TiltAll Tripods -again

Isn't the new Tilt-All completely different from the original ones? Everything I've heard suggests that they aren't as sturdy as the Leitz Tilt-All's, but maybe the parts are interchangeable. I'd ask on the Leica list over at:

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a.tcl?topic=Leica%20Photography

The original Tiltall tripod was made by two brothers in a garage in Rutherford, NJ. They eventually sold the name and the tools to the US division of Leica.

Leica sold the tools and name to Star D who manufactured the tripod as both the Tiltall and in a lower quality version under the Star-D brand.

When Star-D went bankrupt the bank (Bank Leumi) spent several years trying to dispose of the Star-D factory and Tiltall. After several years the name Tiltall was sold to a Chinese manufacturer.

That is the version currently sold.

A comparison to any of the earlier versions or the cheaper Star-D version will show that any similarity is in looks. Not quality.

The previous respondents' understanding of the rise and demise of Tilt-All is right on. However, the original item, and the Star-D version, appears in second-hand shops pretty regularly. And any machine shop can copy the part, I'm sure.

Keep hunting. They are out there. BTW, I bought mine in Washington, DC in June, 1965. Still working like a champ! Best bargain I ever got in photo equipment. Just keep them clean.

B&H Camera & Video in New York has them in stock.

B&H has the new ones. I haven't noticed any real Tiltalls in the used department lately.

I have a star d version since 1972. It stil works great. I've seen the new version advertised at B&H and Porter's Camera Store.

TiltAll, you said? People have been attracted to them because of the Leica name. But let me save you the grief. These things were conceived in the age of the dinosaurs, no wonder that the maker went bankrupt and nobody wanted the tools. If you are the designer-brand kind that worships the Leica connection, and in addition you are a masochist by all means buy one. But if you really want to see how primitive these things are, look at a Benbo tripod.

Hi: I bought one of the original Marchioni Tiltalls back in the 1960s when I was a student at RIT. I dug it out again a couple of years ago when one of the small Slik tripods proved to be inadequate. I measured the center column diameter and found it to be same as one of the Gitzo sizes (1 1/4"). I bouight a short Gitzo column, filed to fit as necessary, and placed a Giottos large ball head on it. I use RRS clamps and plates and have been happy with the combination. I don't have need to raise the center column for my work.

Bob Tescione mogman@rpa.net

Just got a new Tiltall tripod from B&H. It's almost exactly like my old one, except for two things:

#1: Instead of the elegant "Leitz Tiltall" engraving, you get a "Tiltall" sticker. Tacky but removable.

#2: It's new, virgin, unscratched, smooth, and very black. The action is just astonishingly lovely.

Now I understand that this is probably made in China by underpaid 11-year-olds. But they haven't changed anything, and honestly, this is one hell of a nice tripod + head (for less than a hundred bucks!) Underpaid 11-year-olds need to eat too. Highly, highly recommended for anyone who's considering the world's best tri-pan head (legs included for free!) instead of the ARCA-Swiss B1 ballhead (with generic Gitzo legs) that seems to be the thing these days.

I've been using one of the 'Joisy' Tiltalls since the mid-80s. It benefits from being dissassembled and cleaned every five years or so, and replacing the center column with a Gitzo piece and ballhead drops the camera closer to the legs and makes it a little steadier.

Hi...I make a living as a Pro Photographer and I have used ALL kinds of tripods over the years. I started with a Welt Flip Lock PT-3 (great tripod) went through a few Bogens...Stanford and Davis....then someone told me about the Tiltall. This was in the 90s so I bought what was available....it was the newer ones...they were crap. I must of bought six of them thinking I had a bad one or two. They would freeze up...get stuck. Just cause trouble while I was working! Then EBAY came into its own and I spoted one for sale that looked old. I bought it for $39 bucks and I feel in love with it instantly! Its a work of art. Its slimple and perfect...smooth action for a forty year old tripod. I have six of them now....I cant help myself....I feel like the person that rescues cats! I need to give them a good home. I have three that are perfect....like the day they were made....some I bought I use for parts. I would HIGHLY recomend that tripod. I would stay away from the Black ones though....they scratch easy...looks bad.

Hello Niels Bush,
I am interested in one of the Tiltalls if you are planning to give/sell it. I have been a recent convert to Digital SLR world. After doing a great amount of research on affordable and well-built tripods, it always happened I landed on a Tiltall story. There should be something great about those tripods and their owners. It would be great to be part of such group of people who had the experience with Tiltall. I appreciate if you let me know how I could contact you in getting a Tiltall. Thanks.

Hello Subrah Madduru
Current owner and manufacturer of the "classic" Tiltall is Oliver Yang, in Taipei, who also makes many other OEM tripods for Asian and US clients. Oliver has made an excellent effort to keep intact the classic Tiltall design of Caesar and Mark Marchioni. Quality has wavered at different parts of the Tiltall story - I count at least six owners / versions so far. The EBay suggestion above is excellent - especially if you can find at least a couple of the Marchioni or Lietz versions at a good price and consider rebuilding a single tripod from the two used tripods if you find that some parts are missing or damaged. Tiltall is an very approachable design to dis-assemble and repair - especially if you have the second backup in the wings, if things go awry.

I bought my Tiltall in the early 90s on the strength of some rave Usenet reviews. It has a sticker which says, "Mfg. by UNIPHOT CORP. Woodside, NY, U.S.A." There used to be another sticker on one of the legs which, if I remember correctly, was an American flag. Can I assume, then, that I have an American-made tripod, and where does it rate on the quality continuum from "Awesome Old-School" to "Crummy-Contemporary"?

As far as usability is concerned, I've always been less than pleased with the length of the long tilt-and-lock handle; it gets in my way if I mount the camera such that the long handle is facing rearward, so I usually put the camera on so the short handle is at the rear and the long handle protrudes to the right. But really, two short handles would have been better.

I was pretty out of photography for a long while, but when I started getting back into it I noticed from the photo mag ads and articles that everyone seems to use ball heads on tripods nowadays. Which brings up another question: can a ball head be mounted to my Tiltall? The stock head seems to be secured to the center column with a single Phillips-head screw, but when I remove the screw and attempt to take off the head, it doesn't appear to want to go anywhere. I've been afraid of forcing anything, but have I just not twisted hard enough?

Thanks for any help.

Re: the question about Tiltall (Marchioni , Leitz, Star-Ds, KingHome) and use with Monoballs. After some rather drastic experiments resulting in the death of a couple tripods, Oliver Yang, current manufacturer of Tiltall and I hit on solution for headless column for Tiltall tripod to be used with a monoball without having to destroy your existing column/head. This simple column has a 1/4-20 stud at one end and removable 3/8-16 stud at the other. See tiltallsupport.com for a photo.

Is there any conenction between the Tiltall tripod and Torkel Korling's US Patent #2323473 for a tripod, granted in 1943? (You can easily read the patent and see the illustrations via Google Patent Search). Mr. Korling assigned his patent to the Folmer Graflex company, so I would assume they sold such a tripod? Patents back then ran for 17 years, so after about 1960 anybody could have sold a tripod with this sort of design.

I just repaired, for nothing, an ancient Star D Continental tripod. It did not rotational lock nor did the centre vertical shaft lock. I took the whole thing into pieces, adjusted each of the hidden parts for the legs so that they would have just the right amount of tension and not mash fingers when the as before swung fairly loosely and slipped in a piece of mylar into the locking mechanism as the plastic sleeve within the tensioner was no longer the right thickness after a long period of use. With some adjustments of the tensioner on this wonderfully considered tripod design it is very usable if not as smooth on the centre shaft as one would like in the ideal world but the money saved on this very sturdy and super steady tripod can be a good down payment on an L lens. Not any heavier than the high tech tripods out there which I would not suggest one can repair on one's own, a Star D is a gem. I use a Slik head screwed onto the pan tilt that is a part of the Star D and seems not to be removable without risk to the column. I understand that one can replace the centre column with other brands and I might look into doing that. In any case, the tripod works a treat and holds steady even with my very hefty 5D mk II and a 120-400 zoom lens. One need not spend a fortune for steady tripods..look for them in used camera stores or on line. They are out there. 700 bucks for carbon fibre tripods? You have to be rich and foolish I think. I am neither.

Here is my TiltAll tale. I've owned and used two classic Leitz TiltAll tripods (one silver and one black) since the 1970s. On the basis of their longevity and indestructability, I purchased two Tiltall tripods in 2005 for my high school photography classes. They have been seriously disappointing. The most dangerous part for my novice highschoolers has been the legs which flop in and out and pinch fingers. (I think another person in this thread mentioned this.) I have tried and tried to adjust the legs, but seem unable to tighten them, or in some cases to loosen them. Still more unbelievable is that some parts have bent!
I saw Gary Regester's name on this thread, and I have purchased replacement TiltAll parts from him before, so I think I'll try to email him about the floppy leg issue. I'm also going to try to track down Oliver Yang.
These tripods are way too expensive to be performing this poorly!