Can I shorten my tripod legs?

[mike_clinard1]

I have a Manfrotto 3021 tripod with a Kaiser medium pro-ball head and

I am 5'10" tall. When my camera (10D) is mounted I cannot see the LCD

display or the controls on it without loosening the head and tilting

it towards me.

 

I would like to be able to extend the legs to their max, with the

center column all the way down and it be at my optimum height. Is it

possible to shorten the legs 4" to 6" without damaging it.

[jimvanson]

Mike I did -- works fine.

<P>I wrapped a piece of black tape above each legs cut line for a guide and then used a hand hacksaw to cut off the legs, one at a time. Not having a vice I clamped the leg I was working down to the edge of a counter. I used a round file afterwards to remove any sharp burrs -- done.

[bacsa]

Jim, I think that qualifyes as "damaging it", already:o)

 

Mike, why do you HAVE TO extend the legs all the way? Is it more stable like that?

[david_henderson]

Picking up on the previous answer, why don't you just paint a

line about 4" down the bottom leg section and extend only till that

line comes into view.

[maxz]

I would advice against cutting off the legs unless you *really* just want that height to be the maximum. Now you have the option of getting a highter viewpoint if you want to, just get a box to stand on. If you cut the legs off you have to raise the center column to get a higher viewpoint. That also cuts your options.

 

As people said, don't extend the legs fully. I do this all the time with my Manfrotto, I have the exact same model, Manfrotto 055 (U.S. 3021). (I'm about 5'8" - 5'9" and use a Manfrotto 308RC ball head). You don't need to paint any lines either. Extend one leg to the desired length. Hold the tripod vertical with the extended leg to the ground and just let the other two legs extend to the same length, ie fall to the ground. Takes no time extra and personally I would say it is easier than to find a line.

 

If the legs aren't exactly the same length to the fraction of an inch doesn't matter. First the ground is probably more uneven, and second you have a ball head to straighten the camera up. Most probably you couldn't even notice without looking at the spirit level.

 

If you still feel like cutting down the legs dispite my opinions, Jim's advice is sound. The legs are made of aluminium so it should be easy to cut with a hand saw and as with all metal work, always use a file or paper to trim the rough edges. The easiest way would be just to cut the smallest tube. This would give best stability (this part of the leg should always be extracted last if not needed fully extracted anyway). More nice would be to remove the clamps and shorten all sections to get a shorter tripod altogether, but this would require a bit more work.

 

I still feel like you would be destroying a fine piece of the camera family *sob* :-)

[manuel_weber]

I would second the painting of lines option instead of cutting the legs.

 

I did so with my Gitzo CF 1228 and works fine. I painted three lines on each of the two lower legs (with a medium permanent black ink marker) by measuring the exact length of each leg and putting a line in the middle and 1/4 and 3/4 of the lenghts. This helps a lot when you are sitting or over your knees and want just the right height of the tripod with maximum stability (e.g. not extending the whole lenght of the thinner legs)

 

Paint lines don't cut it!

[will_perlis]

"Extend one leg to the desired length. Hold the tripod vertical with the extended leg to the ground and just let the other two legs extend to the same length, ie fall to the ground."

 

A variant of this also works with my depleted uranium Gitzo if I'm awake enough to remember the proper sequence of untwisting and twisting.

 

In any event, there's a corollary to Murphy's Law that shows one will absolutely positively need that 4 to 6 inches almost immediately after they're removed (and I'm not thinking about spam in the in-box, either ;)).

[jimvanson]

A confession is in order here!<P>Yes my friends I lopped two inches off my already too short tripod -- I'm 6 ft 3 in -- not because I wanted to decrease it's overall length -- I wanted to decrease it's minimum length so as to fit the little beast in a rack bag on my bike.<P>Having said that I will admit that unextended it is now the perfect height for using while sitting.

[mike_clinard1]

Thanks for the responses. I tried the tape and paint method, but the quickest seems to be Max's, ie..." ...extend one leg to the height and ....". This is my current method.

 

I suppose I'm just getting lazy in my old age and thought it may be quicker to optimize the tripod's maximum height to my normal standing height. It would be smart to cut the smaller legs, if I elect to "customize" it. I never use it at it's maximum extended height, because it is so awkward (for me) to use that way.