Tripod Shopping - Dynatran Or Giottos?

[Twitch1977]

I'm in the market for a tripod, I'll need to find legs and a head. Most of my shooting will be landscapes, some macro, maybe some wildlife, portait but not a lot. I have the Rebel XTi camera currentley with no heavy lenses. It'll be a long time before I can afford any of the heavy L lenses, but perhaps the 70-200L f4 might be something I can swing so I'd want a setup that can accomodate that and a little room for growth.

I live up in Saskatchewan, Canada so I'm really hoping to get a carbon fiber tripod as it'd be a lot easier on my hands in the winter. I don't have any real hard and fast set budget at the moment, but if I could get the legs and head for under $300 CDN I'd be a happy camper.

I've bid on a couple Dynatran 994 kits on ebay, first time I bid $160USD, second time $180USD and lost them both. By the time shipping and taxes are thrown on I'd bet getting close to the budget line.

Also on ebay they have several Giottos tripods that would ship from Canada. They have the carbon fiber 8160 and 8170 as well as the aluminum 9160 (8160 equivalent specs). The giottos are pretty heavy but can support a lot of weight. (The 9160 is around $140CDN, the 8160 $230CDN and the 8170 $250CDN)

For the head I'm thinking the Manfrotto 486RC2.

I guess what I'm wondering is can anyone recommend any of these or rule them out? Are there any alternatives that I should be looking at? I've been considering the Manfrotto 055pro and the 486rc2 but that would probably go past my current budget ideas. For those of you with carbon fiber tripods do you feel it is worth the extra money over aluminum? I've searched around the forum here the Dynatrans seem to be reasonably well respected but there's not much info out there on the giottos.

Any help would certainly be appreciated,
Kurt

[enigma]

I don't mean to hi-jack the thread, but I am also shopping for a tripod. My parameters are similar to yours, so I thought we might benefit from a wider set of suggestions with a common thread. Twitch, let me know if you want me to start a separate thread. Thanks!

Areas of use: Primarily landscapes. I do not shoot a lot in cold weather. Secondary use is indoors/portraits.

Requirements: Reasonabley lightweight since I will be carrying it around in the bush for hours, often with the camera mounted. It must be sturdy even at 6 feet. I will use a 30D sometimes with semi-heavy glass (like the EF-200mm 2.8 L). It's a plus if it has one of those hooks on which you can hang your bag, to steady the tripod.

Specific questions: Do you always buy the tripod and head separately? I see many tripods with ball heads etc. What are the general dos/don'ts? How much should I pay?

Thanks a lot for guiding me throught the tripod djungle!

[JNunn]

I own a couple of Dynatrans, a small CF81 and a CF902 monopod. Both are good products. The monpod in particular is one of the best available in CF and cost me all of $55.00 shipped. Others have gotten it cheaper. The CF81, I purchased for hiking and is extremely light weight - not nearly as sturdy as the CF94 you bid on. If I were you, I'd keep bidding. It beats paying $300 for a tripod when you're not sure of the features you'll want or need.

If you get to a camera store and tryout a few, you'll find the Manfrotto you mentioned (a great tripod by the way) and likely Gitzo. The same company owns both brands, but the Gitzo brand is generally considered superior. [I've had both and that's how I see it too.] Gitzos are about the lightest, strongest tripods around. The Gitzo model that is comparable to the 055 manfrotto, weighs about 2 lbs less! On the downside, it also costs almost twice as much.

I don't care for their ball heads though. The best IMHO are Arca-Swiss, Kirk, RRS, among a few others. They are really heavy duty, are machined to very high tolerances and hold when set. They are also generally rated for higher weights than those offered by Gitzo and Manfrotto.

There is a new brand out which is made in China called Benro. I ordered a tripod from them as the Gitzo equivalent was about $525.00. Its their top of the line at the SLR/Medium format duty rating and cost me about $300.00. They have a complete line of tripods aluminum, CF, and Basalt at varying prices. I also have two of their ball heads. Can't be beat for the $. They are basically equivalent to Gitzo for half the price.

[SkipD]

Kurt - for use on a tripod, the 488RC2 is far superior to the 486RC2. It will hold more weight off center without creeping and it has the separate release to allow you to pan horizontally without loosening the main ball.

I use a 486RC2 on my monopod where it really shines.

[Twitch1977]

Thanks for the replies guys. I've been bidding on a few Dynatran's but haven't managed to win any of them yet but hopefully next week I can get one. I'll definetely see if I can find a good price on the 488rc2 instead of the 486. Having a good option for panning would be handy.

Anyone have any opinions on the giottos?


Thanks,
kurt

[badams]

I've got a dynatran AT-828, not CF. Mine weighs like 10 pounds. It's heavy but is sturdy and I love the pistol grip head, it has made my tripod usage alot better than the pan/tilt heads.

[BradS]

Thanks for the replies guys. I've been bidding on a few Dynatran's but haven't managed to win any of them yet but hopefully next week I can get one.

Twitch, I found www.auctionsniper.com (http://www.auctionsniper.com) to be a valuable tool for winning eBay bids on items that are listed under multiple item numbers. You can set up BidGroups for a number of the currently posted items, then enter either identical or unique high-bid amounts you'll pay for each auction.

With about 8 seconds remaining in each auction, the program will attempt to bid to the maximum amount you've set. If it wins a bid, the program automatically cancels the remaining auctions in the BidGroup you've set up.

I set up a BidGroup for a Dynatran tripod and won the 6th auction of 10. In my case, I set up a gradually escalating price for each of the auctions, but you could just establish the maximum price to be used for every individual auction.

Another nice feature is to have AuctionSniper send you an SMS or email with auction status, allowing you to set up the BidGroup and just monitor the action remotely.

Good luck!

[tumblew33d]

Twitch, I found www.auctionsniper.com (http://www.auctionsniper.com) to be a valuable tool for winning eBay bids on items that are listed under multiple item numbers. You can set up BidGroups for a number of the currently posted items, then enter either identical or unique high-bid amounts you'll pay for each auction.


I second that, it worked for me. Much better than Ebay's proxy bid system and as it's online, it doesn't require that your PC is switched on, like Auction Sentry.

[Twitch1977]

I'll check those out, I've been using a freeware sniping app called JBidWatcher, maybe christmas is sending the prices up I dunno, but with all the good things I'm hearing about these tripods I'm almost at the point of just putting in a huge bid that's almost sure to win just so I can get one of these and be done my tripod shopping. :)

Thanks guys,
Kurt

[tweatherred]

I have the Giottos 8180 legs and have been very happy with them. The weak spot is that the leg locks that keep the legs from swinging in or out are not very strong; other than that everythin locks down well and they provide a nice stable platform. I put an Acratech ballhead on them and Really Right Stuff L-brackets on my bodies and have been pleased with that setup. Although I pay attention to weight when looking at equipment, it is definitely a secondary concern; in fact, too little weight leads to instability, so I am suspiscious of anything that doesn't feel somewhat hefty.

[Twitch1977]

Just wanted to thank everyone for their help, decided on a Benro M-227n6 and bought it off ebay this morning. :D Probably will go with the manfrotto 488RC2 head or maybe one of the benro ones. From what I've read the benro ball heads are suppose to be arca 'clones' and not too bad.

Anyhow thanks again for all the help!
Kurt

[JNunn]

Just wanted to thank everyone for their help, decided on a Benro M-227n6 and bought it off ebay this morning. :D Probably will go with the manfrotto 488RC2 head or maybe one of the benro ones. From what I've read the benro ball heads are suppose to be arca 'clones' and not too bad.

Anyhow thanks again for all the help!
Kurt

That's a great tripod! The Benro heads are excellent. You should go with a KS-1 or KS-2 ball head for it. They are way better than anything Bogen/Manfrotto has. You'd have to spend about $400.00 to get anything really comparable (Kirk or Arca Swiss). I've got the Benro C298 and KS-1 and KS-2 ball heads (I liked the KS-2 so much, I got a KS-1 for my Dynatran monopod).

[I Simonius]

I'm in the market for a tripod,

Any help would certainly be appreciated,
Kurt

Dunno about te ones you mentioned but I have the Gitzo 1257 and cannot recommend it highly enough

With your set up you could get away with the 1157 or whatever the next lightesti te range is called, but I hate wheight and the 1257 is perfectly portable for me. Te beauty of it is that it is also very stable. Gitzo also have the highest reputation.

On the cheapo side I believe Velbon also do CF tripods and actually I was tempted but in the end went with what I know ( had a Gitzo long time ago)