Prone Stand

[Guest Gray_Wolf]

As you may recall from my post before Christmas I went out and bought a Celestron 102mm Wide View spotting scope http://www.celestron.com/c3/product.php?Ca...&ProdID=206

 

This has proved to be a good choice (clarity and light gathering)except I now need a good solid stand on which to support it for both indoor and outdoor prone shooting.

 

I've tried it on a velbon compact camera stand (http://www.velbon.co.uk/newvelbon/pages/CX460min.html) but the panhead isn't stable enough and ideally it needs to go even lower.

 

I'm assuming that a Freeland would be a good choice but I'd be grateful for any advice that you can provide. My budget would be very low so if anyone has a good second hand stand for sale I'd be happy to consider it.

[CliveG]

As you may recall from my post before Christmas I went out and bought a Celestron 102mm Wide View spotting scope http://www.celestron.com/c3/product.php?Ca...&ProdID=206

 

This has proved to be a good choice (clarity and light gathering)except I now need a good solid stand on which to support it for both indoor and outdoor prone shooting.

 

I've tried it on a velbon compact camera stand (http://www.velbon.co.uk/newvelbon/pages/CX460min.html) but the panhead isn't stable enough and ideally it needs to go even lower.

 

I'm assuming that a Freeland would be a good choice but I'd be grateful for any advice that you can provide. My budget would be very low so if anyone has a good second hand stand for sale I'd be happy to consider it.

 

I would think that small camera tripods will not be designed to carry that sort of weight. Also, the "classic" tripod leg arrangement gets in the way for prone shooting. Stands specifically designed for shooting (Freeland, Tucker, etc.) solve this but are not cheap. Most of them provide the standard tripod screw mount for attaching the scope horizontally rather than vertically as is normal with cameras. For this reason, and to get the angle of the eyepiece correct, it is best to have a scope that allows the mounting bush to be rotated around the barrel of the scope and fixed in the desired position. The weight of scopes means that the ball-and-socket panhead devices are just not strong enough to be stable.

 

Your best bet (after asking here, which you have done!) is probably to keep an eye on ebay. Alternatively, Chris Fordham of Bedford Target Supplies sells a small and basic stand for about £50-ish. This is not a recommendation, just information!