Tripod with built in leveling base (half ball)

[brocksw]

Anyone tried a tripod with a built in leveling base (half ball) in the field and put it through the repeated abuse of hunting? It sounds pretty convenient in theory, but just not sure if it's actually going to be when applied in the field, or if those half balls are prone to getting dirt build up and not working correctly.

 

[hereinaz]

For camera work, glassing or shooting? Or, all three?

What context?

The couple I have had came apart and weren't any harder to keep clean and operating than a ball head.

They are excellent for shooting, the best actually. But, they are limited by range of motion. For this, they aren't good for glassing.

With my very limited understanding, they are great for camera work, for the intended purpose of leveling out a pan head so you don't have to mess with leveling the tripod with the legs. I wouldn't want to mess with leveling by adjusting legs.

 

[brocksw]

For camera work, glassing or shooting? Or, all three?

What context?

The couple I have had came apart and weren't any harder to keep clean and operating than a ball head.

They are excellent for shooting, the best actually. But, they are limited by range of motion. For this, they aren't good for glassing.

With my very limited understanding, they are great for camera work, for the intended purpose of leveling out a pan head so you don't have to mess with leveling the tripod with the legs. I wouldn't want to mess with leveling by adjusting legs.

A little of everything, but probably won't shoot off of it. Started looking at them for a better digiscoping/photography set up but it seems like it might be handy to use with just a spotter for glassing as well. Interested in your take as to why that might not be the case.

Leofoto makes some systematic tripods that are light enough to be able to use, even with a heavier Manfrotto 500ah head. A 4.5 -5 lb tripod head combo isn't terrible for all around use. Always have my sirui and gitzo head for light work.

Mostly just wondering if the juice is worth the squeeze.

 

[hereinaz]

Can't say for camera work. If you aren't wishing for an easier way to level your tripod and head, you are probably not gonna get anything from the squeeze. Just my guess

I would never use it for glassing and I have never seen anyone use it either.

 

[gilby]

For camera work, glassing or shooting? Or, all three?

What context?

The couple I have had came apart and weren't any harder to keep clean and operating than a ball head.

They are excellent for shooting, the best actually. But, they are limited by range of motion. For this, they aren't good for glassing.

With my very limited understanding, they are great for camera work, for the intended purpose of leveling out a pan head so you don't have to mess with leveling the tripod with the legs. I wouldn't want to mess with leveling by adjusting legs.

Do you have recommendations on leveling heads? I have been eyeing the vortex leveling base to put on my Sirui tripod with the VA-5 head. I would primarily use it for glassing and shooting. It's turning out to be a large pain in the butt to make sure my scope does not have cant by adjusting the legs to be perfectly level.

 

[snowblind]

I've used a Gitzo tripod with a leveling base for many years.

Leveling bases are good at quickly providing a level camera/optic/rifle mounting surface that is unaffected by terrain irregularity or slope angle. To put it another way - It's a lot easier to adjust a leveling base than it is to adjust three tripod legs. Leveling bases are also not very good at tilt/pan as they are primarily designed to clamp heavy loads to the tripod.

The negative with a leveling base is that most are designed primarily as a base for pro video heads. In the real world that often translates into the leveling base being redundant for anyone who isn't using a pro video head with no built-in leveling capabilities. A ballhead (or similar) will provide many more tension and positioning options than a leveling base.

If you take a lot landscape photography or videography with the horizon in frame then you might like a leveling base. For most other use a nice ballhead (or similar) is better.