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How to level your tripod head: info needed! (1 Viewer)

gmax

gmax

Sontium Dweller
Hello everybody,
I'm looking for a tool to help me levelling my tripod head; after some searches, I found the Bogen - Manfrotto Half Ball Leveler, but it comes in different flavours: Long/Short, 75/100mm ... so my questions are: which flavour? Which one will it fit my 055 rapid column tripod? What is my tripod bowl size? Last but no least: will it really do the job for me?
I'm obviously open to different suggestions ...
Thank you everybody,
Max
 
Sorry quick thread Hijack.

Nigel, where did you get your hotshoe mounted spirit level from? I'm sick to death of trying (generally failing) to level images in PS?

Thanks


Paul
 
nigelblake said:
I often look outside of the photography world for things, a fencepost level is very useful, I have an old one that works a treat, heres a link to similar on e-bay.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ELASTIC-STRAY...Z014QQcategoryZ122857QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tip Nigel, very informative as usual ... it looks quite useful B :)
My choice of words was not that good ("tool") actually... What I was looking for is a way to level my camera when already mounted on my tripod, because I find it a bit cumbersome to do so while panning (I already use a bubble level) if the tripod is not square to the ground (which often happens) .. that's why I was thinking of an "in-tripod" add-on, like a leveling column with a half ball (similar to the Manfrotto MDeVe with a built in half ball) or a leveling base head (similar to the Manfrotto 3416) ..
Any ideas? Anybody out there who already use these kits?
Thank you all
Max
 
Last edited:
Hi Max,
I use one of these post levels for getting a truly vertical centre column, it makes it so easy to stay level with the camera (once that is also levelled) when panning. It is very quick and easy to set up with my Benbo, but probably more fiddly with a conventional tripod.
 
A second hand Slik 88 tripod has a ball bearing level (sort of ball in a covered saucer type) that gets over the problem. Lots of adjustment too. Make sure that the head is complete before you buy.
They crop up from time to time and weigh less than a Benbo, but not so indestructible!
Did have two but someone with a similar need bought the spare recently.
 
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