Re: Inside a Bogen 501
 

Wow so this rebuild took almost a decade to complete. Ironically I have a 501 for depositions where it stays in one position 99% of the time unless the witness substantially moves forward or leans backwards forcing me to tilt like today and I’m always annoyed by the behavior you describe when starting the tilt you have to apply a lot of pressure to break the internal suction and you get that jerk, then the tilt becomes smooth.

So what’s the cost of the grease, where do you buy it and how difficult is the disassembly and reassembly? I’m curious if it’s such a simple fix why wouldn’t Manfrotto use the right grease? Or is this just matter of time and it will reoccur again?

Re: Inside a Bogen 501
 

Dow Corning High Vacuum Grease

https://www.amazon.com/Dow-Corning-V...MNW0/din02c-20

https://www.ebay.com/itm/DOW-CORNING...oOY:rk:13:pf:0

The disassembly is pretty easy. Check the first post:
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/tripod-s...gen-501-a.html

Pack it by hand like you pack a wheel bearing. Long term - not sure, but for now it works really well.

John

Re: Inside a Bogen 501
 

That’s some expensive grease. Thanks for the link John. I did look back at the first post, I didn’t see how to dissesmble only photos of the internals. I need to understand the process before embarking on a repair

Re: Inside a Bogen 501
 

Take a look at this page. It has the schematic and all the replacement parts currently available for the Bogen 501.

https://www.manfrottospares.com/501-parts.html

There aren't many parts to disassemble. I don't think you will have much trouble. Try a practice disassembly and then order the grease so it doesn't cost you anything at first. The only thing a little confusing is reassembling the quick release button. Make a diagram when you disassemble it or take a photo.

John

Also, the 501PLONG plate helps so that you can move the camera further forward or backward to act as a counterbalance (which the head does not have) easing the tilting effort depending upon whether you are shooting straight ahead or down (from a balcony, etc). They make a longer one which is almost $100. Double check to make sure some of these fit the original 501 though.

Re: Inside a Bogen 501
 

The problem with these kinds of heads is that the design is simply aimed at making starting and stopping movement gentle. When you get used to using better products, the real killer is not the fluid style starting and stopping, it's forgetting that when you take your hand off the pan handle there's a good change that it won't be there when you try to go back! Within a few degrees off horizontal they work fine, but the design simply cannot cope with centres of gravity that are above the plate - which most are. The show I'm currently working on has an EX3 sitting on a nice looking tripod and head on a rolling skid - but whenever I go near it, the lens is pointing fully up or down where it falls naturally. The people using it are actors, and they have no concept of smooth movement or pan/tilt locks, so it's permanently in floppy mode. An real head could be set to be very easily 'pointed', but would then stay there! I have two of the Manfrotto type heads and they're solid well made things, but with a heavy camera, they're simply horrible. The design is trying to hide the inherent jerkiness and imbalance, and it does it pretty well. That's not the same as a good head. My old favourite - an ancient ~Vinten cygnet post head can be set no virtually no friction, and with fingertip pressure will start to move and then stop perfectly smoothly. You can add friction if you want, but it's so much just a well designed bit off engineering.

Re: Inside a Bogen 501
 

The re-greased Manfrotto 501 works perfectly, but I just bought a Manfrotto Nitrotech N8 for my EX1 and it works very well for that camera with or without a wide angle lens. The unique nitrogen piston prevents it from drifting up or down once you balance it even if you point it nearly straight down or up.

Re: Inside a Bogen 501
 

Bogen , Manfrotto and Vinten heads are all clones of each other ; they are all part of the VITEC group and just badge engineered versions of the same products .

Re: Inside a Bogen 501
 

In 1993 Lester Bogen sold his tripod company to Manfrotto. Subsequently Manfrotto was purchased by Vitec. Lester Bogen was famous for this ad advertising how strong his tripods were. https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=...AAAAAdAAAAABAQ

Re: Inside a Bogen 501
 

I’d be less worried about the tripod supporting that weight than my own ability to hold all that weight .

Re: Inside a Bogen 501
 

Further to this , and while I don't own a 501 ( I did once have a Vinten Pro-Touch , I think 5 , which was a clone of it ) , I do have many other Manfrotto tripods and heads , both for stills and video .

Amongst these are a 505 , which is a proper fluid head as opposed to a fluid damped friction head , and two 116 Mk3 heads , which are of the latter type . One came attached to a set of 360MV legs and was always in good order , the second was probably the cheapest 116 on UK eBay and I bought it for a song because it was too good to pass up . As it arrived , the head turned out to be in much better condition than I expected , and was just missing a few parts , which may have been robbed to fix other heads as the seller had several for sale .

Anyway , I had a few panning handles spare , along with a spare quick release plate , and some knobs etc from a 116 Mk II head , which looked wrong but fitted OK . Incidentally , despite being based on the same design , and having had both , the Mk III is a huge step up from the Mk II , with much smoother operation and nicer controls , although unlike the 505 you don't get valves to limit the flow of fluid between chambers for each degree of freedom , not a set of interchangeable compensating springs to counter the camera tilt when away from the horizontal .

On looking at the excellent manfrottospares.com website , most parts were available , but cruicially not the pan lock assembly , and despite checking back regularly , it remained out of stock , until last weekend .

Before it sold out again , I quickly ordered it up , along with a new pan handle clamp , the handle lock bolt and lever , and the knob for securing the camera plate . All arrived yesterday , and everything built up within an hour or so . So I now have a second fully functional 116 Mk III .

I am under no illusion that these heads are 'proper' fluid heads , even if Manfrotto describe them so , but they have always been fine for studio type use with my larger cameras ( JVC GY-DV500 , Sony DSR500 , and my current PDW-F350s ) .

Having recently picked up the Sony HVR-Z7 , I was looking for another tripod to use with it , so I'm now looking for a set of 350 MVB legs to put the 505 head onto , and then will put the 116 onto one of my matching sets of 350MV legs . Only thing there is the 505 uses a 75mm ball , which I have fitted with an adaptor , and I've been searching the last couple of days for the original 100mm half ball that I know is somewhere around the house , but hiding from me just now .

I also have a small set of legs designed for still cameras , no levelling ball , but fitted with the very basic pan and tilt 128 head , Manfrotto even have the cheek to describe that as a fluid head , which will be fine for my HVR-V1E to be locked off on , and a miniature tripod with a ball and socket head , which will do for the A1E to be positioned for static shots .

Perhaps I will get a set of legs complete with another half ball , then of course I will find the one I've been looking for !