Mating Linhof Leveling head to Gitzo Leveling base

[Tom Davis]

I would like to mount a Linhof 3-way leveling head (#3663) that came with a 1/4" base mounting hole onto a Gitzo leveling base with a 3/8" male post. Is the bushing in the Linhof base plate removable? While it is slotted, coins did not work. Or if it is not removable, what would you all helpful folks recommend? Does Linhof, or someone else, make a plate with a female 3/8" hole and a 1/4" male post?

thanks in advance

[Bob Salomon]

No but Linhof makes a leveling head taht tilts 15° in all directions that will mate with the 003663 head.

But as the 003663 has 360° movement in 3 planes, all controlled individually, it is a leveling head. Why mount it to another leveling head?

[Bob Salomon]

As I am on the road until the 17th I can't check head in stock but I believe that the 003663 head is supplied with a Linhof 3/8 to 1/4" reducing bushing as well as both 1/4 and 3/8" camera screws.

You should be able to easily remove the reducing bushing with a quarter, a large screw driver or a spanner wrench should the 1/4" thread have a slot in it.

If this is not a new head it is possible that someone glued or used Locktite to keep the reducing bushing in place. If that is the case a heat gun can break the Locktite bond and a mallet properly applied can break a super glue bond.

If this is a new head no Locktite or glue is on the threads.

[Tom Davis]

Thanks for the information, Bob.

Main use of the Linhof Leveling head (and why I bought it from KEH) is to allow a Horseman HF to be centered vertically over the tripod axis (since it doesn't have a revolving back). That means if I want a vertical shot it would also be useful to have a leveling base and Gitzo's works very well.

I do suspect the Linhof's previous owner used Locktite as I've tried large screwdrivers (and I'm also afraid of stripping out the slots). Could Marflex get the darned thing out?

thanks,

Tom

[jarrod connerty]

Or perhaps a more useful alternative would be to do what I did when I used 003663; get a Really Right Stuff Arca-Swiss type panning clamp(& of course an Arca-type plate for yer Horseman). I'm pretty certain the plate + clamp weigh less than the Gitzo levelling base, and you'd also have the advantages of a speedier connect/disconnect as well as a bubble level built in to the clamp.

Even if you choose to put a levelling base below the 003663, I'd see if you can hunt down the Linhof levelling base and use it with the Gitzo flat plate instead of the Gitzo levelling base. While the Gitzo's quite intuitive, the Linhof has an amazing, unheralded advantage; even with my Wista RF & a 300mm lens, flash & monocular viewer weighing some 9 lb, while in the unlocked position I could move the rig when I touched it but it wouldn't budge an inch upon its own volition-no matter how it was positioned! To my knowledge there's no other device which can claim that capacity.

[tim atherton]

I've lost track of what it is you are actually trying to do and why...(it seems overly complicated) but I recently came across another leveling head - which may have nothing at all to do with this thread

http://acratech.net/miva/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=AOS&Product_Code=LB&Category_Code=Ballheads

[Glenn Kroeger]

I had a 3663 for a decade mounted on the 3/8 thread of a Gitzo 1325... so the bushing should be removable.

[Bob Salomon]

" previous owner used Locktite as I've tried large screwdrivers (and I'm also afraid of stripping out the slots). Could Marflex get the darned thing out?"

Marflex should be able to get it out.

If it is Locktite then heating it to around 135° F should loosen the bond. A commercial heat gun for shrink tubing can do this as can a clean soldering iron. However, if you aren't careful, you can cause other problems so it should be left to Marflex. The 003663 is not an inexpensive head.