If you could buy any tripod ...

[Aender Brepsom]

Another vote for the old Gitzo G1548 carbon fibre tripod. The current model version is called GT5541LS.

[Pete Roody]

I prefer CF over wood or aluminum. The Gitzo 3 series in CF is hard to beat for 5x7/8x10. Take a look at the Gitzo 3541L CF tripod.

[Steve M Hostetter]

Frank,
then you have the height of the head and a rail clam and then the height of the standard which together = another 15" to the bottom of the lens..

I'm 6'-1" and I can't extend my 50.8" tripod leds to the max without using a step ladder to view the image on the gg

the max load bearing numbers tells the story, for me anyway,,, 39.6 lbs

weight of the pod has no relevance as far as stability w/ carbon fiber

[Len Middleton]

Another vote for the Gitzo CF tripods. I have a G1325 unit and it works well for 8x10 and smaller. Also have a surveyor's tripod at my daughter's place to reduce the amount of stuff I have to transport back and forth when I visit her.

My exposure to tripods is much more limited than many here, but had a number of Linhof units including the smaller twin shank, and a Manfrotto (Bogen to our friends in the USA) 055, but find the Gitzo does the job.

I found the bigger issue (outside of OP's scope) was heads. The Linhof twin shank had the standard Linhof tilt and pan head, and with the Green Monster on it (Calumet C1 8x10 in magnesium), I found some bounce in it through what I believed to be head flex, rather than movement from the tripod itself.

I have the big Linhof studio tilt head and pan head with the big round camera mount and a Gitzo R3 head, and both seems to fit the bill.

My $0.02 (CAD),

Len

[Michael Jones]

Already have – a Ries.

Have a J-100 and an A-100.

http://www.riestripod.com/tripod.htm

Ditto. I dislike locking/unlocking more than one mechanism to adjust the leg/height. With a Reis, just hold the tripod up, unscrew the lock until the leg hits the ground, and tighten.

The Zone VI models do this, too.

Mike