Inside a Bogen 501

[John Peterson]

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.

[Derek Heeps]

Originally Posted by Steve Oakley

answer 1 : you take it outside, smash it to bits with big hammer as it deserves, then get a real head

answer 2 : no. its designed to never be serviced by the user

seriously, bogen / manfrotto heads are crap. try a vinten or satchler and then you'll understand, but not until then. before you cry how "expensive" they are, consider that they are very well made, they are in fact rebuildable at the factory, and will last a lifetime if not excessively abused... oh and they work great.

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 .

[W. Bill Magac]

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

[Derek Heeps]

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