Someone mentioned that you should be sure to get a ball head for a Ries tripod. I hope that was meant as a joke. If not, that person clearly doesn't shoot large format nor have they ever used a Ries head. I have used just about every type of head available and nothing comes close to the performance of a Ries double tilt head for large format photography. I have them on both of my Ries tripods. With large format, you always want to level the different planes separately. Suggesting a ball head for large format is downright silly and this is, after all, a large format forum. I have to suspect that the person who suggested that has only read books about large format photography but has never actually done it. A ball head?????!!!!!!

As for Gitzo's, I have owned them and just about every other type of tripod at one time or another. Gitzos are O.K. for small format photography but nothing touches a Ries for large format photography, in my opinion, and I have used them exclusively for years now. Nothing ever goes wrong with them. They are virtually 100% dependable and when things are locked down, they stay LOCKED down. Gitzos are toys compared to Ries tripods and I don't miss my Gitzos one at all. I have seen many shaky and wobbly Gitzos over the years but I have never seen a shaky or wobbly Ries. Gitzos are way over-priced for what you get and they are not nearly as solid for large format shooting as a Ries.