Tripod and Head Advice

<p>Hi,<br>

I'm in the market for a tripod and head and am looking for a little advice. I've done a fair bit of research online and have narrowed it down to something in the Gitzo Mountaineer range. My interests are wildlife, scenery and architecture in that order, and want something good, light and easy to carry about. I'm planning on doing a lot of traveling with it over the next year or two, so convenience is important.<br>

I'm shooting with a Canon Eos 400D, my lenses are Canon EF-S 10-22 USM, Canon EF 28-135 USM and I'm going to buy a Canon EF 100-400 USM pretty soon.<br>

I'm a little uncertain as to which of the Gitzo mountaineer models would be most suitable for me, so all suggestions appreciated.<br>

Now heads. Beyond thinking a ball head is the most suitable for what I want, I'm really in the dark on this. I want to get something good, that I won't be looking to upgrade in a year. I see Arca are highly regarded, but don't know if it will integrate well with the Gitzo. Is it better to stick with a Gitzo head? As I've said I'm pretty confused on the issue of heads, so all pointers will be very helpful!</p>

<p>cheers,<br>

Mark</p>

<p>The longer the focal length, the stiffer the tripod needed. In your case, that's 400mm, which would ordinarily suggest a series #3 tripod or larger. You might get by with a #2 size tripod on a still day and a bit of luck.</p>

<p>Ball heads are desirable for a few features. They are very compact, with no handles to snag on branches or jab you as you walk. A good head allows you to tighten the ball just enough to allow you to point the camera and shoot a picture without taking your hands off the camera. You only lock it up for long exposures or when you have to let go of the camera. A poor quality head tends to stick and slip, making it difficult or impossible to make fine adjustments. Finally, the Arca-Swiss style of clamp and beveled plate makes the most secure and versatile quick release.</p>

<p>The dividing line between good heads and garbage is about $300.</p>

<p>Wouldn't comment on the legs, but the head. Acratech GP2, fantastic head and fits your lenses and interests well. Does stitched pans easily, works as a regular ballhead perfectly, and will work very well with the 100-400 as a gimbal head. It also weighs very little so travel is a breeze. It is so well made you won't consider upgrading in 5 years :-)</p>

<p>I have had mine a little over 2 months and it is the best head I have had by far, very versatile and light, it holds my 1Ds MkIII and 300 f2.8 in the gimbal mode very well but your 100-400 should be a perfect match. You don't have to use the gimbal mode for teles either. Using the leveling base feature is cool too, why didn't anybody else think of that?</p>

<p>Pretty much any head will go on any leg set, they are totally separate, makers of legs don't make the best heads.</p>

<p>Hope this helps, Scott.</p>

<p>The Gitzo Mountaineer will work well with any quality head, and this generally holds for all trip legsets. Gitzo does have a Traveler series, designed to reduce folded length for packing, in which the legs can enclose the head. This feature may not work with some heads. The Arca-Swiss Z1, particularly the double-pan version, should suit your needs nicely. Arca-Swiss offers versions with two clamping methods. Preferences differ, but the version with the traditional, screw-based quick release will work safely with a greater variety of plates than the flip-lock version.</p>

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<p>Many thanks for the replies. You guys have mentioned plates. Do these come with the head, or are they a separate purchase?</p>

<p>Mark</p>

 

</p>

<p>just to confirm, a gitzo will work with any tripod head that has the same size screw mount. i'd recommend at least a series 3 set of legs with your lenses. one of the tripods i own a series 2, and it's pretty small to be putting a 100-400 on it. i use a gitzo bubble-ball head on it, which is nice. the ball has a large surface area, without much weight, and it clamps down very well. i've never tried an arca-swiss head, because it seems like overkill for me (i have a big tripod for my 4x5 camera), but i don't think you could go wrong with one.</p>

<p>some people insist on getting travel-sized tripods, but i've flown without trouble with an old tiltall tripod, which is slightly larger than most gitzos. i personally prefer a 3-section tripod, and if possible, i only extend the leg-second sections. whatever you get, it's hard to go wrong with gitzo. their leg-locking system works like a dream, and it's a sturdy setup. have some fun with it!</p>

<p>just saw your post about plates. quick release heads should come with one. you can purchase additional plates as well for your other camera bodies. check the item description to be certain.</p>

<p>Quick release plates attach to your camera or to the tripod foot of longer lenses, and are grabbed by the quick-release clamp on the head. Many photographers simply leave the plate on their cameras and lenses all the time.</p>

<p><em>... quick release heads should come with one (plate).</em></p>

<p>Arca-Swiss heads don't come with plates, and I don't think any of the heads recommended above do. The best plates are those designed for a particular camera, and a plate included with a ball head wouldn't be likely to be fitted for your camera. Among the best plate makers are Really Right Stuff (RRS), Kirk Photo, and Markins. They also make excellent ball heads, which many photographers (not me) prefer to the Arca-Swiss.</p>

<p>You really can't go wrong with Gitzo or Manfrotto legsets. As far as ballheads go, the Arca-Swiss brand heads strike me as overpriced. Better to go with Acratech, Kirk, Markins or Really Right Stuff. A recent dark horse seems to be the Giottos heads w/the Arca-Swiss QR system. At about $165 street this seems to be a pretty good midrange head, but in general the line between good and garbage is around $250 - $300.</p>

<p>The screw clamps (old style) are compatible with more plates than the QR lever style clamps (I wonder why?) so are probably a better bet. Get plates which are made to fit your body and/or lenses. You can leave them on all the time so attaching your equipment to the tripod is a very quick and easy operation. In addition the custom fit plates are designed to resist twisting forces once your equipment is mounted on the head, more important than you might think if the head is not set up in an entirely loose configuration (trust me, this sucks). </p>

<p>Most of my experience has been with Kirk heads (BH-1, and two modified Kaiser heads) and the BH-1 is a great head. The two modified Kaisers were also nice heads, and you can still buy the unmodified versions, but the Arca-Swiss instead of the standard mount made them much better. I used a small Giottos head on a Manfrotto monopod and it was a fine little (and the operative word is little) ballhead.</p>

<p>That's great stuff guys, thankyou. I have a much clearer idea in my head what I need!<br>

Mark</p>

<p>Just to clarify, I choose the plate specific for the camera model, rather than the tripod or head model?</p>

<p>Mark</p>

<p>Mark,</p>

<p>It can be a bit overwhelming but yes, plates are separate again. To compress the issue, the "best" common legsets are made by Bogen/Manfrotto (others can compete but these are the two/one big players).The best heads are made by many different companies to many varied designs that work for specific applications (panning heads, gimbal heads and the most common ball head), I have an Acratech but there are several very good ones. The Arca type clamp is the industry standard for connecting things to the head. Several leading companies make a variety of plates to attach to the heads (RRS (I have these) Kirk, Acratech etc), they can be camera plates, either flat or L plates, that attach to your bodies tripod screw, lens plates that attach to longer lenses with their own tripod clamps, macro rails etc etc.</p>

<p>It seems daunting and wasteful but the best way to look at it is as a real investment, the legs first, the head second, the plates for your lenses and bodies third. Research each as a separate entity in a complete system. Once you have it all and you are set then you will realise why, it really does all work and is efficient.</p>

<p>Heya, <br>

I'm circling around anything close to a decision here, but I wanted to fly this idea!<br>

As I said, I have a 10-22 and a 28-135 and am planning on getting a 100-400. The 100-400 is for shooting wildlife on Safari trips. From what I gather, the opportunity to use a tripod in these circumstances are few and far between. Hand shooting and beanbags being the norm. While open to correction on this, I expect the tripod will be mainly for night shooting, scenery shooting and a little bit of historical architecture, for which I would expect to be using the two smaller lenses.<br>

My next question is, with the 100-400 zoom, would a series 2 Gitzo be enough to support it up to 300mm extension? Or is it just the bulk of the lense at any extension that requires a series 3?<br>

Essentially what I'm working toward is, would a traveller series 2 be enough for me? Both the series 2 and 3 are within my budget, so that isn't the issue for me. I don't want to buy a tripod that's never going to leave the closet because it's too heavy and bulky. In addition to taking it on flights, I will be humping it around on long treks, so I really want something that I will be happy carrying with me everywhere I go. If the series three is manageable, then there's no issue, but the series 3 is about 22cm longer when folded up, which strikes me as a lot!<br>

Any more pointers you can give me are much appreciated!<br>

Mark</p>

<p>Ok Mark,</p>

<p>I recently decided to totally upgrade my support. I was a die-hard hand held shooter but I wanted to do some very detailed HDR images, I only say this because I just did all the research that you are now trying to do. I wanted to go traveling with a lightish but good tripod that fitted inside my carry on bag, a good head and damn the expense and a good set of plates.</p>

<p>My main thought was shorter lenses lower down, so maximum high was not a prime concern, I did want real flexibility though in the head design and gear overall. I have a long heavy lens but other support for that, but it would be nice if the new gear would work with it as well, I wanted to be able to do stitching so plates had to give me the extension to the entry/nodal point of the lens. Again I only say all this because it mirrors some of your own priorities and the added capability can't hurt.</p>

<p>I ended up with a Manfrotto 190XProB, a reasonable legset that will easily take your gear (mine is much heavier), it fits in a carry on sized bag (60cm closed length maximum legally allowed in carry on) and the center column extends out to make macro and flat field work a doddle. It is a very cheap set but very good, I don't know if they make a carbon version, if they do I would get one, (there wasn't one in the shop when I bought mine otherwise I would have). It goes plenty high enough too.</p>

<p>Next I got the Acratech GP ballhead, I did this for several reasons, it fitted in with my stitched panos with its self leveling ability, it works with long lenses (your 100-400 is pretty much what the gimbal feature was designed for) even if you don't intend to use it for that very often, it is very light, it is easily capable of taking the weight etc. All in all a very high quality and flexible piece of kit that will allow you to grow in many directions. At $400 it is not cheap but it is well worth it and the legs, though excellent, saved a little cash.</p>

<p>Next I got the RRS plates, now I could have gone mad but in my desire to keep it all for traveling and getting the most flexibility, I got a plate for my camera and a MPR-192 rail and a mini clamp set. This gives me outstanding flexibility, for all my lenses and bodies. I got a flat camera plate but will get an L bracket in the future.</p>

<p>Now if you follow my kind of thought process, I cannot recommend this set highly enough for your preferences. A Manfrotto 190XProB, (in Carbon if you have the money and they do one). Acratech GP ballhead, it is top quality, does everything very well is very light etc. If you hate it you can resell it for 90% of the cost anyway! The RRS plates for the 400D and the 100-400. Again they are top quality, very light and are made with a system in mind, if you decide macro, or stitching, or any of a multitude of other specialisations, is the way to go in the future the RRS plates can accommodate that. A very rounded package.</p>

<p>I ended up taking mine traveling, I did take the tripod everywhere, I never regretted it and got some stunning photos.</p>

<p>Hope this helps, Scott.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Many thanks, that sounds like exactly what i'm after!</p>

<p>Mark</p>

<p>I have been extremely happy with an Arca Swiss Z1 with Really Right Stuff Lever Quick Release. Other than making sure the clamps are compatible (easy to do), this works easily with Nikon's 200/4 macro (your 100-400 is just 16% heavier). I use a Gitzo GT2541EX and feel it could easily handle much, much more weight. The clamps are perfectly made and work flawlessly.</p>

<p>If I were using an extremely heavy lens like the 200-400/4 Nikor, I would get a Wimberely Gimbal Head and put it on a separate tripod and look it as part of the cost of getting the lens.</p>