Vintage Large Berlebach Mulda Wooden Studio Tripod | Complete, All-Original Camera Tripod with Pan-Tilt Head and Geared Centre Column
Vintage Large Berlebach Mulda Wooden Studio Tripod | Complete, All-Original Camera Tripod with Pan-Tilt Head and Geared Centre Column
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A large wooden studio tripod from Berlebach of Mulda, Saxony, the oldest German tripod maker still in operation. This one is complete: every knob, clamp and fitting is original, nothing has been replaced or made up, and every function works as it should.
At a glance
| Manufacturer | Berlebach, Mulda, Germany |
|---|---|
| Version | Large studio camera tripod, built for heavier photo, film and video cameras and long or telephoto lenses |
| Material | Wood |
| Condition | Complete and fully original. All functions working |
| Centre column | Geared, raised and lowered with a crank |
| Levelling | Central ball levelling |
| Head | 2-way pan and tilt head with long pan handle, 360° degree scale and spirit level |
| Leg scales | Present on the legs |
| Height range, with head | Approx. 110-196 cm (43.3"-77.2") |
| Availability | One of one. Once sold, this exact piece will not be available again |
| Pickup and shipping | Pickup available. Tracked worldwide shipping |
| Import duty | Any import duty on international orders is payable by the buyer in their own country |
The story
Berlebach was founded in October 1898 in the village of Mulda, in the Saxon Ore Mountains south-west of Dresden, by Peter Otto Berlebach. More than a century later the company is still building wooden tripods in the same region, which makes it the oldest tripod manufacturer in Germany still at work. The choice of wood was practical long before it became fashionable: timber, ash in particular, absorbs vibration where metal rings and carries it, and it stays comfortable to handle in cold weather. For long lenses and slow exposures that calm matters.
Through the GDR years the firm was nationalised and supplied photographers, surveyors and institutions across the Eastern Bloc. After reunification a former employee took the business back into private hands in 1993, and Berlebach has since rebuilt its reputation abroad, exporting to more than forty countries. A tripod from the Mulda workshop therefore carries more than a maker's name: it comes from an unbroken line of craft that survived two political systems.
What sets this example apart is its completeness. Tripods of this age are usually found with a lost knob, a swapped clamp or a repaired plate. Here every original part is present and working: the geared centre column runs smoothly, the central ball levelling locks, the pan and tilt head moves freely on both axes with its long pan handle, and the leg scales are intact. The head carries a 360° degree scale and a spirit level, the kind of head used to follow a subject smoothly with a photo or film camera. It is a working instrument exactly as it left the workshop, with the honest marks of use on the wood.
It is also a good piece of furniture. The long, slender wooden legs and the crank column give it a presence that suits a photography studio, a gallery or a collector's room. Many of our clients use a tripod of this kind as a stand for a vintage lamp or a display piece, and it does that job well, though its first purpose, holding a camera steady, remains fully available.
Suited to photographers, filmmakers and collectors of vintage camera equipment, interior designers and set stylists looking for a characterful wooden object with real provenance, and anyone who prefers a tool that was built to be used, and has been kept intact.