I'm sure this has been discussed before, but this happened to me again recently. The hexagonal quick-release plate on many older Bogen tripods has a SERIOUS flaw. It is possible to partially engage the plate on the tripod/monopod head. I recently had an experienced operator prep a camera for me and this situation happended. Fortunately, I caught it before the camera fell off the head. It had been so long since I had done this that I did not catch it immediately. At first, I thought the sticks were uneven. It wasn't until I panned around after leveling the sticks (on a flat floor) and still had an unlevel issue that I thought to look at the plate. Needless to say, this could have been a PD170 being sold on ebay for salvage/parts. Be careful with those things!

I have banished the hex plate from my equipment and replaced it with a Bogen 503 head and long (501plong) QR plate. I also got a QR adapter assembly (Bogen 577) for my monopod so I can go mobile quickly. The long plate will allow me to balance the camera on either setup.

The 501 head's safety catch has saved me before, I was shooting some stuff at a waterfall when i picked up the tripod and leaned it to bring up the legs i had forgot to tighten the plate in and the whole camera (xl1s) slid off and would have went over the cliff had it not been for the catch. my heart skipped a beat that time.


Andy.