Wooden tripod

I had the chance to use one back in 1987 in Al Jubail, Saudi. The guy in the shop was pushing hard to sell it so let me take it out onto the street with the tripod and take some "test" shots. There is a very slim chance that I still have the photo's.

Big beast, as seen in the photo on this thread. The tripod was very well made. Overall impression? Too big to be able to use and carry.

No I didn't buy it. Can't remember the price but all Pentax kit there was under half the then UK price.

Was it really that long ago?????

Best regards

That was part of the problem, I didn't actually know what I was looking for and I didn't manage to hit "buy" in time on the one I eventually found! Assuming what I found was a genuine M series tripod spacer then it looked rather like the securing thumbscrew in the base of a Spotmatic case, just a bit smaller in diameter and with a slightly different shape. Obviously it has a tripod stud on top and an identically sized socket on the underside to fit between camera and tripod.

According to the M series manuals they were supplied with all bodies, I do have to wonder about this as they hardly ever turn up. I suppose they could all have gone walkabout down the back of sofas as small loose parts are prone to doing, but it seems unlikely given the sheer number of M series bodies sold.

I never remember anything like that Matt and I bought several
NEW M bodies. There was a clear plastic washer about 30mm diam
x about 4mm with a hole in it to allows the tripod screw through
into the body. It was just a spacer really and I thought it was
if your tripod has no adjustment on the screw and left the camera
loose. It had a sort of diamond shaped non slip engraving on it.

Ahhh, you mean one of these?




K.

Ahh, that explains it!

The thing I saw must have fallen out of an ERC or tripod then, as I hadn't a clue what the spacer bush looked like I assumed it to be one.

That is definitely it

The thing you describe sounds more like one of these which was for the 110 camera?

K.

Here's mine, not Pentax but a fully-functioning finger-trapping wooden tripod. The connection to the head is quite crude; the legs fold out and click into position, then the bottom section of the legs slide down and are each held in place with a thumb screw. I used it for years with a Praktica MTL3.

That may well have been it. I know it had knurled edges like that rather than the flatter shape of the ERC securing screw.

I have what I believe were the legs from a very old wooden tripod in the attic here, although they may equally have been from an easel (three legs which can be slid and locked at different lengths, no other hardware was found aside from the remains of an enlarger). I keep meaning to have a go at making a new head/centre section to turn them into a usable tripod.

Apologies for bringing an old thread back from the grave, but having never seen one of these for sale, there are currently two of them on ebay. Sadly, the UK one isn't in as good a condition as the much pricier one in the US...

US one

UK one

Weight 7kg! Thank goodness for carbon fibre. Probably firm as a rock though.

They look just like the sort of tripod one uses with surveying equipment. It would have to be solid given it was sold to hold the 1000mm lens which is 5.3kg on its own.

K.

Looks interesting. Pity they had to use chains.

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