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Thread: New Novoflex 4 leg tripod system at Photokina

  1. #51

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    Re: New Novoflex 4 leg tripod system at Photokina

    Quote Originally Posted by BradS View Post
    Sorry Bob, I've been an engineer for twenty years...I know all to well how these things really work.
    Ah yes, the good old authority ploy... followed up by:

    The problem with four legs is that at any given moment in time, three of them will be in one plane (by definition) and the fourth....well...very likely will not be.
    Which ignores the blindingly obvious difference between a table or chair and a tripod: on a tripod, you can adjust the angle and length of the 4th leg.

    Another huge but not quite so glaringly obvious difference is that particularly outdoors, it's quite common to be placing the tripod on a surface or set of surfaces that aren't even close to level, so I end up adjusting the lengths and angles of each leg independently anyway in order to get the tripod to a somewhat level state.

    Whether or not the quadrupod will turn out to be a gimmick or a benefit I can't say, but seriously it should be very obvious that the chair analogy doesn't apply here in any way, provided that you remember a little bit about your basic geometry.

  2. #52

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    Re: New Novoflex 4 leg tripod system at Photokina

    Quote Originally Posted by Van Camper View Post
    It weighs 16.5lbs, but sinks well in snow and leaves...and holds anything.
    What is it with this silly obsession with heavy tripods? Why would anyone in their right mind want such a heavy beast?

    The movie industry has a different requirements -- they have entire crews and trucks to lug around all that gear. Who in their right mind is ever going to hump a 16 pound tripod up a thousand-foot-per-mile ascent?

    I'm already carrying 30 pounds of survival gear before adding the camera, I can weight down any tripod that's sturdy enough. So why would it beneficial to have a heavy tripod, again?

    What if the ground is softer under one of the legs, and the soil shifts as you push the film holder into the camera? With 3 legs they all compress to a solid footing, but with 4 legs if one of the legs gives way in soft soil then you just lost your equilibrium
    I don't see how having 4 legs vs 3 changes the issue of soft ground under a leg... you're going to have to watch out for that either way.

    When I buy a tripod, I want quality, proven durability under professional use, dependable, joints that last forever and not loosen up. Gitzo has proven itself...Novaflex in comparison with other mfrs in the tripod business is a nobody. They are hoping they have an edge in this game by introducing a 4th leg which I would never buy.
    I want proven quality also. I don't know much about Novoflex tripods, but the company does seem to have a pretty reputation overall.

    I want quality, not more legs. How much experience does Novaflex really have in making high end tripods?
    Since I haven't actually seen one of these quadrupods in person, and hence haven't tried it out, this is only hypothetical: what if quality happened to come with more legs? It's a 5-pound tripod (which is still more weight than I want, to be honest -- I'm eying one of Feisol's 2.2 pounders) that supports over 100 pounds sounds to me like something that people using 600mm+ lenses and 8x10 or bigger cameras might actually be very interested in, if only for the load to weight ratio.

    They are not a major player in the tripod business. Sounds too much like the electric knife, some of us use it....but I prefer the old fashion way.
    I recall a lot of people saying that about compact discs, surround sound, and the internet.

    Whether or not the quadrupod is a good product remains to be seen.

  3. #53

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    Re: New Novoflex 4 leg tripod system at Photokina

    Quote Originally Posted by rdenney View Post
    Is all this passion about an unseen product normal? If a product is boneheaded, nobody will buy it, and they'll stop making it. Problem solved.


    Rick "reserving judgment until seeing an example" Denney
    Hear, hear.

  4. #54

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    Re: New Novoflex 4 leg tripod system at Photokina

    16.5 lbs isn't really "heavy" A Linhof Heavy Duty Pro tripod with the Large Geared Center Column weighs 24.1 pounds! Add the Profi III ball head with 90mm base to it and you are at 28 pounds. Or add the Profi III pan head instead and you reach 31.5 pounds!

  5. #55

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    Re: New Novoflex 4 leg tripod system at Photokina

    A Quadropod has got to be more worthwhile than the Octomom!

  6. #56

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    Re: New Novoflex 4 leg tripod system at Photokina

    Quote Originally Posted by Van Camper View Post
    Rakesh, you can be all set up, then you push the film holder into the camera, then a minute shift occurs on one leg.
    I'm not claiming that an extra leg would cure this, but I've run into this sort of thing with tripods, too. Soft ground is soft ground.

    A tripod would compensate automatically
    I don't see how that could possibly be the case, although I'm still on the fence about how much an extra leg will help.

  7. #57
    Maris Rusis's Avatar
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    Re: New Novoflex 4 leg tripod system at Photokina

    At last a solution to a vexing problem! Next time some body wants to charge me for a "tripod permit" or some security guard waves his arms and yells "Hey, no tripods allowed!" all I need is that four legged beast.

    Now I can reply "Tripod? What tripod? Man, can't you count? Four legs aint no tripod"! This way I win every time. Unless I'm working a particularly tough neighborhood. In which case the ambulance crew might be phoning ahead to the local emergency department trying to explain that they are bringing in a photographer and he has a "quadrupod" up where?
    Photography:first utterance. Sir John Herschel, 14 March 1839 at the Royal Society. "...Photography or the application of the Chemical rays of light to the purpose of pictorial representation,..".

  8. #58

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    Re: New Novoflex 4 leg tripod system at Photokina

    Quote Originally Posted by Van Camper View Post
    Hi Rakesh,
    I think you missed my point. Soft ground is soft ground as you say. But a 3 pod on flat soil will distribute pressure evenly. With a 4 pod, you must apply the right pressure to the 4th leg yourself, not enough or too much (hard to set)....and you lose the benefits of perfect equilibrium.
    I didn't miss your point, I just disagreed with it.

    The market will tell.
    I agree there.

    I'm happy with my tripods, good for life, and I got by with 3 legs for a very long time without trouble and one less leg is less weight and faster to set up. My 16.5 lb tripod I doubt will blow over in a 50mph wind, especially with legs "spread" further apart to next level (that is the key, not a 4th leg).
    I've been doing mostly fine with 3 legs myself. I had a few mishaps, one resulting in sending my Ebony back to Japan for repair, but weighting the tripod or widening the leg spread would most likely have been enough to prevent that (live and learn, eh?). So I'm also not in the market for one of the quadrupods, not because I think it's a gimmick (I'm on the fence on that), but because it's too heavy and expensive for my tastes. But then, I'm planning doing several trips this summer that include camping and trails that involve 1000-foot-per-mile elevation gains... which is why my eyes are on a 2-pound Feisol and a Toho Shimo.

  9. #59
    Jim Graves Jim Graves's Avatar
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    Re: New Novoflex 4 leg tripod system at Photokina

    It is INCREDIBLE to me that so many people can express such strong opinions about the worth of a design they have not tested. That's the kind of attitude that supports the continuation of the Flat Earth Society.

  10. #60
    Jim Graves Jim Graves's Avatar
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    Re: New Novoflex 4 leg tripod system at Photokina

    I wonder why there aren't more three legged dogs?
    There are quite a few ... and 90% of them are named "Tripod."

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