Gitzo base plate fell out

Hi All,

Good news, bad news, first the bad: Today while out in the field I lifted my Gitzo 6x GT3540LS to my shoulder and promptly tilted it to near parallel to the ground. Moments later the sickening feeling of a sudden and great reduction of weight on my shoulder hit me. I turned to see the 500f/4, 2x TC and Mk3 on the ground in two pieces.

But wait, there's more....after telling myself what an idiot I am for not locking down the quick release clamp I noticed that the lens is still attached with Whimberly II. How in the world could have the head rotated enough times to seperate from the base? It hadn't, the base was still firmly attached to the head. The nut that tightens to hold the tripod base to the legs had worked itself loose allowing the entire rig to crash to the ground.

The good news? The 2x was ripped apart from the 500 leaving only the front mount of the 2x attached to the lens. I'll take a busted 2x over a smashed Mk3 or 500mm....I know, some of you with the Mk3 might argue that point!

Word to the wise, check once in a while to be sure the nut holding the base plate is secure. Do this with a wrench b/c it was still to tight too turn with just my fingers. As to the nut carrying the camera, I have no suggestions on that one!!

Good Shooting!

BZ

Brian

I had this happening .. in one of my worst nightmares

I suggest you quickly test the lens and body for "deformation" that may not be obvious but which affects either overall sharpness or sharpness in part of the image due to an alignment issue.
The quick way to test is the camera on a tripod with a good AF target parallel to the camera back and with good fine detail across the entire frame area.
With the lens set so that the camera body is in portrait mode take a test shot wide open, then rotate the lens through 180 degrees and repeat the shot.
If nothing is sharp something is damaged - possibly the mirror box.
If part of the image is unsharp and the unsharpness rotates through 180 degrees when the lens is rotated you probably have a twisted lens or body flange.
I hope you are lucky and no problems show up.

I always make sure i have the lens strap held when carrying a set up on a tripod just in case the worst happens

I have never felt good about the Gitzo tripod plate. I drilled and threaded 3 holes and tightened screws into the plate from the inside. If the main screw starts to get loose I'll notice before the whole lot hits the deck.

Thanks All!

A couple of people around here might recall a particular incident when I had messed up and failed to tighten the QR clamp correctly. Upon lifting the rig I felt the weight come off the tripod. Quick reflexes and tons of luck allowed a no look, behind the back catch of the 100-400 and Eos 1v.

BZ

I just lost the foot on one of my 6x Gitzo tripod legs yesterday while out shooting. Dang. Actually, thought I had lost more than that before realizing it was just the foot. I heard this was something prone to happen with the Gitzos.

I had the exact same thing happen to me with my GT 5541LS. Only I was lucky enough for it to happen when I lifted the tripod from the ground by the Wimberley II...so I was left with a Wimberley II + ground plate in my hand, and the tripod bouncing to the ground. So I can only subscripe to the advice to regularly check the ground plate screw. Bummer you didn't have the luck I did. Hopefully the 500 and MK3 are indeed working allright.

I had a similar thing happen to me with a Nikon F5, 500mm AFS, 1.4X. All were destroyed when they landed on concrete. Since then I have attached a split ring to the tripod. The strap on the telephoto lens has a spring loaded clip on it that I hook in the split ring. This won't prevent my incorrectly mounting the camera/lens, but it will catch it before it hits the ground, hopefully absorbing most of the impact.

Good point Brian. I saw a fellow on a NANPA regional event with the tripod and large lens over his shoulder where the base plate was held in by a small fraction of what was left of the collar. I told him to carefully put the rig down...I think he thought I was going to rob him...once he saw what was going on all color faded from his face. Thankfully his rig didn't hit the ground and we were able to avert a disaster.
As Brain admonishes - keep an eye on that base plate.

Thank you for everyone sharing these "horror" and "near miss" stories. This thread has made my stomach jump a bit this morning. First, and I can not say this enough times - PLEASE, PLEASE - DO NOT CARRY A LONG LENS/CAMERA MOUNTED TO A TRIPOD OVER YOUR SHOULDER. I know most of you will continue to do this as I see it all the time. Nothing makes me cringe more than seeing people swing their multi-thousand dollar setup over their shoulder with nothing but faith (and a pretty darn good tripod) keeping their camera/lens from hitting the ground or a tree, innocent bystander, outcrop formation, etc.

It is always a good idea to check (and re-check) that screw holding the base plate. It is a pretty solid connection, but remember, that is also a spot that gets considerably "worked" over. The large base plate on the Systematic Series 3 & 5 tripods offers a level of stability not found on other types/brands of tripods. I stand by this product as an excellent design, however, after reading this, I can assure you that this feedback will be shared with the Product Development team at Gitzo. I would like to find a way to further reduce/eliminate this from happening altogether.

Until such time, PLEASE, PLEASE - do not throw a tripod over your shoulder with a long lens & camera mounted to it. If you must, and can not stop yourself from this habit, be sure to check ALL connections regularly.

Thanks again for being a great source of feedback for our equipment.

Regards,
David Fisher
Product Manager, Gitzo Brand
Bogen Imaging USA

Dave,

A recessed hex set-screw is all that is needed. ie...Manfroto has been doing this for many years, albeit a different plate design.

Best and thanks for looking out for us,

Chas

Chas,

Gitzo has begun using the set screw on the top plate with the most recent version of the tripods (2008 catalog). The set screw does not address the removable top plate design. There is now a set screw on all Gitzo tripods (Series 1 and higher) that allows the head to be locked down to the plate. All standard Gitzo tripods also allow the top plate to be locked down onto the column with a set screw. However, Systematic tripods (without a column) have a removable top plate and this is the part that needs to be updated to prevent accidental slippage.

As previously stated, it's a good idea to investigate the tightness of that screw whenever you plan to carry the rig over your shoulder (YIKES!!).

Regards,
David

Out of curiosity.....if we're not to carry the tripod over our shoulder with the long lens, then how are we to carry the rig?

Dave, with all due respect, I don't know of a better way to carry the rig than over the shoulder. Most photogs carry like this every day, myself included.
Would Gitzo consider coming up with a "best remedy" to prevent this sort of thing from happening to us OTS carriers?

I was with a friend a while back that almost lost his rig (600 + body + TC) when the plate came loose from his Gitzo. He noticed the plate coming loose just in time.

Thanks

- Paul

How about drilling a hole through the bracket and then through the center plate and putting a plain old nut and bolt through there. That will keep the plate from falling off, even if the bracket nut comes loose.

gitzodave wrote:Chas,

Gitzo has begun using the set screw on the top plate with the most recent version of the tripods (2008 catalog). The set screw does not address the removable top plate design. There is now a set screw on all Gitzo tripods (Series 1 and higher) that allows the head to be locked down to the plate. All standard Gitzo tripods also allow the top plate to be locked down onto the column with a set screw. However, Systematic tripods (without a column) have a removable top plate and this is the part that needs to be updated to prevent accidental slippage.

As previously stated, it's a good idea to investigate the tightness of that screw whenever you plan to carry the rig over your shoulder (YIKES!!).

Regards,
David

Dave,

A slotted key way may work, having to turn and lock the top plate in place before tighening the bolt.
We all carry it on our shoulders, as mentioned an ounce of prevention (tighten that bolt) can save a lot of stress, AND $$$$$$.

Chas

Re: Carrying the tripod over the shoulder. As Paul says, there's no better way to carry the rig unless all gear is packed away in "never-ready" cases. All wildlife photographers I know carry their rigs over their shoulders. The Gitzo people aptly point out, there's a lot of stress on the plate when a 400 f/2.8 or 600 F/4 is carried on the tripod. I hope they can come up with a way to make this more secure since I've never been able to trust this set-up and have taken to incorporating safety straps. I was really lucky that my rig had a relatively soft landing when it fell after I leaned the tripod with camera and 400 f/2.8 forward to remove spruce needles from the lens hood. I wish I had known about this potential problem before it actually happened but I wasn't a forums member at that time. I suspect carrying the tripod over one's shoulder also contributes to another problem that several of my colleagues and I have noticed. In my case, the Canon 2X teleconverter frequently comes loose from the lens ( a 400 2.8 ) and simply drops. I've used a carabiner to clip the camera strap to the lens strap so any subsequent falls - and there have been several - have been short. Others haven't been so lucky with camera and teleconverter falling to the ground. This is after making sure the teleconverter button release (which can also be a problem) is locked. This has never happened with my 1.4 converter, only the 2X.

When I expect to walk a long distance without shooting, I take the lens off the tripod and carry it over or across my shoulder using the lens strap it comes with. Adding a wider cushioned pad to that strap is a good idea.

Add me to the list of those struck by a base plate that fell out (after less than a dozen uses). Luckily I had just removed my equipment and then plate fell out when I went to load the tripod into the car. As a recent first-time Gitzo purchaser, I am quite disappointed in my GT3530LS. Strange that my old aluminum Bogen has functioned without a hitch for 4 years and my barely used Gitzo falls apart. I've contacted Gitzo support and hope that they can help to work out a solution.