camera tripod

[Mike Hollingshead]

Well I e-mailed lens rentals.com to inquire about how many copies of the 800mm they have, since I figured it might just be one and feared it getting snatched up. I figured I'd mention the tripod thing and Roger, the owner, sent this back about it:

The tripod and ballhead you picked are sufficient for those lenses, the tripod totally so, the ballhead is borderline, but should be fine, just a little stiff to move around.

So I guess more than just the weight specs are useless, even the text they have included in features pretty much saying it won't handle such lenses is silly. Thinking they put that in there knowing the lenses really don't get any heavier and they figure they better have a reason for people to fork over even more money on tripod legs.....while these cheaper ones(not cheap, just cheaper as in not $400) will do fine.

The whole lightweight deal isn't important at all and that was part of the reason I was looking more at the 700DX since it was heavier than the other options I was seeing. But heck I see they have these hook things to attach weight with. Anyone ever use those, or the leg sand bags? I can think of many windy nights more weight would have been great, rather than trying to hold it still lol.

This reminds me, I actually dreamed of using that monster 800 with extenders last night. To zoom I had to use the -+ buttons and I had to pull a trigger, like a trigger on a gun or gaming system to zoom more. All of what I had to do took away any hands to focus with. Reminded me of many chasing dreams. Especially silly considering it is a prime lol. Then I was practicing in doors on stupid things and when I was about to go outside and use it on the birds/refuge/moon, I woke up. Sigh.

 

[Richard Dickson]

The whole lightweight deal isn't important at all and that was part of the reason I was looking more at the 700DX since it was heavier than the other options I was seeing. But heck I see they have these hook things to attach weight with. Anyone ever use those, or the leg sand bags? I can think of many windy nights more weight would have been great, rather than trying to hold it still lol.

Mike, I started using a fifteen pound sandbag if there is anything more than just a breeze blowing after I was just inches from having my Sony VX2100 go down in some moderate inflow winds. I'm sure I wouldn't have been the first person to have this happen if it had finished going down. If it doesn't have a factory made attachment, I will figure out a way to create my own hook for a sandbag on my new tripods.

After reading what you and Greg had to say, I couldn't stand looking any more and just ordered two of the Slik 500DX Pro from B&H a couple minutes ago. One for the Sony and one for my Canon XT that I use a lot with the 75-300mm lens.They should arrive in 5-7 days and I'll post a critical review here very shortly after they arrive. I'll either have two that do what I want or be stuck with a couple more fairly inexpensive tripods to add to my collection.

 

[Greg Campbell]

Richard, is it too late to cancel the order? If you want to drive down to Tucson, I'd be happy to show you the 'mighty' 700DX in person. I didn't realize you were on the verge of buying. Doh.

 

[Richard Dickson]

Greg,

I appreciate the offer to view yours, but B & H seems to be pretty quick on the shipping (which is a good thing) and doesn't give a lot of time to cancel. With me buying the 500DX(s), this will at least give other folks on the forum an additional opinion to maybe help them decide.

My wife points it out to me fairly often that I am guilty of quietly thinking about something for a while and then all of a sudden announcing MY decision without a lot of discussion. I remind her that she didn't do a lot of discussing when I asked her to marry me.
Thanks again!

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

Mike, please post a review when you get your Giottos.

I'm probably a really really bad tripod reviewer since I've only touched the cheapo I've had, and never once looked into them at some camera shop. So I'm clueless on what really good even is.

Mine arrived today and the first thing that jumped out at me was the feel of the tripod legs. It almost feels like plastic, but it is aluminum. It is obvious they try to save weight here. Again it has the 22lb support rating, so surely the 6lb, 11lb, options feel even thinner as far as metal goes. The other thing here is that my older cheapo had 5 or 6 sided flat edges making up the round legs. This one is simply a tube/round. I think it is this fact that makes it jump out at me as weaker than it likely is. Click your finger nail against it and it's just way different and seems thin. But again, surely most of that is because it's round and not flat edged. Guessing round slides a lot better. Given I have essentially zero experience with tripods, this is surely not a big issue and is likely common.

There are 3 leg sections, not 4. I did that on purpose as the more you have the skinnier they'd be to get you the same distance. 3 seemed like it would have to be more stable. So only 2 sections extend down. Still, with the ball head attached, if I extended the 2 sections down completely, it is above eye level(I'm 5' 9"). The ball head is kind of tall though. But it's nice you only extended 1 section and over half of another to get you to eye level, without ever touching the center column extension.

The lever leg locks seem like a far better deal to mess with than round tighteners. My previous one has the round tighteners, which were nice at first, but now are so annoying, either not holding the extension or never letting it loose(might be the non-round shape to the tubes helping them stick too). They give you an allen wrench to tighten them more if they ever get lose. But yay for lever locks.

Past those two things, the rest seems half-military grade. Easy to have the legs open 2 steps wider, to the point the center of the tripod is about on the ground. Looks damn stable in the wind doing that. Well built mechanism for that.

Quite a bit to the top portion. You can slide the center column up and out, then flip over the holder, re-attach it upside down or to the side if you want. It's possible to mount the camera this way and have it pretty much on the ground. They really have their engineering down on these things. There are 3 set screws, allen wrench, for the top mounting plate. Spin whatever ball head or tilt pan on the screw, then if you want you can tighten those set screws to make that even more sturdy/solid. That screw on top can be flipped too and used as a camera mount with no added head.

The large ball head feels very military grade. 1 knob for spinning the whole attachment, not the ball. Another knob for tension, and a third for locking the ball. The arca swiss type plate on top of course has a 4th knob but also this built in push button safety catch so if it is loose it can't slide completely out of the latch/slot.

Back to the legs, it seems it is more the sound it makes when clicking on it, than the actual feel of them, now that I mess with it again.

I think I'm going to really love this ball head deal. Just putting my 100-400 on there I don't get the feeling it will be a huge deal to use with the super telephotos. Lots of control on the tension and the ball is larger sized.

Weight feels perfect for me. I think it is 7lbs with the ball head.

The 3 leg extension deal has one downside(compared to 4), it's going to be more of a space killer in my already small car.

All in all quite pleased and usually I'm picky and find annoying problems. Not seeing any overly obvious deals that will make me kick myself a bit. Already past the tubing feel to the legs and trust me, if it seemed there was a chance it would be an issue, it would bug me for a long time, wishing I'd gotten something else. I'm usually unable to lie to myself just cause I bought something. As I sit here and click my finger/nail on it some more lol. Ok, still a tiny bit of hesitation in that regard. As long as I don't drive over it in my car I don't see it being an issue. Problem is that I actually have driven over my own tripod before. Backing up through grass off a gravel road and was like, what the hell am I running over...tripod!

 

[Drew.Gardonia]

I bought an Amvona tripod over the winter and it has worked great so far. The build quality isn't near as high as Bogen/Manfrotto, but the tripod and head are both solid and work great. The tripod/head work just as well as any Bogen/Manfrotto I've ever owned, but how long it will last is the question mark.

This is the tripod/head combo I got:

http://www.amvona.com/shop?page=sho...ge=flypage.tpl&product_id=2069&category_id=87

i sent this link to my gf a few weeks ago, cause I told her that's what I wanted for Christmas, and now it's been removed and is no longer available....

 

[Richard Dickson]

Slik 500DX Tripod Thoughts

I came back today from a trip to Atlanta and the two Slik 500DX tripods I had ordered last week had arrived. At this point, I’m very impressed with them. I did not find any flaws or defects in the construction.

Each of the three leg hinges are very solid with no play in them at all compared to my previous tripods. The soft grip on the upper leg sections is also a nice touch. Since they are new, everything on the tripods is stiff including: the leg hinges, leg lock levers and each of the leg sections and the quick release locking lever. I’m hoping they loosen up just a little with use. Each leg is independently operated and also has three preset stopping positions that can be used.

The head seems very solidly built without any play in it either. The quick release platform is four-sided and can be inserted in any direction. The quick release lock lever is very solid and positively secures the platform by gripping on a 45 degree bevel. No worry in my mind about this slipping and allowing a camera to drop. The pan and tilt axis are very smooth and operate without jerks or catching which was a problem on the cheaper tripods I had earlier

If I understood what he was saying correctly, Greg spoke about the vertical tilt handle striking the center post on his 700DX when trying to make an elevated or upward shot. The same is true on the 500DX. However, if the camera platform is installed “backwardsâ€￾ with handle facing the front instead of the rear, this is not an issue at all. It won’t take me any time to get used to using it in that fashion for elevated cloud or star photos.

As with some other tripods, the center column can be reversed to allow the camera to be mounted downward rather than upward if you want to do some macro shots and have the camera very close to the ground. There is a very substantial, threaded, plug in the bottom of the column that I plan to enlarge the hole in it to accept a small eye bolt and washers to make a very sturdy place to hang a sandbag for added stability in the wind. The tripod itself weighs five and a half pounds, but doesn’t feel awkward or unbalanced.

I bought mine from B & H for $139.95 each, which included the shipping costs. I can see these two tripods are going to last for my lifetime without any troubles.

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

Found out the legs on the Giottos I bought are pieces of junk last night. I go to extended the legs for some night lightning last night and "poooomph" it comes completely apart, so the leg is in one hand, the rest of the tripod in the other.

Upon looking at how that works I see they rely on these cheap plastic rings in there that have a small knob/circle protrusion(one knob on each side of the leg tube). The inner tube has a plastic ring around it with those two knobs stuck in it "holding it there" while the outer one does as well. The outer rings knobs sticking through it are supposed to catch on the inner tube's plastic ring(which also had the knobs holding it into/onto the inner tube). Just small(really flat) protrusions/knobs made of plastic, it seems like a no brainer they'd fail like they did! Haven't even had the thing very long.

Also after I got the Giottos ballhead I found myself reading equipment stuff on lens rentals.com who has tons of experience with what works and what doesn't. They had mentioned their mounting screws always snapping on the Giottos heads. Something like they had to replace those on every single one they had.

Lesson learned, stay away from Giottos. All my cheap tripods before never came completely apart! Buy some "nice" legs and bam, easily broken. What a difference metal would have made on those pieces, jeez.

 

[Greg Campbell]

Just in time for chase season!

They don't build 'em like they used to!
Feisol seems little better, they're apparently had a bunch of legs pull out from the triple clamp, as seen here: http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/881643/0

 

[David Schuttler]

Got this one last month at Amazon, it's got plastic parts for leg clamps but seems ok and for the price of $39.99 w/ carrying bag . Dolica AX620B100 62-Inch Proline Tripod and Ball Head

 

[Brandon Headley]

I've got a couple of Manfrotto tripods. Love them! One is just a cheaper one with 3 stage legs, very light and compact. The other is a crutch style tripod, very sturdy, but heavy!

I take the lighter one to chase since I can pack it away in my small truck.