[dcstep]

Joe, good looking rig.

Dave

[Mr Tonka]

Originally Posted by dcstep

Joe, good looking rig.

Dave

Thanks.

After handling one at the local shop, reading all the reviews; the price point was too good to pass up. I think i'm all in for $650. While i haven't handled any Gitzo equipment many of the reviewers who owned Gitzo equipment said the Sirui tripods seemed to be on the same level of quality.

Who knows, but my initial impression is that it's good stuff. 6 year warranty, so even if the tripod and head both broke at 6 years + 1 day, i feel like i'm ok with that. I'd pay $110/year to have a set up like this at my disposal. (assuming it's in good working order each year) That's the big question mark i guess. But i was reading reviews about this brand that were from 2009. So while i haven't heard of them before, i don't think they are a brand new manufacture.

Headed to Bar Harbor Maine at the end of the month. Hope to get some interesting coastline, slow shutter shots. Just need to get that ND filter wrapped up.

[dcstep]

Lots of new players have entered the tripod/head market in the last few years. Most seem to have all the features of the best tripods from the past. I hope that they stand up to usage. I think that my Induro is made in Chine, like most of the new entrants and it's held up for over five-years. With my Arca-Swiss head, I had around $900 invested. I too did a direct comparison to Gitzo and saw no reason to go with Gitzo.

I see that you got the twist-locks. Sirui, you have a choice. Did you compare?

Dave

[Mr Tonka]

Originally Posted by dcstep

Lots of new players have entered the tripod/head market in the last few years. Most seem to have all the features of the best tripods from the past. I hope that they stand up to usage. I think that my Induro is made in Chine, like most of the new entrants and it's held up for over five-years. With my Arca-Swiss head, I had around $900 invested. I too did a direct comparison to Gitzo and saw no reason to go with Gitzo.

I see that you got the twist-locks. Sirui, you have a choice. Did you compare?

Dave

That ball head you have is quite expensive, but with those large lenses you use, i can see that it's necessary. I really wanted to get it just to know it would last forever and handle anything i mounted to it.

The Sirui i handled in the store had lever locks and do think it's faster. Just like the twist locks, you can unlock all of them at once and locking each one individually is faster than twisting each one individually. Retracting is faster for me as well because i just flip the levers, retract all sections and lock all at once.

Even though i didn't see lever locks as an option for this particular model, I probably would have stayed with the twist locks anyway. I'm used to them as you can see from my previous tripod. Though that tripod only had 6 locks to actuate. Now with 9 i'm sure the process will be marginally slower. The 1/2 turn to unlock and lock is nice. On the unlock, it has a notch you can feel so once you get to it, you know you can extend or retract. Then the lock has the same notch feel, gets tight and then a final sort of click for lock. But all within a 1/2 rotation. And even with the extra twist lock, i can still actuate 3 at once with one hand.

I can't get over how light it is. I knew it was only about 5 pounds lighter than my other set up, but it feel much lighter than that. I suppose it's due to the center of gravity changing. All of the weight is right where the camera attaches. So it handles very well compared to my last one which had a lot of weight in it's legs. Also learned last night that all of the O-rings for keeping water and gunk out of the legs are user serviceable and they even provide instructions on how to maintain / replace them along with part numbers.

I brought it to work with me and hopefully i'll have some down time to mess around with it some more.

[Mr Tonka]

Got to put the tripod and filter to work this morning at about 6:45am on a beach in Maine.

Things didn't go as i had planed, but got some mildly interesting shots of the triathlon going on.





There is a dam outside of the apartment we rented; got to employ the new gear for that as well.

[dcstep]

Very interesting shot of the swimmers.

[Mr Tonka]

Originally Posted by dcstep

Very interesting shot of the swimmers.

A dog ran into one of my shots, well actually a few dogs ran into and out of several of my shots, but they were so fast they didn't eve show up. This one though was a relatively fast shutter speed, so i caught him standing almost still.

[Mik3ymomo]

So my take and experience is much like many people who are on a budget for a tripod and head. I buy an affordable but "good" set of manfrotto legs and ball head and it's heavy and maxes out with a 70-200 or 300 F4.
I end up buying another tripod and head. Essentially spending even more money. Thom Hogan wrote about this process and like most people he went through the same process not wanting to spend the $ on the higher end product only to spend 2x that buying the cheaper gear a few times until eventually having to buy the expensive stuff anyway.

I bought the high end Carbon fiber Gitzo legs the second time and an Arca Swiss Z1 ball head.
The combo will really set you back but in serious about my photography and I take a lot of long exposure nightscapes so it really matter that I have a rock solid platform.
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[dcstep]

Originally Posted by Mik3ymomo

...

I bought the high end Carbon fiber Gitzo legs the second time and an Arca Swiss Z1 ball head.
The combo will really set you back but in serious about my photography and I take a lot of long exposure nightscapes so it really matter that I have a rock solid platform.
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Long-exposure is more demanding than super-tele, IME. Gitzo is not the only solution, IMO, but you DO need a solid tripod. I've got an 8-ply Induro and believe that several other brands deliver the needed stability. Love my A-S Z1.

Dave