I guess it does not have a leg to stand on ...
I guess it does not have a leg to stand on ...
Nothing beats a great piece of glass!
I leave the digital work for the urologists and proctologists.
That looks like a 1970s Gitzo. The biggest difference with newer ones are the leg locks. The rubber can spin on the old ones, and the locks are not as smooth to use. Check it out. Are the leg locks easy to use? Another difference is that the you can't use spiked feet or other screw-feet with the older tripod. If it's in good working condition, and the price is right, it would be a decent option, assuming it goes tall enough for your use.
“You often feel tired, not because you've done too much, but because you've done too little of what sparks a light in you.”
― Alexander Den Heijer, Nothing You Don't Already Know
From the tightening collar and number of leg sections it's a Series 3 performance, compact legset with center column.
Compacts have more leg sections for a similar height of a tripod with fewer sections.
Gitzo liked to randomly change model numbers just to keep people guessing when comparing new vs old models. Anyway, the one in the picture
will handle just about any 4X5 or 5X7* camera around. The question is working height for you. Remember when you add a head the height will increase
several inches.
From memory the section of the 3's are 1 1/8". lower #'s smaller and higher #'s larger.
*From another site recently, probably APUG.......5X7 and 13X18 DDS are the same outside dimension
Well, the camera has arrived. I was surprised how big everything, specially the lens really is. Assembled the camera should have about 6 kilos.
Slight problem: the set does not include the tripod holder, hopefully I can find the right one somewhere on ebay. So I need that before I can buy a tripod. And I need to find/imporovise a battery for compur electronic shutter - I hope it works!
For tripod I'll go with a berlebach. They are nice and fairly cheap, and I read a lot about broken gitzos, so buying something without trying it isn't an option.
I'm not familiar with that camera but it does appear from the picture that you do have a "tripod holder." If I'm correct it (the tripod mount) can be seen at the center on the bottom rail. The screw on the tripod you posted would thread into that holder. Instead of doing that I'd consider getting a quick release plate for the camera. For my 4x5 and 8x10 field cameras I have an Arca Swiss z1-sp head on a Gitzo series 3 tripod with QR plates attached to the cameras.
Thomas
If you buy a Berlebach with the leveling ball you may not want/need a head. The leveling ball is pretty slick.
You can have low price, stability or low weight -- pick two out of three.
I think the best possible combination is a good used TILTALL, made by Leitz. On ebay about $100. (Includes a great 3-way head).
Wilhelm (Sarasota)
Turns out that picture is similar to, but not my setup. This is mine:Originally Posted by tgtaylor
Mine is missing the "tube" with the tripod mount, but has an extension tube without the mount. I worry the extension alone will be a bit short, but I need a mount to try it first.
I don't know if peco 4x5 and 5x7 tubes are compatible. Would for sure be easier if they were...
I found the missing part on ebay, hope it fits.
So back to the tripod. I'm quite set on Berlebach 3x2; it's not the smallest and lightest, but it's not like I'll hike with this camera anyway.
They come with various inserts though and frankly I'm leaning towards going with "insert 1", which is just a plate with a mount screw. The leveling ball seems nice though, but has no panning. The one with panning is ridiculously more expensive than the one without it (89 vs 175 euro!), plus I'm not sure how useful a ball head is for such a big camera. I could just find a panning head on ebay later on.
You can pan with the leveling ball if you just want to adjust your camera. If you are taking multiple shots to stitch together you will need a pan head which is accurate and has the proper scale on it. The leveling ball gives you a bit of movement but you can't compare it to the amount of movement of a real ball head.
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