Really useful ' MUST HAVE ' item No:1

Gitzo GS5120LVL levelling Base

A review by Andy Astbury

For anyone using big glass on a Gitzo Series 3, 4 or 5 system tripod (1548 for example) this device must rank as THE single most useful and 'can’t work without it' items that money can buy.

Setting any tripod up on rough or uneven ground so that it is stable doesn’t mean that it is necessarily level, even though it 'is' totally stable.

If your tripod is fitted with the standard insert plate then you will usually have a situation where your horizon line is not straight, so you have to correct this in the usual manner by slackening the lens foot locking collar and adding some rotation to the lens in order to make the required corrections.

This is all well and good, but try panning to follow a bird in flight – suddenly your level horizon isn’t level anymore!

And you cannot leave the lens collar loose either – rotating a big 600 or 800mm lens using the camera body as leverage is bad form and puts masses of strain on the lens mount and electrical contacts. Plus you run the risk of vibration creeping into the system from 'mirror slap' if that collar is not tight, due to the fact that play between the collar and lens barrel effectively isolates the lens from the damping effects of the tripod, especially at low shutter speeds.

So, you need to take your time to set the lengths of your tripod legs with utmost care in order to get your head perfectly level.

HANG ON A MINUTE – we’ve already said – time is something we don’t have a great profusion of – what do we do??

Well folks, the simple answer is, to put none too finer point on it – SUFFER!

OR – discover the virtues that video cameramen have luxuriated in for years – the levelling base!

Simply buy one, remove the top plate from your Series 3,4 or 5 tripod and insert this little baby – all your levelling woes have been banished to the nether regions of hell for ever!

You now have the ability to set your tripod up very quickly for a perfectly level horizon in any direction without even looking through the camera viewfinder.

Simply undo the locking column below the levelling base – less than a quarter turn is plenty – and just move the head around until the bases bubble level is central and re-lock the column – that’s it, you’re done!

When you first attach your head to the levelling base you’ll notice the head lock lever sticking out of the side of the head rotates in a clockwise direction as you start to screw your head on – make sure it stays at the end of its slot and screw the head on hand tight, then push the lever towards the other end of its slot – this will lock the head so that when you carry your tripod with the lens mounted there is no risk of the head coming loose.

The 5120 gives you a full 15 degrees of lateral adjustment in any direction which might not sound very much, but believe me, it’s more than enough to render your camera perfectly level in any situation.

It’s very quick to make the required adjustments; if you are one of those ' weirdo’s ' who insist on using a big ball head for mounting huge glass then you too will love it because it’ll save your wrist from getting strained trying to save your behemoth from making a bid for the ground; and if you are a sensible person like me (HA!) and use the Wimberley V2 head, then you’ll simply think you’ve died and gone to heaven!

This piece of kit really does add the final cherry to the top of the cake if you use a V2 head on a big T-pod like a 1548 and gives you the ability to set up perfectly level in just a few seconds.

So good – so simple – so BUY one !

You will not regret it – indeed, you’ll wonder how you ever managed without it.

Andy