Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Cameras, Lenses and Shooting gear => Topic started by: Wally Vunderland on April 29, 2007, 08:39:50 am
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I am in the process of deciding between two different Gitzo carbon tri-pods. The tri-pods that I am interested in are the GT 1530/1540 and the GT 2530/2540. My main use will be for backpacking and bike touring as well as general travel. I have a Canon 20D with my longest/heaviest lens being the 70-300DO. I don’t plan on any larger lenses in the near future. I am curious as to the stability of 3 leg sections vs. 4 leg sections. Are the 3 section tri-pods more stable? Size is definitely a consideration for me, so the smaller the better, but I do want to have enough holding power for semi-adverse conditions. Any information on these tri-pod is appreciated.
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I have a strong preference for 3 leg sections on gitzos (e.g. 1329). I do mostly nature
shooting (botanicals and landscapes). I'm often opening the tripod, shooting a
bit, and closing (or partially closing). So, 3 sections is as much as I'm willing to tolerate.
I'm not sure that 3 sections is that much more stable than 4. The tradeoff of 3 vs 4 is
really speed vs. packing length. Of course, 3 section tripods are a bit longer when packed.
This also means that the minimum height of the tripod (legs collapsed) is higher.
By the way, before using gitzo's I used to use benbo tripods which typically have
2 leg sections. The lower section is also the outer (sealed) tube, which is a great
design feature if you ever have to immerse the legs. Benbos are much better for speed.
I stopped using them, however, because the welds and the splines didn't hold up
over time. Nor did they make a carbon fiber unit (as of a few years ago).
With the same loads and fairly heavy use (i.e. nikon d2x, pentax medium format, and
contax medium format), i've never had a structural problem with a gitzo.
On the other hand, if you put a gitzo in sandy water so that the collar is immersed (i did this
once not realizing the problem i was creating), you have to fully disassemble the
legs to clean the sand out.
Tony