What a lot of work.
If you ever borrow my monopod*, please remember, that all you have to do is extend it
a bit more. Why the heck didn't you buy one that was long enough in the first place?
<GRIN!>
*Gitzo Mono Studex 564L (79 inchs including Manofrodo medium ballhead. $50
second hand.)
graywolf
http://www.graywolfphoto.com
"Idiot Proof" <==> "Expert Proof"
-----------------------------------
Cotty wrote:
Very slack at work so far today and the weather is nice so I've been out
on the patio with the gear. I took a few shots of birds with the monopod
but I was getting increasingly tired of stooping to look through the
viewfinder. So, in time-honoured tradition, I modified it. The monopod,
not the stoop.
It's a Manfrotto 681B and I stood it on some plantpots (very British :-)
to see how much more height I really needed. Actually 5 inches plus!
Into the garage to rifle through the piles of detritus. Readers may be
reminded of the time I went in there with an old coffee table and came
out an hour later with a lengthened custom grip for my LX/motordrive/ni-
cad combo.
So I find a bag of metal tube sections, originally intended to support a
fabric back garden gazebo. Said gazebo fabric is currently in use on its
predecessor's tubing, so it looked like this was a good candidate. I
found a decent diameter piece, quickly baptised it, and rummaged for the
hacksaw.
The lower leg of the Manfrotto is simple tubular steel, open-ended, with
a rubber foot at the bottom. Luck would have it that the piece of gazebo
tubing I had was the same diameter, but crucially with a narrow
constriction on one end, ready for insertion into an identical piece,
ostensibly to keep that shade-producing gazebo nice and high off the ground.
I removed the rubber foot from the Manfrotto and tried the constriction
in the end - sure it was going to fit, but a bit on the tight side.
Hacksaw at the ready, I shortened the tubing to the right length, and the
cut 2 vertical slots into the narrow part, for the entire length of the
constriction. This would ensure a clean slide into the monopod lower leg,
but not necessarily keep it there. I had plenty of tubing pieces, but
only one monopod - had to get it right but couldn't practice. One shot only...
If brains were dynamite, I wouldn't have enough to blow my ears off, but
even I figured out how to lock the tubing in place. Broom handle. A short
section cut to length and taper slightly so that it was just a tad larger
in diameter than the narrow tubing section.
All parts ready to go and at T-minus ten my cats came to watch as
obviously this was going to be entertaining. The tubing was positioned
and slid an inch into the monopod leg but would go no further without
help. Enter our special guest star, the Occasional Heavy Duty Kinetic
Persuasion Tool - lump hammer to you and me. A few taps on the tubing and
yes it was making progress into the leg. In fact, all the way to the hilt
with a satisfying and solid feel. If I smoked, it would be at this point
I would light up.
I almost decided against the wooden drift to secure the two pieces
together, but in the interests of overkill, I pushed on. The peg was
placed inside the tubing until making contact with the inside of the
constriction at the meeting place between monopod leg and tube extension.
A few taps with the hammer onto a socket extension resting on the wood
inside the tube and it seated fully home with a good interference fit
(great engineering terms, these).
That mother is rock solid now.
Rubber foot slid on the end and off we went for a test. Boy this is much
better - I can have it right up to my eye without bending at all. I
sometimes use a hard rubber 2 inch flexible extension which I find useful
on long lenses - it allows minute adjustment on the go without fiddling
with a ball-head. With that on, I simply reduce the height by a couple of
inches and presto. In all, I've added just over 5 inches in height and
I'll see how it goes. Might lose an inch again but that's a simple task.
The monopod is black and the extension is battleship grey. I was going to
paint it but it somehow looks quite good the way it is. Reminds me of
something you find poking out of the nose-cone of a military aircraft.
Of course, I could have posted a couple of pics and saved all this
explanation but it's a nice day and I can't stop the old fingers from
hitting that keyboard :-)
Time for a cup of tea.
Cheers,
Cotty
___/\__
|| (O) | People, Places, Pastiche
||=====| http://www.cottysnaps.com
_____________________________
--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.322 / Virus Database: 266.11.17 - Release Date: 5/25/2005
