obelix
Jan-26-2005, 12:53 PM
Some of you might have read this link where Thom Hogan talks about tripods: http://www.bythom.com/support.htm
Well, I read it, just did not follow it :uhoh
I had a $20 Hakuba tripod that you get in Walmart / Target. Worked well with my Olympus C-2040 and to a large extent with my Minolta DImage 7hi. I even made lots of good panoramas with it (3 way pan tilt head). I still use the tripod to mount my hotshoe flash in my studio.
Then I got the D70 and an all-metal 70-210 f/4 - f/5.6 lens. The tripod became a vibration generator :(. It was about time to get a new tripod. I read Thom's article and then went ahead and saved some money by buying the Bogen 3001BN legs and a Bogen 3 way pan tilt head. It felt heavy and robust. I bought the tripod two days before I was leaving to India, so I lugged the tripod with me. It occupied 1/3 rd of my checkin bag and somehow I lugged it with me. Once I reached India, it remained in my home, inside the checkin bag. It was impossible for me to lug the tripod around the country :(
I came back, returned the tripod and then read Thom Hogan's article again. This time, I saved even more money with a Bogen 828B aluminium tripod with an integrated pan tilt head. I do lots of panoramas and the ball head that came in this setup did not cut it.
This tripod worked very well and then I bought the 300 f/4. Same cycle. The tripod had become a vibration generator.
After spending many more cycles and re-reading Thom's article. I came across this thread:
http://www.nikonians.org/dcforum/DCForumID15/872.html#3
Many good reviews for the Feisol in dpreview as well, so I ordered the CT-3401 tripod directly from Feisol's website, http://www.feisol.com [$185 + $25 S&H]. I had to choose between the 3-leg and 4-leg tripods, bought the 4 leg tripod for its extra height and shorter folded length.
I then started searching for a ball head and quickly narrowed down to these three ball heads. [I hope that I will not buy a 300 mm f/2.8 lens in my life, or else I have to go for another round of ball head / tripod upgrade :(]
1) Kirk BH-3 (http://www.kirkphoto.com/ballheadbh3.html) [$230 comes with a generic plate] [20 ounces]
2) Markins M-10 (http://www.markins.com/2.0/eng/products/ballheads/m10.html)[$310]
3) Acratech ultimate ballhead (http://acratech.net/ultimate_ballhead.html) [$280] [16 ounces]
This was a difficult choice. I got the chance to try out an Acratech ultimate ballhead and loved it. People who bought the Markins swore by it. The only nit with the Acratech was a bit convoluted to put the camera in a vertical position without a "L" plate.
I then wrote to a few people who had bought the Kirk BH-3 and BH-1 and all favorable reviews. The Acratech stood out for ease of cleaning since the ball was completely visible.
Very little to choose between these 3 heads, it came down to cost. The BH-3 was the cheapest of the lot came with a bundled generic plate as well [$50 value] which makes the BH-3 a bargain. I ordered the Kirk BH-3.
The feisol arrived first from Taiwan.
I was very impressed with the customer care I received. [Minor nit - no automated response of your order, just your paypal account gets deducted]. I got a scanned invoice / shipment notice within 48 hrs and the tripod showed up at my home in about 10 days.
The tripod, fully extended was 134 cms [~52 inches]. I was a bit worried about the height when I ordered the tripod, but once I got the tripod, I knew that fully extended [without the center column], with the ball head and camera mounted, it won't be a hassle for me [I am 5'10"]. The ball head is 4.25 inches tall and the body is about 5 inches on top of it. So, the total height from ground up to the viewfinder is about 61 inches, just about right for me. [If you are taller than 5' 10", you must consider this. Feisol is supposedly working on a newer / taller tripod. Make sure of this before you buy it]
I was also worried about getting the 4 section tripod. I wondered if I was sacrificing a little bit of stability for the benefits of the 4 sections. Once I extended the tripod to its full height, all those concerns dissipated. The tripod is very robust, even with all 4 legs extended. If I needed extra stability, I would probably add bean bags to the leg [[b]if I needed].
The tripod itself was very light, easy to carry and Feisol thoughtfully adds the rubber tubings to the legs [hurray] and it came with a nylon carrying bag [hurray - with enough room for a ball head - well thought].
The Ball Head eventually arrived today. It was a snap to install the ball head. It took about 5 minutes to understand the 3 knobs that are used to control the head.
I played a bit with the tension settings of the ball head and set it to a certain higher tension than the default one. [Gives a certain sense of security]. The generic plate that came with the head is very good too. It came with a wrench to fasten the plate with the base of the camera. Seems to work just fine. The camera mounted on the mounting plate smoothly and once fastened, just smug fits.
I was able to release the ball with the control knob easily and adjust the camera to its position and fastening the camera was a snap. It just feels right and smug fit. I quickly tested the camera in portrait position and tried the panorama base as well. Every thing feels just right and accurate, just as every owner suggested.
I took the setup for a spin with a really heavy 85mm PC micro Nikkon f/2.8 lens [shift tilt]. I was able to position the camera easily and it stayed where I wanted the camera to be.
After a few minutes of usage, I had no qualms about carrying the camera by lifting the tripod alone - I have never had this sense of security so far with any of my tripods :). The tripod helped to do this:
http://clix.smugmug.com/photos/14858946-L.jpg
http://clix.smugmug.com/photos/14858945-L.jpg
I can't think off a negative aspect to this setup as of yet, but then I have just taken it on one outing. The age of the feisol is a bit of a bother since not many have owned it for a long time, but few folks have used it for 6-8 months and they seem to be very happy with it.
I still took a few shortcuts to what Thom suggests - I only hope it does not prove expensive :)
I will post my experiences with this setup here as I use this setup more.
Hope this helps!
Well, I read it, just did not follow it :uhoh
I had a $20 Hakuba tripod that you get in Walmart / Target. Worked well with my Olympus C-2040 and to a large extent with my Minolta DImage 7hi. I even made lots of good panoramas with it (3 way pan tilt head). I still use the tripod to mount my hotshoe flash in my studio.
Then I got the D70 and an all-metal 70-210 f/4 - f/5.6 lens. The tripod became a vibration generator :(. It was about time to get a new tripod. I read Thom's article and then went ahead and saved some money by buying the Bogen 3001BN legs and a Bogen 3 way pan tilt head. It felt heavy and robust. I bought the tripod two days before I was leaving to India, so I lugged the tripod with me. It occupied 1/3 rd of my checkin bag and somehow I lugged it with me. Once I reached India, it remained in my home, inside the checkin bag. It was impossible for me to lug the tripod around the country :(
I came back, returned the tripod and then read Thom Hogan's article again. This time, I saved even more money with a Bogen 828B aluminium tripod with an integrated pan tilt head. I do lots of panoramas and the ball head that came in this setup did not cut it.
This tripod worked very well and then I bought the 300 f/4. Same cycle. The tripod had become a vibration generator.
After spending many more cycles and re-reading Thom's article. I came across this thread:
http://www.nikonians.org/dcforum/DCForumID15/872.html#3
Many good reviews for the Feisol in dpreview as well, so I ordered the CT-3401 tripod directly from Feisol's website, http://www.feisol.com [$185 + $25 S&H]. I had to choose between the 3-leg and 4-leg tripods, bought the 4 leg tripod for its extra height and shorter folded length.
I then started searching for a ball head and quickly narrowed down to these three ball heads. [I hope that I will not buy a 300 mm f/2.8 lens in my life, or else I have to go for another round of ball head / tripod upgrade :(]
1) Kirk BH-3 (http://www.kirkphoto.com/ballheadbh3.html) [$230 comes with a generic plate] [20 ounces]
2) Markins M-10 (http://www.markins.com/2.0/eng/products/ballheads/m10.html)[$310]
3) Acratech ultimate ballhead (http://acratech.net/ultimate_ballhead.html) [$280] [16 ounces]
This was a difficult choice. I got the chance to try out an Acratech ultimate ballhead and loved it. People who bought the Markins swore by it. The only nit with the Acratech was a bit convoluted to put the camera in a vertical position without a "L" plate.
I then wrote to a few people who had bought the Kirk BH-3 and BH-1 and all favorable reviews. The Acratech stood out for ease of cleaning since the ball was completely visible.
Very little to choose between these 3 heads, it came down to cost. The BH-3 was the cheapest of the lot came with a bundled generic plate as well [$50 value] which makes the BH-3 a bargain. I ordered the Kirk BH-3.
The feisol arrived first from Taiwan.
I was very impressed with the customer care I received. [Minor nit - no automated response of your order, just your paypal account gets deducted]. I got a scanned invoice / shipment notice within 48 hrs and the tripod showed up at my home in about 10 days.
The tripod, fully extended was 134 cms [~52 inches]. I was a bit worried about the height when I ordered the tripod, but once I got the tripod, I knew that fully extended [without the center column], with the ball head and camera mounted, it won't be a hassle for me [I am 5'10"]. The ball head is 4.25 inches tall and the body is about 5 inches on top of it. So, the total height from ground up to the viewfinder is about 61 inches, just about right for me. [If you are taller than 5' 10", you must consider this. Feisol is supposedly working on a newer / taller tripod. Make sure of this before you buy it]
I was also worried about getting the 4 section tripod. I wondered if I was sacrificing a little bit of stability for the benefits of the 4 sections. Once I extended the tripod to its full height, all those concerns dissipated. The tripod is very robust, even with all 4 legs extended. If I needed extra stability, I would probably add bean bags to the leg [[b]if I needed].
The tripod itself was very light, easy to carry and Feisol thoughtfully adds the rubber tubings to the legs [hurray] and it came with a nylon carrying bag [hurray - with enough room for a ball head - well thought].
The Ball Head eventually arrived today. It was a snap to install the ball head. It took about 5 minutes to understand the 3 knobs that are used to control the head.
I played a bit with the tension settings of the ball head and set it to a certain higher tension than the default one. [Gives a certain sense of security]. The generic plate that came with the head is very good too. It came with a wrench to fasten the plate with the base of the camera. Seems to work just fine. The camera mounted on the mounting plate smoothly and once fastened, just smug fits.
I was able to release the ball with the control knob easily and adjust the camera to its position and fastening the camera was a snap. It just feels right and smug fit. I quickly tested the camera in portrait position and tried the panorama base as well. Every thing feels just right and accurate, just as every owner suggested.
I took the setup for a spin with a really heavy 85mm PC micro Nikkon f/2.8 lens [shift tilt]. I was able to position the camera easily and it stayed where I wanted the camera to be.
After a few minutes of usage, I had no qualms about carrying the camera by lifting the tripod alone - I have never had this sense of security so far with any of my tripods :). The tripod helped to do this:
http://clix.smugmug.com/photos/14858946-L.jpg
http://clix.smugmug.com/photos/14858945-L.jpg
I can't think off a negative aspect to this setup as of yet, but then I have just taken it on one outing. The age of the feisol is a bit of a bother since not many have owned it for a long time, but few folks have used it for 6-8 months and they seem to be very happy with it.
I still took a few shortcuts to what Thom suggests - I only hope it does not prove expensive :)
I will post my experiences with this setup here as I use this setup more.
Hope this helps!