I had been searching a Value Village for anything I could talk myself into collecting when I happened upon two tripods. Let’s start with the first one I decided I had to have.
It is a Susis 183 from Germany. I was captivated by the strange way the head’s tilt handle was attached to the base of the head (above). I unscrewed the handle—and it takes a lot of unscrewing—to find the handle shaft is hollow. The handle can be screwed into the head—again a long way—in a different socket (right). In its final turn, the shaft locks the tilt angle of the head. There is a large butterfly knob that controls the rotation of the head.
Looking closely at the handle while it is unattached you can see the shaft is hollow and the end gray button is spring loaded. I surmise a cable release was screwed into the end of the handle’s threaded hole in the head so you could press in on the handle’s button and trigger the movie or still camera through the cable release.
The legs have smooth metal telescoping sections. These can be initially puzzling. How do you adjust the length of the legs if you want them partially collapsed and all the same length. The sections have small “locks” —basically conical projecting pins—that have to be pressed in to release. The leg tends to keep collapsing if you simply press from the bottom.
You have to explore how the order of collapse will work for you.
The easiest tripod erection is simply grabbing the bottom foot and pull out all the telescoping sections. A suggestion before you start. That dark coloured bottom collar of the main leg section can be screwed so tight the largest section will not come out. If you back it off a bit the first extension will come out a lot easier. Your choice if you want to tighten it at other times for your own reasons.
Now say you want a partial erection. Good tripod theory says you use the largest sections available first, because they are stiffer. Well with these tripods you can’t get those large sections out first!
So try extending the leg by pulling out the bottom smallest section and simply stop pulling out when there are enough sections locked in place. Then you adjust the other two legs so they match the first for sections locked in place. Camera too high? Start collapsing from the bottom section—by squeezing the smallest two pins in while you push the section into the section right above it (hold the higher section so you deal with just these two sections)—until the tripod is at the right height. As you can now see, getting those larger diameter sections erected requires over-extension and then collapsing from the bottom! It sounds confusing, particularly compared to tripods that have more obvious leg-locking arrangements.
So let’s list the obvious advantages of this tripod—
It is relatively light at 1148 g (2 lb. 8 oz)
It is thin and easy to pack with you
Collapsed it is a steel rod that could be used for defense!
The head is small, and so is the platform
The thumbscrew camera attachment is easy for fingers to grasp
As a tabletop tripod it is very stiff and solid
Fully extended the legs bow a bit and seem flimsy until a full-size camera (in the 1950’s that would be most cameras, movie and still) is attached. The weight stiffens things up as the legs bow under tension
The legs angle out only so far, forming the best angle for stiffness and height
The feet are fixed rubber rounded tips, not likely to mark hardwoods
The ability to attach the handle to the base of the head makes the tripod a lot easier to transport and store. Images on line indicate a leather case was often provided with these tripods.
Stopping here to compare to the other traditional Japanese style of tripod construction—
This tripod weighs half as much
Japanese and German are within inches of the same height when erected
Once the German tripod’s leg adjustments become second nature you don’t really need the adjustable center column of the Japanese tripod
Susis 183 (left) and Biora Stabilo 1114
And now to add to the fun I already had another German collapsing tele-section tripod. This is a Biora Stabilo 1114 tripod with a ball head. It weighs 70 per cent as much at 799 g (1 lib 12 oz) and the legs can be tilted out at almost right angles to the head. The two German tripods are very close to the same size when collapsed (16 inches to 17 inches) and stand pretty close to the same height when fully erected. The smaller Stabilo 1114 has three channeled extensions, while the Susis has four round extensions. The pin locks on the Stabilo vary in positioning too. Some are on the wider outside face and some are on the narrow edges. The Stabilo legs are actually channel held together with steel clips while the Susis legs are solid tubes.
Isn’t it fascinating how the two tripods—both German but from different companies—have close to the same colour schemes? Maybe it is a fashion thing—in that time, to be considered a photographic item, you had to conform to well established colour choices.
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