Tripod caution

Good day all:

Had an experience yesterday that gave me pause. I was shooting at the local bird sanctuary with my gear mounted on a Gtizo 3540 with Wimberley II head. As I often do when I need to get the tripod lower very quickly, I will pull the leg stop catch out and raise one of the legs to more towards horizontal, which gets you low very quickly, and with a gimbal head, you can still function.

When I was ready to move to another spot I 'stood' the tripod up again, and went to set it on my shoulder, with two legs in front, and one behind. The rear leg was the one that I had released the leg stop on, and I forgot to reposition the stop before I picked it up. Without the stop in the usual spot, the rear leg was free to pivot, and as I hoisted it up onto my shoulder, the 25 lbs of gear on top went over center of my shoulder and without the stop holding the leg , it swung freely so there was nothing stopping the camera/lens from toppling over backwards. Fortunately I had a good grip on the front legs, but it could very easily have ended in disaster.

So, the moral of this story is, to always reposition the stop, and to check the stops before picking the rig up and placing on your shoulder.

This is the first time this has ever happened to me, but it is so easy when in a hurry to miss an all important step!

Cheers

Randy

That had to be a scary feeling!!
I've never had that happen using a Gitzo.
I did have to explain a hickey looking mark on my neck, I it got from the stop tabs while spreading the tripod legs on the move. Ouch!

Thanks for the heads up.

Thanks for the caution, Randy. Sounds like a scary moment indeed!