I've asked sales people but I just want to make sure...the Manfrotto 3275 Geared Head CAN fit on the Gitzo CF 1325 tripod? The head has two inch plate on the bottom but needs to be clear of the tripod plate because a knob would be blocked. I could get a metal spacer as a solution. Has anyone done this modification? Any possible details or solutions I miss please tell me. Sorry to ask a question that should be dealt with a camera store but I don't like camera stores!

-- David Payumo (dpayumo@rogers.com), December 13, 2001

Answers

If you use any center column you won't have a problem as the locking collar on it will add about 30mm (1.25 in) or so of space from the tripod shoulder plate to the bottom of the column plate. If you are attaching the 3275 directly to the tripod shoulder plate (without any center column), then it looks like the front-to-back pitch knob will hit the shoulder plate at about 30-deg elevation or so. Are you going to use a center column of any kind?

-- Steve Baggett (sbaggett@midsouth.rr.com), December 13, 2001.

Actually David, I'd be very careful about this combination. I tried it out and was very dissatisfied.

Without the center column on the Gitzo, the knobs are very restricted. Even with the center column, the tilt knob hits the mounting plate (the mounting plate on top of the center column is larger on the Gitzo than the Bogen). It's certainly usable this way, but it bothered me that I didn't have the full range of motion with the head.

What I eventually did was remove the mounting plate from the center column and mounted the 3275 directly to the column. It always seemed a bit wishy-washy though, and I finally switched to an Arca ball-head instead.

I considered the spacer idea myself, but I just decided it wasn't worth the cost and hassle. I'm sure it would work fine though.

-- Tim Klein (timklein@qwest.net), December 13, 2001.

"It's certainly usable this way, but it bothered me that I didn't have the full range of motion with the head."

The same thing happens on the Bogen tripods with this mini geared head, albeit to a lesser extent. With the Gitzo tripod, why don't you simply rotate the quick release plate underneath the camera by 180 degrees, then replace the camera back on the tripod for that particular shot as the obstruction of the geared head is only in one tilt direction? This is not a rhetorical question, just asking if I overlooked something.

I can't imagine trying to use a ball head for LF architecture...

-- Andre Noble (andrenoble@yahoo.com), December 13, 2001.