Manfrotto 808RC4 plus two unknown attachments, need help identifying

[jparr64]

Hello,
my father was a camera buff and I recently went through his stuff in looking at getting it to someone who could use it. I found the attached piece which I'm unsure how to list for folks to look at. It has the Manfrotto 808RC4 piece which is clear marked but also has two other pieces attached. A friend told me he thought the metal color piece was some sort of virtual or 360 degree filming piece and would be important to note as it is very useful to folks. The other piece appears to just be the top of a tripod piece?? Can someone with knowledge in this field do me a big favor and look at this photos to see if you can help me specifically identify what I have here. Any help is appreciated.

 

[tirediron]

The 808RC4 piece is indeed just part of the tripod head (Better tripods such as this Manfrotto are actually two pieces; the head and the legs). The rest of it however appears to me to be a very nicely built home-made panorama attachment, meant to allow you to shoot a number of images covering a much larger field of view than can be seen through the viewfinder at a single viewing and then stitched together either in the darkroom, or with software.

 

[jparr64]

Thanks so much Tirediron. This is very helpful. Not sure where he could have gotten something like this made custom. It does have a measurement markings, and other specific markings that makes me think it is manufactured, let me include some better close ups and see what you think. Thanks again for trying to help me with this. Also, is the lower piece under the Manfrotto piece, the Velbon piece the part that would be the top of a tripod. Thanks!

 

[tirediron]

Okay, I see it now; what you have is a Manfrotto head stacked on top of a Velbon head. Likely to get more movement. It may be commercially manufactured, or something made by someone with a bit of metal fabrication skill in a home shop; my initial reason for thinking it home-made was the red, plastic bubble-level attached with Roberts-head screws. Either way, it's a nice piece.

 

[jparr64]

Okay, I guess I will list it as is and describe the best I can, or maybe donate it to a shop somewhere where they can make use of it. So I guess it would be described as a Manfrotto tripod head on top of a velbon head. In addition, there is a panorama device attached on top of the manfrotto head. Thanks again for your quick look at this for me.