Surveyor's Tripod

[Bill Kumpf]

I found a surveyor’s tripod that I thought would work great in the creeks and woods. Now I need a good method of mounting a head. Google returned the Bogen 273 Survey Adapter. Has anyone used this adapter? Is there any other options? I hate to pay more for the adapter that I did for the tripod.

Thanks for any leads or suggestions.

[reellis67]

I used one of these for a time. I simply placed a bolt through the metal collar that lives under the base plate, with enough washers on the bolt below that collar to allow the bolt to hold the tripod head tight against the base plate of the tripod, and then attached the head to that bolt. It works quite well really - a bit heavy, but rugged as all get out. I think it cost about $2 US...

- Randy

[zack]

Hi Bill,

From what I can gather, that 273 adapter is going backwards. Looks to be for turning a camera tripod into a surveying one. I use a surveying tripod for all my LF stuff. I started off with an adapter I found online to convert the 5/8" surveying screw down to a 1/4" for my camera. This worked, but ended up being a real weak point in the system. I eventually built my own shoulders out of wood that screwed right into the top of the tripod. All it took was a quick trip to the hardware store and an hour or so of sawing/drilling/messing around to get everything together. Total cost of all my custom stuff was only a few dollars. I think it was something like three washers, a big 3/8" threaded bolt, and six screws.

...actually I just found the "plans" i made before I built the thing. They changed around a little once I had the parts, but the idea is basically the same. The shoulder as marked in my drawing is the top of the surveying tripod after I had removed the included center column/mounting plate. The wood is obviously what I cut myself.
Here are the plans.

I can take detailed pictures of the finished working product if you're interesting in going this route. I've got a 3047 on mine and have zero complaints.

[Peter De Smidt]

I second Randy's suggestion. That's what I do with my surveyor's tripod, and it works fine.

[resummerfield]

I use a wooden surveyor tripod for both surveying and photo work.

My first adapter was made from a ¾-inch thick piece of wood, but I had to remove the hollow 5/8x11 screw that mounts the survey instrument, and replace it with a longer 3/8-inch bolt to fit a “T-nut” placed off-center in the wood. Then I mounted an Arca B2 with a 3/8-inch bolt on-center through the wood. It worked OK, but it was difficult to undo the mod to use the tripod for a survey instrument.

Then I made an adapter from a piece of aluminum about 6-inches in diameter and 5/8-inch thick. I bored and tapped a 5/8 x11 hole slightly off center for the hollow screw that mounts the survey instrument, and a countersunk 3/8-inch hole on center for a flat-head screw to mount my Arca B2 head. It is very rigid, and can easily be removed to mount the survey instrument.

I use an 8x10, and the wooden survey tripod, outside, is much better than any other tripod I’ve ever used.

[Drew Wiley]

Surveyors tripods are wonderful supports for view cameras if you're on a budget.
It's very simple to modify the platform and add a captured 3/8 turn knob. Although I
currently use a couple of Ries maple tripods, which are undoubtedly superior, I did keep
a modified surveyor tripod as an emergency backup, but ended up giving it to a friend
for use with a simple astronomical telescope. Ironically, it's harder to stabilize my
Pentax 6x7 with a 300mm lens than to support the 8X10. A wooden surveyor tripod
will work for this, just like my larger Ries.

[Jehu]

This is kind of funny to me. I'm new at LF but I've been a Land Surveyor since 1982. I've got more old tripods than I know what do do with. When I got my first view camera the thought of converting one for LF entered my mind but immediately left. Maybe I'll give it a try.

[Bill Kumpf]

Thanks guys for the info. I will head for the wood shop and see what I can come up with.

[bobc]

Bill,

It's been a few days and a weekend has gone past so you may have got this all figured out but here's another option: Take a visit to your local machinist.

I have an older survey tripod (I'm yet another surveyor) that is lighter weight and not as huge as a modern survey tripod (I shoot 4x5). I would think that the older tripods like mine, made for lighter weight transits would work for 8X10 also. In addition to it being smaller, it's also lighter to carry... Regardless, I had to do some head scratching to mount a ball head on this style of tripod. I ended up going to a machinist who had some scrap brass stock and built a platform that the ball head could sit on. This had threads cut into it to allow a threaded rod to pass through it allowing it to mount to the tripod and the ball head to the brass stock.

Sorry for the low quality photo. It's a massive blowup of a color slide....

Cheers,