rss feedTiltall tripod mods
Before my last trip to Virginia i was photo window shopping at Adorama when i noticed they were having a sale on their Tiltall tripods. i decided to get one, after all, F.I.T. had one and whenever i used it i did enjoy it’s simplicity and weight compared to the Bogen/Manfroto junior geared head tripod i had bought previously.
As soon as i opened the box and attached the knobs i was greeted by a factory defect, it seems one of the knobs came undone or wasn’t properly adhered to it’s post. I decided to put tripod in it’s provided bag and hoped my dad could help me get it in tip-top shape.
He tried an epoxy and eventually that lost it’s hold and the knob came off again.
I looked past this issue mostly because i was in another state and couldn’t go to Adorama and complain to a human in person.
After a few weeks using the Tiltall i was left largely annoyed at a few simple points… the camera mount takes Herculean strength to tighten to a point where my 5d mkII and a 17-40mm lens would be solidly mounted, not to mention that fact that i’ve been spoiled by Bogen/Manfroto’s quick release plates.
So much so i bought a small quick release plate that i could use to quickly remove/attach my Zoom H4N when i would be recording audio.
This moring seeing the space plate gave me the idea that i could make my video rig a little more portable since i think my next video related project will have me traveling, setting up, and then breaking down fairly quickly, maybe quickly in some cases… time to make the tiltall a little better for me.
the quick release didn’t sit level on the tripod so this became a job for my handy zipsaw to cut a notch into the existing head. shown below with the notch cut out and sanded.
the notch was to allow for the spring chamber on the quick release, as seen below.
the top with the installed quick release:
Left over part from my DIY follow focus become my new adjustment knob:
