• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

ATS Tripod Foot - Fits which Tripod Heads? (1 Viewer)

Benedict Macdonald

Benedict Macdonald

Well-known member
England
Evening all,

Have just a got an ATS 65 and noted its snazzy little tripod foot. Unfortunately, am currently using a Velbon FH-51Q head with sliding plate, which means attaching a plate to the scope and risking the inevitable loosening problems, which always seem to take place during pivotal birding moments. Can anyone recommend tripod heads that directly take the ATS-foot, i.e. any / all models by Giottos / Manfrotto / Velbon (fluid only please).

Many thanks,

Ben
 
Just know you are balance limited by the size of the foot. Using a QR plate generally allows much more flexibility to achieve perfect balance on the head for smooth movements using minimum drag tension and no backlash.

Rick
 
Thanks Steve and Rick for both these useful replies. In the past, my main problem with the old AT80HD was the continual loosening of the thread - has anyone experienced any problems with this on the ATS65? Cheers, Ben
 
benmacdonald said:
Evening all,

Have just a got an ATS 65 and noted its snazzy little tripod foot. Unfortunately, am currently using a Velbon FH-51Q head with sliding plate, which means attaching a plate to the scope and risking the inevitable loosening problems, which always seem to take place during pivotal birding moments. Can anyone recommend tripod heads that directly take the ATS-foot, i.e. any / all models by Giottos / Manfrotto / Velbon (fluid only please).

Many thanks,

Ben
Click to expand...

Hi, Ben, there've been some useful comments here. I have both the 80 and the 65 (temporarily) Swaro and a Manfrotto 128RC head. I can tell you that the fit of the tripod foot is fine with both scopes, but the location of the foot on the 65 makes the scope back heavy, where the 80 is pretty close to balanced. I never messed with a balance rail with the 65 but resigned myself to tightening down the elevation adjustment when transporting the scope.

From discussions here, I can see how a balance plate or balance rail might be an advantage with the trade off of more weight and a less direct connection with the head

Glad you found a scope solution. All the best.

Brad
 
Here are two pictures showing my scope with the rail and 128RC head if you wanted some illustration on how it looks.
 

Attachments

  • P1030448.jpg
    P1030448.jpg
    127.3 KB · Views: 273
  • P1030450.jpg
    P1030450.jpg
    102.3 KB · Views: 272
Kristoffer,

Do you keep the scope in that position relative to the head to balance when you have a camera mounted?



added:
Question answered, Brad's post #7.

I'm a little surprised that read this though. The setup you show looks like it has a lot of mechanical leverage where it's not desirable.
How's the vibration with this arrangement?
 
Last edited:
Hi,
this is just a balance rail. The position on the photo is for digiscoping and perfectly balanced with the camera on the DCA but fairly good balanced without the camera too. It has no disturbing vibrations as far as I have experienced.


Kevin Conville said:
Kristoffer,

Do you keep the scope in that position relative to the head to balance when you have a camera mounted?



added:
Question answered, Brad's post #7.

I'm a little surprised that read this though. The setup you show looks like it has a lot of mechanical leverage where it's not desirable.
How's the vibration with this arrangement?
Click to expand...
 
Kevin Conville said:
Kristoffer,
Do you keep the scope in that position relative to the head to balance when you have a camera mounted?
added:
Question answered, Brad's post #7.
I'm a little surprised that read this though. The setup you show looks like it has a lot of mechanical leverage where it's not desirable.
How's the vibration with this arrangement?
Click to expand...

The balance rail (a simple plate) has subsequently been replaced by the telescope rail (you can see both here). The latter supports the scope at the foot and under the prism and has a quick release lever that lets you quickly adjust the position if you need to. This is less of an issue with compact cameras but may well be something you may want to do when using a larger DSLR for digiscoping.

Here is a youtube movie that Clay Taylor and I made on the telescope rail to show how it works (and when you should use it):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJuetIwY7r4

Happy birding,
Dale
 
That's a useful looking bit of hardware Dale. The rubber seat seems to address my concerns by adding a second support. Is the dovetail Swaro uses (rail) happen to be be Arca-Swiss compatible? If Arca compatible, I can see other potential ways to use this system. It appears that the Manfrotto compatible shoe on the rail is one-piece machined, good for stability but proprietary.
 
Last edited:
Kevin Conville said:
That's a useful looking bit of hardware Dale. The rubber seat seems to address my concerns by adding a second support. Is the dovetail Swaro uses (rail) happen to be be Arca-Swiss compatible? If Arca compatible, I can see other potential ways to use this system. It appears that the Manfrotto compatible shoe on the rail is one-piece machined, good for stability but proprietary.
Click to expand...

Hi Kevin,

As you pointed out, the telescope rail has our regular dovetail foot which fits our (and many Manfrotto) tripods. You can, however, unscrew the foot (which has two extra side pins for stability) and disattach it from the telescope rail itself. You can then screw on any tripod plate with a regular (small) attachment screw.

When I want to do videoscoping, I mount my scope (via telescope rail) directly on to a really smooth Velbon tripod head and it works just perfectly :t:

Happy birding,
Dale
 
Warning! This thread is more than 14 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Similar threads

P
Tripod/head recommendations for Leica Televid 77
Replies
8
Views
410
phototroph
P
S
New tripod and head for Kowa TSN-66A
Replies
9
Views
1K
fazalmajid
fazalmajid
C
Manfrotto 190GOA4 + 128RC compatibility with Kowa 883, plus backpack/transport question
2
Replies
25
Views
2K
Chris C
C
K
confused about tripod head types for birding scope
2
Replies
23
Views
1K
Peregrine Took
P
Y
ATC 65 tripod head compatibility
Replies
13
Views
1K
Vixen_893
V

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top