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Carbon Fiber Tripods for use in Water / Ice / Snow


roamingstudio

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I am in the process of making final decisions for my next tripod :) and am

heavily leaning towards a Gitzo 2530 LVL... or 3 series systematic. However I

often take photos in water, snow and ice. My old tripod (now broken) has some

nice rusty screws - but never had locking / jamming issues (despite going into

sea, and deep snow).

 

Using the search engine here picked up articles related to water / locking etc

which were mainly dated from 1999->2004. Now that there are many new updated

Carbon fibre products (Gitzo GT2530LVL; Manfrotto; Velbon Sherpa Pro 645; Slik

713), and I wondered whether many of these issues have been fixed?

 

Ideally I would take the Gitzo; but if I end up destroying it due to over-water

exposure then I would rather go for a cheaper model and destroy that first ;-)

 

Any thoughts?

 

Thanks

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I have just done these tests with my gitzo 1228 over the past 6 weeks: saltwater, lakes, sand, snow, ice...and although I can`t say it really liked these elements very much, it has withstood them perfectly well. The only problem that I found is that upon long stays in water (specially cold) it becomes a little bit hard to extend...The sand does invade the locking system and makes a horrible grinding sound, but upon (easy) cleaning of the tripod, all is back to normal. Hope this helps. (btw, I would strongly recommend getting some foam padding if you shoot in cold conditions, as it turns out, CF tripods become just as cold as their metal counterparts!).
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Check-out http://www.websiteoptimization.com/speed/tweak/tripod/ and/or http://www.dutchhill.com/products/p900.html for an alternative that may suit your needs perfectly.

 

I find the Dutch Hill P900 great for shooting in snow, water, etc. since its leg locking mechanism(s) are at the top of the legs (just below the tripod head) rather than closer to the bottom as they would be in a not-fully-extended Gitzo: this eliminates the problem of fouling the locking collars of the lower leg segments with snow, water, sand, etc. The primary drawback to the Dutch Hill tripod, however, is that they are comparatively more cumbersome to carry as they do not collapse as compactly as tripods that have multi-segmented legs.

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I have a Gitzo G-1227 and a GT-3540 CF tripods, which I use in snow, water and occasionally mud and sand without lasting problems.

 

The only metal parts in a Gitzo CF are the collars and mating threaded extensions. I just wipe mine dry after use in snow or water. I would rinse them after use in salt water, particularly if the threads got wet. I leave the tripod extended until I can rinse any mud off. Sand in the threaded collars is a bigger problem, so avoid burying the legs in sand. Occasional use in sand with the bottom section extended does not make a problem.

 

Water inside the legs would make the action stiff. The tolerances are very tight (about 0.003 inches), so a film of water creates a lot of friction, but no permanent damage.

 

The "Systematic" tripod is a lot more versatile than others. I use a GT-3540 with a G-1321 leveling head. The action is much simpler and more stable than the LVL column on the Series 2. I have an aluminum column, but seldom use it. Series 3 columns fit both aluminum and CF tripods.

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Manfrotto 458 B Neotec tripod has inverted legs, that can easily get submerged deep up to the length of the bottom section.

 

Not sure if that was Manfrotto or vendor advertising this special feature, that no other tripod has. Neotec is another unique feature of that tripod.

 

It is not a carbon fiber so is a bit heavier. Costs for the legs only is about $350. Due to the Neotec design it can be operated with single hand. It was reported used by a person recovered after stroke, with limitted strength in one hand and some motion limitation.

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Thanks to all replies above; it certainly sounds like occasional water / snow / ice with a good tripod is no longer an issue (lots of old Gito threads talked about cardboard based locking getting frozen).

 

I love the idea of a decent wooden tripod: indeed I love well manufactured wood of anytype. It is something I will look into further. I wonder when tripods will be built like airplane wings using lightweight honeycomb material?

 

The inverted legs of the Neotec idea is great... much easier to adjust. I wonder why it was not adopted by the world-and-wife? Perhaps there is a restriction of torsional stability with the upper legs being thinner? Just a pity the tripod weighs in at 2.4kg.

http://www.manfrotto.com/Jahia/site/manfrotto/cache/off/pid/2280?livid=68|69&idx=72

 

So thanks for all info and opening my eyes more.

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