Hakuba Carbon Fiber Tripods

I'm interested in one of the smaller (& cheaper) carbon fiber tripods.

I see Hakuba has a couple that seem to fit my needs, but I can't tell

whether there's much difference between them: the 504MX and the

6240C. The former comes with a pan/tilt head, has a split center

column, and has foam collars around the legs, for about $10 more. Any

other differences? Can the head on the 504MX be removed, to replace

it with a ball head?

jef,

 

i'm going to give this my best shot by describing to you my worst-case

scenario with a Hakuba 6240C i recently purchased and have used now

perhaps a dozen times.

 

i mounted a large leica ball-head on this tripod,and on this an F100,

a TC-E 1.4, and a 300 AFS f4 lens. i wedged a doo-hickey rubber thing

between the lens and tripod leg to better stabilise the lens and with this done i can go slower than 1/60 for a crisp image. with the lens now better stabilised, the competence of the tripod/head comes into play.

 

the tripod is very good. the head is very good. while i don't feel that i'm coming to the end of the capacity of this rig with

this kind of weight, i would be reluctant to go much heavier with it.

the 6240C is rated at 25 pounds, the ball-head i don't know, but it

definitely feels solid enough and locks down tight.

 

if you believe as i do that you get what you pay (for camera support

systems, at any rate) then the Hakuba 6240C is a good value. and the

leica ball-head is a good value.

 

there are better tripod/head combinations and they are more costly

for the initial outlay.

 

the 504MX i know nothing about. good hunting.

I was told by a trusted associate with Gitzo/Manfrotto that some of the less expensive sources of CF tripods use a cheaper form of Carbon Fiber that can transmit more vibration than desired.

From my familiarity with Carbon Fiber as a bicycle frame material, I can confirm that the manner in which the material is manufacured, and fiber grain oriented, has a direct bearing on its vibration damping charachteristics.

I'm not familiar with the CF tripods, neither with the specific type of carbon fiber and lay out or "weaving or its fibers in a particular model, but I am familiar with carbon fiber used in fishing rods of all kinds and all types of carbons and that is true. Carbon fiber has a desirable(for fisherman) property: it can transmite vibrations quite easy and accurately.

It will be interesting to find out how this is prevented on tripods.

6240C is a good pod, had mine about 3 years, no problems, didn't come with the foam pads. Don't know about the 504MX. I use mine with a pretty heavy combo too...F5 + 80-200/2.8AF-D + Flash with a Kirk BH-1 and it's solid and reliable.

I fish a lot too and have used many types of rods over the past 20 years and i believe there are graphite rods (or blanks) (even had one with boron) but havent used a carmon fiber rod ever.

 

IMHO places like adorama and b&h dont sell the higher end hakuba cf, CF Mg and alum. prof tripods because it will certainly undercut on $500 Gitzo CF tripod sales, a lot.

 

I use the expensive gitzo CF 1348 tripod every week. yes it was expensive, yes it looks sexy, yes it dampens vibrations and its stiff supportive and light. But i have had 2 leg locks get stuck and fail so its not a perfect tripod by any menas but its excellent. And of course its extremely easy to get rido of on ebay i mean auctions go nutz on Gitzo CF tripods! people end up paying about $30 less than what i paid new for a tripod that someone used a good deal!