Alternatives to Gitzo Series 5 tripods?

[Kerry L. Thalmann]

I can't see spending a thousand dollars on 3 legs and a head when these old tripods are available for around $175:

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...read.php?93168

Depends on your application and needs. What that expensive carbon fiber tripod will buy you is a weight savings of about 10 pounds and a more compact folded size (important if you ever intend to fly with your large format camera gear).

That said, these older cine tripods seem to be well made, plentiful and affordable. They are the old school equivalent to a Ries. In fact, Ries was a contemporary and competitor to these older wooden cine tripods.

FWIW, the film industry largely switched to carbon fiber tripods about a decade before they began marketing the advantages of carbon fiber to us still photographers.

Kerry

[Kerry L. Thalmann]

For my largest cameras or long lenses with small format, I use an Arca Swiss B2. I bought it second hand and had it refurbished by Precision Camera Works in Chicago, and it wasn't absurdly expensive. The B2 has the strength of a ball head, but works like a pan-tilt head, so you can control each axis independently.

The B2 isn't lightweight. or inexpensive, but it is also my favorite head for ULF work. Very smooth, very strong and relatively compact. It combines the best of a ballhead and a 3-axis head in one product. I sold mine and regret it.

Kerry

[goamules]

Yeah, I agree if I was walking up the trail a ways I'd be wishing for carbon fiber! My tripods weigh a lot.

[Dave Tolcher]

I'll put in a good view on Feisol tripods. I have gitzo 3 & 5 series CF but a traveller Feisol. A friend has the largest Feisol & ball head which he has used for several years with a 45SU. Good tripods. They have just done a large order for the MOD for theodolites with levelling heads. The only reason I would buy a Gitzo over the Feisol from what I have seen is the whole 'buy the best and buy it once' scenario. They are cheaper and likely s/h value will be much much less should you find the pull to a Gitzo too strong !

Dave

[Leszek Vogt]

Hmmm, I never expect to put 88lbs on a tripod or even half that. My 3-leg Feisol can handle 26lbs...or anything on it with spare 10 lbs...perhaps for couple of bricks below for more stability. Sure, I had to make a 'riser' (out of alum) to accomodate better tilts/pans on Manfrotto gearhead. The main thing is that it accommodates my size, where most tripods tend to be below 6' high. It's around 5lbs, I take it on hikes and it travels well in the aircraft. Anyway, $1000-1500 tripod would have been a complete overkill in variety of ways.
Besides, my insurance would likely tell me to take a hail-bound train if they got a whiff that I ever paid THAT much for a tripod .

Les

[kevwil]

I have two Induro tripods, the CT314 and the CT113 and don't think twice about Gitzo. When I bought them, the larger one was for my DSLR and the smaller one for my compact camera to do time lapses. It turned out the smaller one was strong enough and stable enough for my DSLR setup and the larger one was really really overkill. And I didn't even get the biggest Induro makes. I plan to use the larger one for large format and I'm not worried in the slightest.

There's nothing wrong with choosing a trusted brand if you can afford it. If you need a Gitzo at a lower price, I trust my Induro tripods and recommend them .

[Professional]

I am lucky enough to buy Gitzo tripods n the past including series 5, it was cheaper that time though, and honestly speaking, i never look back to any tripod options now, only heads, i have RRS BH-55 ballhead and Markins too so i never look for another ballhead, but i look for another head as 3-way or different one than Ballhead, the tripod legs of Gitzo i have are killer and doing the job, i have series 5 for local r domestic hiking and series 5 for international travel, couldn't be happier.