Gitzo carbon fiber tripods and water

[yakim_peled1]

<p> <a

href="http://www.naturescapes.net/082004/gd0804.htm">http://www.nature

scapes.net/082004/gd0804.htm</a> <b></b> </p>

<p> Not a question. Just thought you'd want to know.</p>

 

 

<p>Happy shooting, <br>

Yakim.</p>

[frank uhlig]

If you use a Berlebach wood tripod in water, ice, snow, the arctic, ... , all you need to do is hang it up to try (after wiping the mud off, of course).

 

Fiddling with all those Gitzo fittings took me about an hour a day. Before i switched to Berlebach.

 

You choose whether you want to fiddle with Gitzo gizmos or shoot early in the morning ... late at night, in salt water or desert ..

[andrew robertson]

Then again, wood tripods swell when wet and shrink when dry. Eventually they will crack.

 

Plus, they are quite buoyant and I can't imagine that you'd want to put an expensive camera

and lens on a tripod that's trying it's damnedest to breach the surface.

[Ed_Ingold]

Thank you, Yakim. This is a nice article with useful information.

 

I'd like to add that a Gitzo CF tripod becomes very difficult to operate if the two plastic bushings become contaminated with grease. First of all, the tolerances are very tight, and grease (and to some extent, water) creates an air seal. The legs become, in effect, air springs. Secondly, grease will cause the bushings to swell 2-3 thousandths of an inch, eventually jamming the legs or becoming very difficult to operate.

 

I bought a nearly new G-1227 at a bargain, apparently for this very reason. I cleaned the legset inside and out with mineral spirits to remove the grease (a shotgun swab proved effective) and replaced the plastic bushings. A set of bushings (a set of 3 for every conceivable leg size) costs about $12 from Gitzo/Bogen in the US. The tripod works like new.

 

I've had no special problems using the tripod in snow or water. Grease protects the collar threads, and the materials, including the fiber locking bushing, are impervious to water. I use a silicone/teflon grease designed for automobile brakes - there is no oil to migrate and contaminate other surfaces, and it is highly hydrophobic. (Normal grease is a mixture of metallic soap and oil, which separates in time).

 

In sand, be sure to extend the lower leg section so that the joint is not submerged in sand. Sand in the joint may scratch the legs, but is mostly an annoyance if it gets in the threads - making the operation rough. Sand is easier to prevent than to remove.

[frank uhlig]

Andrew, you know not what you are talking about.

 

Wood tripods are no more buoyant than metal ones. Berlebach wood - as long as you have not sanded it down and made pinholes into the ash legs - does not swell and shrink or crack.

 

Somewhere I did a search for tripods in the antarctic, and the only one that survived the temps, salt, ... was out of wood. The rest froze up, etc. etc.

 

Maybe you could widen your knowledge a bit before old wives telling nonsense. Sorry.

[Ed_Ingold]

Thank you, Frank. I see now the only tripod to use is a 40 inch (folded, 8 pound Berlebach - perfect for backpacking and sized to fit in checked baggage.

 

Or perhaps different people have different needs.

[stemked]

Several years ago I was in a used camera shop where they had a very od Gitzo tripod, it was green and the leg scoped backwards-meaning that the widest section of the legs was that which touched the ground. In the shop they told me it was a Gitzo tripod for water use and I recall the price of this beaten up alunium tripod in the later 1990's was somewhere in the $250 range. I can't say I've ever seen anything similar since or really know if it worked.

[craig_gillette]

And you can burn your wood tripod for heat or as a signal fire, too. Oh, those metallic 'pods might burn but it's just so much easier with the wood.

[darrell_lee1]

Best to find one made of magnesium... nice hot flame, burns underwater too... lol

[andrew robertson]

Frank, wood isn't more buoyant than metal? Sure it isn't.

 

Also, I'm sure that most people who bring their tripods outside never EVER abrade their

surfaces.

 

The Berlebach wood tripods are also heavier than carbon Gitzos.

[p_l_jensen]

"The Berlebach wood tripods are also heavier than carbon Gitzos."

 

 

Not at all. A 2.5 kg Carbon Gitzo weights the same as a 2,5kg Berlebach. The difference is that the Berlebach is more sturdy, more stable due to more effective mass coupling, cheaper and much better ergonomically. I've tried...

Berlebachs can reguarly be used in water with no maintanace necessary whatsoever. Mine stay months in my RIB and is constantly subjected to rain and seawater. My tripod heads need replacement regularly due to corrosion. My Gitzo and Manfrotto tripods had one year life span with my use. I've realised by now that My Berlebachs will last quite litterally a lifetime....