Tripod

I recently purchased the Canon 1DX and am now in the market for an appropriate tripod.  I am looking at the mefoto-roadtrip-61-6-tripod-red.  Any suggestions?  or buyer beware! 

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/mefoto-roadtrip-61-6-tripod-red/4802900.p?id=1219825174554&skuId=4802900 

Thanks in advance. 


 

Elizabeth,  I don't know how tall you are, but that tripod only extends to 61" and that is with the center column extended which of course is something you should never do.

You bought a 1DX, and now comes an even more important piece of equipment, a tripod.  I can't even begin to tell you how many people I've worked with that didn't buy a solid, tall enough tripod with a robust ball head.  I've never quite understood that.  You have a $5000+ camera (body only) you are going to put on top.  Why not get something solid to put under it.  You can tell I have a clear bias about cheap tripods.  Most people end up buying one, then replacing it with a better one, then finally buying the one they should have looked at in the first place.

 

Keith, I am 64" tall, excellent point.  I totally understand your thoughts .  What do you recommend?  I'm here seeking expert advise.  Thank you for the feed back.

Elizabeth, I with Keith on this one. Purchase the best tripod and head you can afford.

Some thought's on selection...

• Three-section legs tend to be more sturdy than four-section legs.
• The height, with ball head and camera, should be as close to your height as possible, without having to raise the center post.
• You'll have to decide between lever locks and twist locks for the legs. I prefer lever locks since they are easier on my wrists.
• The tripod/head combination must support the combined weight of your camera and heaviest lens (if you plan to buy a heavier lens at some point, take that into account, as well)
• If you plan to use attachment plates, or an L-bracket, the camera plate or bracket, and the adapter on the head must match.
• If you plan to hike with your gear, carbon fiber will lighten the load.

Personally, I use a Manfroto 055CXPro3 carbon fiber. It will hold my 4x5 (which is heavier than my DSLR) with ease.
I use a Kirk L-Bracket on my Nikon and an Arca plate holder on my ball head.
My ball head is an older Kaiser, but if I were in the market today, I would purchase an Acratech.

Along with Manfroto, Benbo, Gitzo, and Feisol tripods are also highly rated.

--P

I love my Feisol unit. It works well using both my RB67 (the Brick) and my 4x5. I was reluctant to buy the twist lock legs after owning the lever lock style for numerous years. However, after speaking extensively at the time with Lon about the change over I was glad I did and bought the 3301.
I would look at the Feisol line and I believe Kerry Thielman is still a distributor for their line. Kerry goes way back here at NPN as one of the 4x5 shooters. His site is at Really Big Cameras.
http://reallybigcameras.com/Feisol/Tripods


 

I'm guessing you're primarily shooting landscapes, if the body is more important than the weight of the lens?  For those of us in wildlife, the lens is usually the most important weight consideration.

The one tip I'll mention is to check the warranties if you're comparing brands.  I've had to repair a tripod without the warranty and the cost was $200 per leg.  When I was looking to replace my big tripod, it came down to three well-respected brands.  Ultimately it was the tripod with the ten year warranty (as opposed to 5-6 years) that won out.

Max

Elizabeth. I have three tripods.  All are Gitzos of different sizes. I have one Kirk Bh-1 ball head and two different Markins ball heads. Both are rock solid and highly recommended. You should take a look at Induro carbon fiber tripods. They are superb and represent a very good value.  I'm not a fan of their ball heads.  Heads from Really Right Stuff, Kirk, Acratech, Markins are all better in my opinion. For my Long lens, I use a Wimberly gimbal, but that is only for the big lens. 

Elizabeth,  I've used tripods from Manfroto, Slik, Feisol, and finally a Gitso.  The Manfroto was an aluminum tripod that had level lock leg locks and after about two years, the locks were routinely need to be tightened or they wouldn't lock, so I had to carry a deep socket wrench and a driver in my camera bag.  It was also quite heavy but very sturdy.  The others have been carbon fiber to keep their weight down (I fly and hike with my equipment several time a year).  The Slik was quite sturdy but used teflon pieces to let the legs slide easily.  Teflon is soft and wears very quickly, so the legs began to rotate after about two years, which makes opening and closing them a very slow, difficult process.  The Feisol is quite light but nicely sturdy.  However, the angle locking levers were make from aluminum so they quickly wore out and the tripod would collapse suddenly or not lock into position when the legs were spread beyond the minimum distance.  Since I do a lot of macro/close to the ground work that's a huge problem.  I barely caught one collapse with the tripod spread across a small pond.  Camera's don't swim very well, so that convinced me to go for the Gitso, which is top of the line (at least in price).  In over a year of heavy use, no problems yet, but it was in the later part of year 2 that all of the others started showing their problems.  It's also worth noting that I do between 20k and 30k shutter presses per year and 95% of those use a tripod.  When I told that to the Feisol rep, he was astonished at the amount of use.  (Gave me the impression that they hadn't thought about designing for that much use in their 3 year warranty.)

Elizabeth, I use a Gitzo 5 Series tripod with a Really Right Stuff BH-55 Ballhead.  I would strongly recommend NOT getting a 5 Series Gitzo as it's massive overkill.  I will probably be selling mine and retreating to a Really Right Stuff Series 2 tripod, which I think will be plenty solid for landscape work; if you're using long glass for birds, I would go up to a Series 3 RRS or Gitzo.  I will definitely keep the RRS BH-55 ballhead as I think it's the best ballhead on the market today by far.  I agree completely with Keith; putting a shaky platform under a 5 grand camera and a megadollar piece of glass is lunancy.  You have to have a good foundation in order to achieve superior results.

OK  Thank you all very much.  I feel armed and ready to do some shopping.  Now, I have an idea where to start and what to look for in a tripod that I wouldn't have even considered.  I am so glad I asked.  Thank you all!!

One more note, Elizabeth.  I have several tripods taking Keith's classic path to the right one, but I have both a Gitzo and Really Right Stuff 3 series tripods.  The Gitzo has 4 section legs while the RRS has 3.  When I travel by plane, I take the Gitzo because it will fit in a standard carry on bag with the head removed.  I pack my clothes around it.  While technically, the 3 section is stiffer, the Gitzo is still plenty sturdy for my 500 mm f4 lens.