Feisol 3441s vs. Giottos Vitruvian

[tomazkunst]

<p>Hello,<br>

after reading many posts on this forum and checking a lot of websites, I came to the difficult choice between two compact tripods, one being Feisol CT 3441s(or t), the other Giottos Vitruvian 8255; both will be needed for travel/trekking purposes, less for the other.<br>

I am aware of additional built-in monopod benefit of Giottos, but since nowhere in Slovenia, as well as nearby cities of Austria and Italy the physiscal comparison is not possible, I would like to ask the photo.net members if they have any experience with them (or slightly different models of the same brands, not other types of Feisol or Giottos), to make decision between brands easier. Many people decided to purchase on or the other, unfortuneately I cannot find any post about their satisfaction with the choice.<br>

Giottos comes with a ballhead included, which will probably need a later replacement with Markins (probably QEmille), for the start with Feisol I consider Manfrottos 460MG head. The choice of head is actually not a consideration here, as one of Markins heads is the nearest end-type. Camera Nikon D200, with 18-200 VR the longest lens. <br>

Thanks for the answers in advance<br>

Tomaz</p>

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[bob_salomon]

<p>Tomaz,<br>

The Giottos VGR (Vitruvian) tripods are a reverse fold design and the head is completely between the legs when they are reversed for storage. The head does not stick out beyond the legs when folded. This means that there are very few heads which will fit between the folded legs and still let the legs fold as they are designed to.<br>

If this does not matter to you then you can replace the head with any one you like. But you will not find any heads that are smoother in operation or have the same features at the same size as the Giottos head on the VGR tripod.<br>

I use the Canon 5D MKII with the battery grip (with both batteries) and lenses up to the 28 to 300mm L from Canon on the VGR with the 5400 head with no problems. And that includes using it in Dubrovnik, northern Italy and the Greek islands as well as several Central American countrie and Mexico. It works fine and is easy to carry. I use the aluminum 5 section version, the VGR9265 with the M2C head (MH5400-656). It is 1/2 pound heavier then the CF version VGR8265. I prefer the larger diameter legs on the VGR since those have retractible spikes and the larger leg is stronger. In CF the difference between the 8255 and the 8265 is 0.9lb. It also comes with the stronger head.</p>

 

[tomazkunst]

<p>Than you Bob for the response; I agree that stronger is better, but the decisive factor is weight, as I will mostly carry tripod in the mountains. Smaller one (8225, I think) is too small, I had Cullmans Magic2 tripod which was flat when folded, and fully streched and without center column extended it was pretty stable. Small and lightweight, but with digital cameras it was not strong enough (and the legs stopped to stretch now).<br>

Thanks for information about the heads, as Vitruvian is somehow my favorite (based on internet information, of course); I will reconsider about VGR 8265, though.</p>

<p>Thanks again Tomaz</p>