[Leica] Portable tripods Suggestions - Bogen Manfrotto prefered

[henningw at archiphoto.com (Henning Wulff)]

At 9:53 AM -0500 2/17/06, Scott McLoughlin wrote:
>There's a cool new Gitzo portable CF tripod where the center column
>sort of "flips over" somehow to eliminate the folded extra length
>added by the tripod head. But IIRC, it's > $600.
>
>But for various personal reasons, I've just got to keep my spendy habbits
>in check for a while :-)  or is that :-(


It's called the 'Traveller' series, and that's the G1158T I 
mentioned, and the price is why I mentioned the G1197 Basalt :-). The 
latter seems very good value to me, and would be the one I would get 
now if I hadn't bought the CF tripods earlier.

>Just need something small and light that will allow me to shoot some
>slow films without bright daylight.  I've got a nice pair of M6TTL's,
>a RRS Arca Swiss style plate, a nice sturdy Linhof cable release, a set
>of Leica lenses (current 28/50/90) that that surpass my abilities to make
>full use of them, and a good chunk of Delta 100 in the freezer and access
>to some of the slower Efke emulsions.
>
>Now I've just got to put it all together with a portable tripod, and do
>so with some exercise of home economics.
>
>Someone pointed out a Chinese (gasp!) CF tripod that seems like a Gitzo
>clone - the Feisol CT-3301N.  Even lighter than some of the Bogen models
>I've considered, something around $250 for the legs, and Googling around,
>owners seem to like theirs.
>
>I'll keep researching and shopping for a while.
>
>Scott
>
>Henning Wulff wrote:
>
>>
>>I've had a number of Manfrotto tripods as well as Gitzo, and in my 
>>opinion the Gitzos are worth every penny. They have proven 
>>themselves to be much more durable, and off more real stability for 
>>considerably less weight. I currently use two Gitzo CF tripods (as 
>>well as some aluminum  ones): a 1028 and a 1228. The 1028, which 
>>weighs about 750gms, is completely sufficient for Leica M useage as 
>>long as there is no wind. It's about 138cm high when extended, 
>>which is a bit short but generally fine for travel.
>>
>>If I got one tripod now for travel, etc. and money wasn't an issue, 
>>I would get a G1158T, which goes up to 149cm and folds down to 
>>about 41cm, and weighs just under 1kg. It's good for any M with any 
>>lens. If I wanted to save some money, I would get the G1197 Basalt, 
>>which is considerably cheaper and weighs 1.2kg and doesn't fold to 
>>quite as compact a bundle. I would take this over either the MF3 or 
>>MF4 Bogen/Manfrotto tripods any day, and the price is in the same 
>>range.
>>
>>Note that carbon fiber or basalt tripods absorb vibrations a lot 
>>more than aluminum tripods, so if the load capacity is adequate 
>>(and it usually is) then you can often go down one size and get the 
>>same performance.
>>
>>For medium/small tripods I've found Cullman ballheads to give the 
>>best performance/weight ration, and the two that I use on the 
>>carbon Gitzo's are extremely smooth. Something like the 904 Cullman 
>>(230gm) is completely adequate for the 1 series Gitzo tripods. You 
>>can add a small Bogen/Manfrotto quick release such as the 3299 
>>system which is completely adequate. I use the 394 adapter and 3271 
>>plates because they match other heads I use, but the 3271 plates 
>>are a bit large, so I used a Dremel tool to remove unnecessary 
>>parts and whittle it down to Leica M size.

-- 
    *            Henning J. Wulff
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