Tiltall, new or used?

[Alan Gales]

I'm familiar with the old Tiltall tripods but I really don't know much about the new Chinese made models. Are you really better off buying a used American made Tiltall or for a little more are the new Chinese models a better deal?

[Jim Jones]

I haven't examined or used the new imported Tiltalls, but have heard that quality control isn't as good as the original ones. I've used the original Tiltall, Leitz, and Star D versions with complete satisfaction for 43 years, and would choose them over the new ones.

[mikebarger]

Get one that was made in New Jersey.....they are that much better....I have one made in Jersey and a friend has a new Chinese built one.....they only share the name.

[lenser]

Alan, From all the reading I've done about them, and from personal experience since the late 70's, the E. Leitz version is you best target. I've owned a Star D, one other in between name that I can't remember, and now three of the Leitz and from my experience, the Leitz are wonderful and the rest are good, but definitely also rans. The star D just didn't "feel" right and the brushed chrome one that I had with the Tiltall decal down the leg, gave me constant trouble with the center column snagging in it's collar.

The very first one (Leitz) I bought was never returned in a divorce, but it's probably still working. The second one I bought at a garage sale about 18 years ago and used trouble free in all that time. I just gave it to a dear friend after finding a third in near mint condition on the local Craig's List less than a month ago.

I can't speak for the Chinese version, but I would hold out to find the original.

Tim

[Frank Petronio]

I've had the New Jersey Marchioni and Leitz Tiltalls that have been excellent, very solid and stable, tremendous values. However last year I foolishly popped for a "user" Leitz and it was very worn out and near worthless. So buy based on condition. You really don't want one that was used by an educational system because they get abused.

If I were ambitious I suppose I could rebuild a beater with parts from http://tiltallsupport.blogspot.com but since you can find a mint one for $100 why bother?

I have to learn that buying "users" is always a ticket for getting screwed. You want to buy "pretty" for a few bucks more.

[E. von Hoegh]

Get one that was made in New Jersey.....they are that much better....I have one made in Jersey and a friend has a new Chinese built one.....they only share the name.

Yes indeed they are that much better. I saw but did not use a Chinese knockoff. It would make a good door prop, or maybe in an emergency a light stand, but I would not put a camera on the piece of crap.

[Alan Gales]

Thanks guys!

I recently bought a Crown Graphic and am currently using my Ries J100 tripod since I all ready own that. Some places I go I don't want to take my expensive gear. On Yahoo I saw that they just rated the top cities for crime and St. Louis was ranked #3. An old Crown with a used Tiltall should work well.

And Frank you are right about buying pretty. I learned that the hard way too!

[BrianShaw]

I wouldn't worry too much about St. Louis crime. Most of it is in East St. Louis... where you either get through it or you get dead. If you get through it there might be some nice images; if you get dead... you have no worries.

[Frank Petronio]

Rochester has the highest crime rate in New York, higher murder rate per capita than NYC. But it's concentrated in a small hopeless ghetto. Don't go there.

It's LA or places like that where you get shot on the Freeway.

[Alan Gales]

I wouldn't worry too much about St. Louis crime. Most of it is in East St. Louis... where you either get through it or you get dead. If you get through it there might be some nice images; if you get dead... you have no worries.

I stay away from East St. Louis. It's bad. The North side is pretty bad too. It's common to hear gun shots at night.

Where I go I'm not worried about getting shot. I'm just worried about someone swiping my gear so they can sell it to some pawn shop in order to get more drugs.

I was on a job one time at Barnes Hospital. We had to park our vehicles in Forrest Park. In broad daylight some crack head busted a window out of a carpenter's brand new Silverado pick-up in order to steal 29 cents laying on his console. Drug addicts will steal anything.

[Alan Gales]

I ended up taking everyone's wise advice and picked up a slightly used Leitz tripod today at a camera show for $75.00. It was real nice being able to try it out before I bought it.

[mikebarger]

Congrats....you'll enjoy it!

[mike rosenlof]

Just last week I bought a Marchioni Tiltall #4062. It's already worked well under my Wista 45SP shooting mostly level. I would not put anything heavier than that Wista on it, but it looks lovely and all of the locks feel great. It's intended mostly for the Wista and for my Mamiya TLRs.

[Robert Langham]

Our school bought a bunch of new Tiltalls the last couple of years. They are damn near useless and hurt my rep as an advisor for camera gear. I had a Tiltall in the '70s when I was a child that was wonderful. Replaced it with a Gitzo. Recently I bought an old Marconi off Ebay. It's pretty dang good, though used. I'd go ebay in the 60.00 range.