Help with new Tripod

[cowanw]

I have a series 5 and while it is great in the studio and for car trips out, it is too much tripod for 4x5, in my opinion.

[macolive]

I use a Gitzo 3532 S and I'm just starting to get used to carrying it. The tripod itself is light...It's the head that makes it heavy...nonetheless i'm really happy with it.

I do want to get a levelling head. I was going to get the systematic levelling base but they didn't have stock in Hong Kong. Just as well, as I read some bad reviews about it after.

[Greg Miller]

Perhaps look at the Really Right Stuff tripods. I switched from Gitzo to RRS a few years ago and am very happy. I was pretty unhappy with Gitzo with their problems with the mounting plate falling out of the 3 series tripods several years ago and they never acknowledged it. I was very lucky once when a very expensive camera/lens combo completely fell to the ground and magically landed in a patch of sand barely large enough to contain them (and missed the surrounding boulders).

[biedron]

I have a series 5 and while it is great in the studio and for car trips out, it is too much tripod for 4x5, in my opinion.

I agree with this. I have Gitzo 3 and 5 series tripods - I bought the 5 when I got an 8x10. But even with the 8x10 on the 3 series, the weakest link is not the tripod, it is the head.

Bob