Thanks for at least looking. The tall post is quite necessary, and in a recent pano of the new Piazzo on the strip, it was really not tall enough. You see, I had to tilt upward, even beyond the range of the turnbuckle. In doing so, the rotational scale was not readable from the small "window" I made for that purpose, and I had to read from the front. The camera was in the way. With ver. 4, I'm making these "windows" on both the the front and back of the rotating base. Also on ver. 4, the nodal adj. arm provides a full ten inches of travel, because this is, after all, being designed to accomodate MF cameras. Strength is not an issue at any point. Right now, the vertical support post for ver. 4 is setting up, with the retaining stud extending an inch into the post and embedded in JB weld. Actual capacity of the device will be determined by the tripod in use. Remember the old ads, where Lester Bogen himself was sitting on a tripod? You could, but watch out for that vertical post!