Convenience in the Field

[Henry Ambrose]

Process- I level the tripod first thing every time. After leveling the tripod working with a tilt pan 3 axis head is great. You could not chase me down to make me use a ballhead. The next is to level the camera. The last thing I do is to zero the camera and tripod before I tear down. By following this procedure I always start from the same zero position. Purely personal preferences and ones that are probably not shared by many. Perhaps a holdover from studio work but I keep doing it the same wherever I am.

Gear- Grafmatics! - If you are not altering processing of individual sheets they are the fastest to shoot and are very compact. I also think (but cannot prove) that they hold the film flatter. Same shutters on all lenses and all lenses on their boards in the same orientation. My least used lens is in a Compur all others are Copal, I wish they were all the same.

[David A. Goldfarb]

I'm also a fan of Grafmatics for 4x5".

The fastest, smallest tripod for an ultralight 4x5" like a Gowland or Toho or I'd guess an Ikeda Anba: The Linhof Report from the 1950s. It folds FLAT to under 18 inches minus the head (I use a Linhof Ballhead no. 1 on that one for its compact design, though I generally prefer pan-tilt heads), and the legs pull out and snap into place when fully extended. There are twist locks for the top leg sections so the tripod can be leveled. There is no elevator column, so despite light weight and compact design, it's quite sturdy.

[Gem Singer]

Hi Kerry,

This looks like the beginning of a "how to" book. A nicely illustrated, full-color soft bound, published by Amphoto. Perhaps titled: "Hiking and Camping With Large Format Equipment". Sounds like a great idea to me.

From my own personal experience, hiking, photographing, and camping in the Cascade Mountains (your backyard), the Deschutes National Forest and the Mt.Hood area, 1981-1984. I can offer three tips:

1. Use the lightest weight, most compact gear you can gather together.

2. Hire a sherpa, or rent (buy) a llama, horse, or mule to carry you and/or your gear.

3. Don't wait until you are over fifty, and horribly out of shape, to do it.

I hope these tips make it into your book.

[Jim Galli]

You guys'll think I'm a hack but I don't care. I have a heavy navy sweatshirt that does faithful service as my dark cloth. Yep, I put my head thru the neck hole backwards and wrap the waist band around the camera. Besides being a near perfect dark cloth, the sweat shirt then does double duty. When I'm on the trail and I've finished another masterpiece, I throw the flattened sweatshirt over the camera and lens (lens cap replaced of course) so that the neck and sleeves go down past the lens shutter and the waist area is just at below the ground glass. Then I grab the "arms" and pull them back and tie the hole thing in a knot. It protects the whole outfit from trail dust etc. as I swing the entire thing up on my shoulder and proceed. This works all the way up to 8X10 but then I usually remove the lens and fold the camera before I tie it up and walk on.

[Kerry L. Thalmann]

Wow, lots of great responses so far. Keep 'em coming!

I figured I'd start from the ground up - that's why I started with tripods and heads. Eventually, I'll move on to other subjects, but I do have a couple more tripod/head releated comments.

Jerry Greer wrote: "I would love to know how you converted the 410 to accept the ARCA style clamp."

Jerry, Brian already provided one possible answer - the made-for-this-purpose adapter from Kirk Enterprises. I looked at that solution, but chose something else for two reasons. First, was the cost. The adapter from Kirk is $130 - that's only $10 less than I paid for the 410 head and seems excessive to me. Second, I already had a 60mm long RRS ARCA style clamp that I originally purchased to use on a different head.

Initially, I just mounted this clamp on top of the Bogen supplied QR plate. If you lock everything down tight, this is a resonably rigid solution. It was certianly easy and did not require any permanent modification to the head, the Bogen plate or the RRS clamp.

Once I was convinced I liked this head enough to keep it for the long term, I decided to make a more permanent modification. Time to get out the hacksaw, Dremel tool and file. The 3/8" hole in the RRS clamp lines up well with the same 3/8" size hole in the top of the head. However, the raised lip on the right side of the head interferes with the clamp. So, the first modification was to grind/file down this ridge flush with the rest of the top platform of the head.

Next to keep the clamp from turning on the platform, I wanted a second mounting hole. Fortunately, the top of the 410 head already has a 1/4" hole in front of the 3/8" mounting hole. So, I drilled and tapped a mating 1/4-20 hole in my RRS clamp. Now I had a metal-to-metal mating surface with two mounting bolts (one 3/8" and one 1/4"). BTW, I highly recommend using some good stainless steel mounting bolts in pace of the cheap aluminum ones (designed to be tightend with a coin) that come with the Bogen/Manfrotto head. That gave me a solid (and with a little LocTite) fairly permanent solution.

The next part is optional. I then proceded to cut/file/grind away a little of the excess metal from the top of the 410 head (to the left of the clamp - when viewed from the rear). Basically just the curved part up to the support rib on the bottom of the platform. I probably could have gone further, but it didn't want to risk weakening the platform to save what probably would amount to at most an ounce of weight. A little black paint to touch up the edges and that's it. I'm not sure what the RRS clamp costs these days, but I think it was about $70 when I bought mine. The 60mm length is a good match for the top platform of the 410 head. You could use a longer one if desired, but that would require filing down the small lips on the front and rear of the platform. I didn't see much benefit to that as the 60mm length is the same as the stock clamp on the ARCA-SWISS B1 head - which has always worked well for me.

Kerry

[Kerry L. Thalmann]

"Their conclusion: the tripod was thoroughly corroded, presumably by saltwater exposure, beyond repair besides exchanging 80% of the parts, and not covered by the warranty. "

Tuan,

I'm surprised (and disappointed) on two counts to hear of your experience with your 1227.

First, with the fact the the metal had corroded to the point that it affected the performance of thr tripod. I thought hard anodized aluminum was pretty corrosion resistant. Perhaps they need to make a titanium version (titanium is very resistant to salt water corrosion) for people who work a lot near the ocean. Gee, I wonder how much that would cost... Never mind, I don't think I want to know.

Seriously, I haven't had any problems with either of my carbon fiber Gitzos. Granted, I spend more time photographing in the mountains, deserts and rain forests than at the beach, but I have done a fair bit of shooting at the Oregon Coast. On a couple of occasions, I have disassambled, rinsed/cleaned, re-lubed and reassembled my 1325 after a few days at the coast, but it was mostly to remove sand from the collars. I figured it was just a little preventative maintance to keep my very expensive tripod working like new. I never expected that their would be a corrosion problem (I was more concerned about the grit causing premature wear).

Was you tripod ever immersed in salt water, or was this corrision simply a result of exposure to air-born salt spray?

Finally, I am extremely disappointed to hear that Gitzo did not cover this under warranty. Boy, back in the 1970s and 1980s, Gitzo's reputation for standing behind their unconditional lifetime warranty was legendary. Apparently, times have changed. When I bought my 1325 (and 1227), I paid extra (and a fair amount, at that) to buy from an authorized US dealer to make sure I got the lifetime warranty. I figured these expensive tripods were a lifetime investment, and it was worth it, therefore, to pay extra for a lifetime warranty to match. So, did I spend a couple hundred more for a worthless piece of paper, or does Gitzo still honor their warranty as they did in the past? Did you purchase your 1227 new from an authorized US dealer, or was it a direct import (so-called gray market)? If it was purchased new from an authorized dealer, with a lifetime warranty, what reason did Gitzo provide for not honoring the warranty? Enquiring minds want to know.

Kerry

[wfwhitaker]

Convenience? I've said it before and I'll say it again.
One word: ReadyLoad. Available in any format as long as it's 4x5.

(11x14 ReadyLoads would be so nice....)

[Kerry L. Thalmann]

Convenience? I've said it before and I'll say it again.
One word: ReadyLoad. Available in any format as long as it's 4x5.

Will,

You beat me to it. That was one I was defnitely going to mention. So, just leat me add another word: Quickload.

They call them quick and ready for a reason. In addition to virtually eliminating dust problems, they are fast and easy to use. And, this is one case where a more convenient solution actually saves weight as well. I know they certainly make my life easier.

Kerry

[Kerry L. Thalmann]

This looks like the beginning of a "how to" book. A nicely illustrated, full-color soft bound, published by Amphoto. Perhaps titled: "Hiking and Camping With Large Format Equipment". Sounds like a great idea to me.

Eugene,

If I ever write a book, I'll be sure to include a chapter on "tips for making life easier in the field".

Your post actually isn't too far off. I originally dreamed up this idea as a possible magazine article. However, rather than just a list of my own personal equipment and methods for field photography, I thought it would better serve the LF community at large to hear from a number of folks. After all, I know what works for me, but that doesn't mean it will work for everybody. I also know there are a lot of clever people out there who have thought of unique solutions that have thus far eluded me. Finally, we all have different equipment, and even different formats. So, rather than a single author article, I thought a compliation from the forum members would provide greater benefit to us all. Plus, this way I get to learn what other people are doing, too.

Kerry

[QT Luong]

Kerry, the tripod was partly immersed in water in a number of occasions. I was also disappointed that the warranty did not apply, especially since I had good service twice in the past at the Gitzo factory. They considered that it was abuse they couldn't be responsible for. I don't remember reading anywhere that the warranty was unconditional, so I didn't insist further. Paperwork was never a problem at the Gitzo factory. You would just show up with your tripod, and they would never ask you where your purchased it or if you had any receipts. I don't know if I would have had better luck going through the US importer or not (I bought from Robert White). Based on my own experience with the CF gitzos (I've owned 6 of them in different sizes so far), they wouldn't last a lifetime because after a certain period of intensive use they become so sticky that for me it's preferable to sell and buy a new one (kind of replacing your computer because it became too slow). It could be that it was just the lack of preventive maintenance.