Since my earliest days in photography (over 25 years ago) I have been using only one tripod - the Welt "Flip Lock". To my knowledge this company is no longer in existence. The tripod was made of lightweight aluminum. The legs were two part, telescoping which limited how close to the ground you can get however the marvelous feature of the tripod was its "flip lock" mechanism to lock and unlock the legs for extension or retraction. The tripod has a lever at the top of each leg which locks or unlocks the leg. I do mostly landscapes and the ability to merely unlock the legs, let the legs extend by themselves by gravity to the required length made set up a real ease, particularly on uneven ground. Unfortunately the locking mechanisms began slipping and I purchased a new Gitzo tripod. I admire the heft and workmanship of it but find the set up, using the twist locking collars, to be extremely awkward and frustrating. I use a medium format coamera and really struggle to get the legs set up at the proper height, particularly if the camera is already mounted on the tripod. How about some hints on what works for you folks out there?

-- Robert Thomas (thoma5@bellsouth.net), October 15, 1998

Answers

I own two Bogen tripods, a 3031 for small and medium format and a 3036 for my 8x10. I do a lot of photography in the field and find that they are very easy to set up and use. Further, they will take a lot of abuse. They don't mind sand and sea water either. And they are affordable. Highly recommended.

-- Peter Hughes (leonine@redshift.com), October 15, 1998.

I gotta agree with you about the Gitzo's, really nice and well made but a pain to open when it's cold or when sand or grit get in the legs.

I use a Bogen as well, mainly because of familiarity and price. What I did was to set the camera & tripod up in my house before going out and adjust them for height, using the minimum number of leg extensions and setting the camera at eye level. Then I mark on the leg extensions with a Sharpie. In the field I set the tripod up upside down with the head resting on my foot, extend the legs up to the preset mark and then lock 'em in place. Then I flip the whole thing over and open it up to the 1st pre-set angle setting.

With his Reis, Michael A. Smith has a neat trick. He opens the legs up to a pre-determind length, with one leg, the front one being an inch or so longer than the rest. With the camera on the tripod he balances it on his shoulder. When he wants to shoot he dips his shoulder forward so that the the longest leg hits the ground first, while holding the two side legs. Then he pivots the legs out in one smooth motion until the camera reaches the appropriate height, and then he locks the legs in place. I'm not sure the description does it justice but it is a very smooth, easy and fast technique.

-- Sean yates (yatescats@yahoo.com), November 23, 1998.

I suppose I should mention that I put the camera on the tripod after I get it set up, I don't rest IT on my foot.

-- Sean yates (yatescats@yahoo.com), November 23, 1998.

A Swedish carpenter (I think his name is Jan Carlsson) sells a tripod called "Stabil Snabb" (meaning Stable Quick). It is with two section legs, the upper part is wood, the lower is metal. The metal part slides into the wooden part. The wood is "separated" so one actually sees the metal cylinder sliding up and down and the release is mounted on top of the metal part. This way, one only has to grip the release and slide the legs up or down by holding on to the release. At the shortest leg extension, the release is just under the tripod head, and at the longest it is half way between the tripod head and the ground. My description is not really making this justice (imagine a "trombone" technique). The angles of the legs are not click stops but set each leg separately but locked all three legs in one motion. Some nationally well-known nature photographers uses it for their medium format gear (Hasselblad, Pentax 67). The feet of the tripod may be its best feature: they are specially shaped so that they grip on any surface and for soft surfaces (or snow and ice) they may even be stepped on to bury them in the sand. They are not spikes but more like "sideways mounted coins". The tripods were tested in the Swedish photo magazine Foto, together with Gitzo, Manfrotto (i.e. Bogen in USA), Linhof, Optifix, Bilora etc. and was rated more stable than Manfrotto and almost as stable as Gitzo.

-- Peter Olsson (Peter.Olsson@sb.luth.se), November 25, 1998.

The above mentioned tripod (Stabil) is now presented on internet:

http://www.stabil.nu

I own one and I like it very much.

-- Peter Olsson (peter.olsson@lulebo.se), October 28, 1999.