Oconnor 50D 100mm??

[Craig Meadows]

Well I got lucky and found my original O'Connor 50D in storage, no leaks and the action appears to still be good. However I am puzzled by what bowl size is needed for it. Thought for sure it was 100mm.

Reason I am confused is that I also have a 3193 Bogen-Manfrotto set of sticks I wanted to use with the 50D. The bowl on the sticks is advertised as 100mm. But, the 50D doesn't fit in it well at all. The 50D has radiused edges or fingers that make up the surface that contacts the bowl and only the smaller lip fits leaving no bowl action. 100mm is about 4", 75mm is about 3". When I measure across the top of the bogen bowl it's at 3-1/2". An older hi-hat that I used with the 50D measure a little over 4".

Any ideas? All comments welcome, thank you.

 

[Craig Meadows]

Well after a little more research I found this on the seven jib web site:
"Older OConnor heads - even smaller units like the OConnor 50 - had larger radius, proprietary ball bases."

Appears if you have a old O'Connor 50 series head there is a good chance it will not fit in the bowl of newer 100mm bowl tripods.

 

[chuck colburn]

100 and 150mm balls are the most common. There are some 75mm ones too.

 

[Steve Gal]

The oconner ball is called clawball and is sort of in between 100 & 150mm.

 

[chuck colburn]

I remember that term "clawball". Never knew it was a bastard size.

 

[Nick Gardner]

The claw ball fits on 100mm sticks, it's just not a ball mount. You level it with the sticks like a mitchell base (more fun anyway).

Nick