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Saturday, January 1, 2011

Field Guide to Tiltall

Left to right - but not in chronological order:

Uniphot - large/small knobs on raise/pan handles; phillips screws on tilts; unknown if black paint finish was the only choice. Sticky label. Thanks for loan of sample to Bernie Lehmann

Leitz -  large/small knobs on raise/pan handles-this two size knob seems the innovation of Leitz, hex bolts on tilts; black paint finish believed to be only choice; Marchioni-type metal label.

KingHome - current version by Oliver Yang.  Large knobs only on raise/pan; black and silver anodized finish available; allen bolts on tilts; sticky label on apex and on removable leg.  The 1/4-20 tripod mount at the bottom of the column seems the innovation of KingHome.

StarD - believed to be a copy by the still existing Davidson Optronics company in southern California, production concurrent with the Marchioni Tiltall (see earlier blog) and ended with Leitz purchase.  Knobs for raise/pan seem to exist in both a plastic and an all metal version;  unknown if the tilt handles (as shown) were only available in silver of if painted black was only finish choice; sticky label.

Marchioni - the original.  small/small knobs on raise/pan; phillips screws on the tilts; silver finish believed to be the only choice; very nice metal label.

If you can fill in missing information, let us know in the comment section below or email  me via "About Me" link at right.