubber endpiece under the leveling base (between the three legs sections when mounted on the tripod). The leveling half ball platform swings about 15 deg. in all directions.
Level the head (or the camera if it is mounted directly on the leveling base). When leveled, screw firmly the rubber endpiece by turning it counterclockwise.
If you need to to level the camera carefully, don't unscrew this rubber endpiece totally, but only a half turn.

I made a drawing to make all that understandable.