Printable View
Sorry for a typical newb question but I have spent hours searching here and the net and really no closer to an answer. I'm 77 inches tall. Looking at bogen/manfrotto. I already have a 055xprob and 410 and a lightweight carbon fiber benro so looking for something on the heavier end of the spectrum. I'd like portable but won't be backpacking this one, likely shooting out of the back of my truck. Help me and I'll keep buying film.
Thanks for the great forum.
I have a set of Manfrotto 475 legs that I no longer need.
Your 410 geared head will work just fine with 475 legs.
I can let you have them for a very reasonable price.
PM me if you are interested.
A Gitzo 3 series should do. That's Studex in one incarnation, 300 and 13XX in another. they change model numbers more often than some folks change socks.
I have arthritis, and do not travel very far from my pickup truck when I am doing photography. When I want REALLY sturdy, I use a surveyor's tripod. The one photographed here is a really old K&E, made of ash (but probably younger than I am.) It was designed to support the really heavy optical transits from many years ago. It was in rough condition when I got it. I did find a couple of references on the large format photography forums about doing this. I probably spent more time than most would to put this together.
I disassembled it completely, sanded things down some, and cleaned with a solvent. Then multiple coats of a brushed flat black paint were applied, followed by a satin clear coat. Lastly, after everything was allowed to sit for a while, I put a heavy coat of paste wax over everything, then buffed it off some.
I drilled each leg and installed a screw eye to each leg. I then added a "stone bag" to the legs that does two things: it acts as a "safety" to keep the legs from spreading (I use it on frozen ground and ice in the winter); and, it also makes a convenient place to put caps, head covers, etc. The top of the tripod had an adapter made by Pacific Laser Systems to adapt older survey tripods to their system. I mounted a Jobu Designs BMG gimbal head to the PLS adapter. This is now the sturdiest tripod that I have.
The tripod cost me $50, the stone bag $15, the converter for the top was $18, and miscellaneous paint and other hardware for around $20. I do not have much faith in using the more recent aluminum versions that weigh much less. Although most of you will not be using something like my gimbal head, it a Jobu-BMG (used) for $450. I also splurged and bought the head cover from Opteka (a second) for under $20. Unfortunately, I think most of these tripods went to the dump years ago.
I did this as a project to kill time. If you don't want to go to a lot of effort to redo the finish, at least put a lot of wax on it. The ash was no longer weatherproof when I bought it, and it needed a few weeks to dry out enough to make sure the finish did not come off.