My New Tripod: Gitzo vs Leica Surveyor vs Ries

[jp]

Kind of on the subject, Drew--any mods to your Ries that help you secure it to the pack frame while underway? I must admit that load shifting is a pet peeve of mine (hate being banged in the noggin when shouldering a pack--or, especially, "b'ar crawling" through rhody) but other than taking another bight around the sticks with a compression strap, I've yet to achieve a real stable configuration.

At any rate, I don't think anything can compare to the OP's Ries aesthetically--reminds me of my "flamed" cane flyrods.

I dont' wear a tripod and pack at the same time. I do wear my Ries tripod on my back with a Tab Gear biathlon sling (plus some wide velcro straps for each end of the sling/tripod.

[CreationBear]

a stronger rubber type related to securing pickup loads

Drew-- Excellent, tho' I don't have any anchor points that I'd feel comfortable really reefing down on a load...a point in favor of your external frames!

JP--thanks for the insights...Vaughn is burly enough to Paul Bunyan his sticks over his shoulder, iirc, but your solution seems a bit easier on the traps.

[Two23]

Why I chose Ries's J100-2 over its A100...

Specifications that these two tripods have in common:

Material: Wood
Maximum height: 152cm (62")
Minimum height: 30.5cm (12")
Folded length: 102cm (40”)
Weight (with bronze rather than aluminium knobs): 5kg (11lb)

I ended up with the J100-2 because the 4-inch crown matched the J250 head. Going this route saved some money and weight and I felt my Kodak 2D 8x10 and 19th C. Petzval lenses would be plenty solid on the J100-2 set up. Turns out I was right. I do like using the J250 head. It's very quick to adjust and solid. It's the best tripod/head I've ever owned.


Kent in SD

[Jim Andrada]

I bought a Libec video tripod w 75mm bowl and floor level and mod-level spreaders when I was doing Audio/Video for a local classical orchestra. It turned out to be far better than I expected and now I use it for everything up to an 8 x 10 Linhof Kardan Bi (not a lightweight by any means.) Haven't put the Minox on it (yet) but have used it with a 1937 Zeiss Ikonta 4.5 x 6 at the light end. I have to admit that I like the look of the FLM CF tripod - my heavy (very heavy) duty 'pod is a large Majestic.

[Vaughn]

Sometimes I just take Ries for a walk...

The second image -- me in 1980 with the camera and tripod I hitched-hiked with in NZ for three months. Not the optimal pod to be sure...with a video head (but a rotating back so I did not have to worry about side-to-side leveling.) The tripod did not matter as the camera had a major light-leak on the back, so I got nothing (almost) on that trip anyway. This is the condition of the tripod before I took it to NZ.

The next trip to NZ (1986 - 5 months on bicycle), I took a new Gitzo Studex with a No.2 Ballhead...and a new (but well used before the trip) Gowland 4x5 PocketView...perfect!