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Archive 2017 · Bogen 3021n short column?

  
 
mhespenheide
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Bogen 3021n short column?


Apologies for the general question, but I hope someone with more detailed knowledge than I'm finding online can help me out.

I just bought an old Bogen 3021n tripod off the local Craigslist so that I can use it to shoot at the coast and in the seawater, and not have to worry too much about mucking up my main legs. Bizarrely, the "new" Bogen comes with a 3030 head semi-permanently fixed to the center column. The 3030 head mounts to a metal disc, not a male thread. I'm set up to use the Arca-style system with my cameras and lenses, so that head needs to go. I'd be happy to replace the existing center column with a short center column, but I can't determine if there's anything current that would still work with the 3021n legs. It's not a cylindrical column but rather semi-triangular, with rounded edges between the three faces. And the top of the column fits into the legs at an angle, rather than flatly.

I'm hoping either this one: https://www.adorama.com/bg190xlaa.html

or this one: https://www.adorama.com/bg055lla.html

...might work.

Yes?



Mar 18, 2017 at 04:54 PM
jharter
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Bogen 3021n short column?


For the money, I would just buy one and see.

FYI, I have gone through the same process you are talking about. The bogey tripods are, IMO, terrible for coastal photography. The leg lock springs corrode rapidly with salt water and are not easily cleaned. Aluminum is much less forgiving to vibration from waves than carbon fiber. I bought a Bogen 3021 thinking that it would save my nice CF tripods but I was wrong. The Bogen was so much heavier that I did not want to carry it. The aluminum is cold to the hands on brisk days. The awful feet get clogged with sand in the screw threads and don't clean easily. It is too long to pack well in my luggage. Etc.

Then I took my Feisol carbon fiber on a coastal trip. It was excellent but one day I accidentally dumped it in the waves. I found out that its leg locks are a pain to disassemble and clean in the field (so I didn't). I managed to limp to the finish on that trip with a gimpy tripod that would not lock tightly.

In the end, I ponied up for a RRS TQC-14 which I have found (so far) to be the sturdiest, best built, most easily cleaned and maintained in the field, carry-on packable carbon fiber tripod. It is almost laughably expensive but had I bought it in the first place I would be ahead.



Mar 19, 2017 at 08:51 PM
mhespenheide
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Bogen 3021n short column?


Jharter,

Thanks for that. Indeed, I'll likely buy the pair and check them out.

As to the larger point, yeah -- I see where you're coming from. But my main set of legs is the huge Gitzo set, so I'm unlikely to buy the RRS. I live near the coast, so I don't have to fly. And I don't mind the weight. I'll use these aluminum legs for a year or three and keep my eyes out for some old wood legs; I imagine the old 4x5 style would be the best in the long term.

Cheers,
Mark



Mar 21, 2017 at 01:16 PM
RDKirk
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Bogen 3021n short column?


The Bogen-Manfrotto 3030 head does still unscrew from the post by a 3/8 inch screw like any other.

Loosen and pull the post out, and you will see three set screws underneath the head plate that must be loosened before you can unscrew the head.



Mar 25, 2017 at 02:21 PM





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