Acratech GP-S & Feisol CT-3442

Randy,

Some belated thanks for posting your thoughtful review with good images. I just ordered a GP-s ballhead and was agonizing over the Feisol CT-3442 or the Gitzo GT2541.

Your review answered a lot of my questions about the Feisol, especially about how well will this tripod fold over the GP-s head with no center post.

I have some questions:

Did you buy the Feisol center post? If you did, how well do the legs fold in that configuration?

How good is that free bag the tripod came in?

In my situation, I plan on looking at the Gitzo and seeing if the quality is worth the $300 extra bucks.

I never seen a Feisol tripod, but, do own an older Feisol monopod that has held up great for me.

Lastly, how stable is this tripod/GP-s combination for you? What's the heaviest lens did you use?

Thanks,
Marcos

You're welcome Marcos.

I didn't pick up the center column, so I'm afraid I can't help there. I strongly suspect it would fold up fine with it though. But that's just a guess.

The free bag is fine for what it is. There's not a heck of a lot of padding, but I don't find that a bother. In the name of full disclosure: I'm a Domke / Billingham user, so I tend to think of padding as over rated. It's far from the best bag out there, but it's decent enough. I suspect if anything gives out it will be the zippers. Time will tell. The side pocket is large enough for me to keep some allen wrenches and a nodal rail in there. I'm pretty sure that if you wanted to spend the money it wouldn't be hard to find a nicer one.

In all honesty, I'd never seen a Feisol tripod in person until mine arrived. I was VERY pleasantly surprised. Even though I don't own a Gitzo, I've always really liked (and coveted) them. And I still do. But now that I have the Feisol I'm no so sure they're worth so much more money. This is back to that old seeing if I have problems over time thing. I can see where it might have issues where the legs attach, but not being a structural engineer I'm not sure there's really any sort of potential problem there.

There are a couple spots where it looks more poorly built than the Gitzo, but does that mean it's weak there, or that the Gitzo may be a bit of overkill? Dunno. From all user reports I've read on the Feisols, I don't think there's going to be an issue.

It's been perfectly stable for my needs so far. I think focal length is more important than weight - it's actually quite hard to exceed the weight rating of these things. Ten Kilograms is a LOT of grams for a camera & lens. The two largest lenses I've used it with have been a 300/4 & a 70-200/2.8. No problems, no worries.

I wouldn't hesitate to use a 400/2.8 on it and if someone want's to send one my way I'll gladly write up how it works out.

I've taken both apart, and frankly, I'm more impressed by the Feisol engineering. I've beat my 3441T around a bit and over almost two years, have not had issues.

RandyS wrote in post #13960977
You're welcome Marcos.

The free bag is fine for what it is. There's not a heck of a lot of padding, but I don't find that a bother. In the name of full disclosure: I'm a Domke / Billingham user, so I tend to think of padding as over rated. .

There are a couple spots where it looks more poorly built than the Gitzo, but does that mean it's weak there, or that the Gitzo may be a bit of overkill? Dunno. From all user reports I've read on the Feisols, I don't think there's going to be an issue.

It's been perfectly stable for my needs so far. I think focal length is more important than weight - it's actually quite hard to exceed the weight rating of these things. Ten Kilograms is a LOT of grams for a camera & lens. The two largest lenses I've used it with have been a 300/4 & a 70-200/2.8. No problems, no worries.

You're a "Domke user"?? I loved my Domke messenger-style bags (804, 803). Unfortunately, I'm not too happy about Domke's latest bags. I'm currently using Think Tank Pro Retrospective 20 and 30 and missing the simple hook arrangement instead of the velcro.

My worry with the Feisol was based on older threads/reviews about Feisol tripod constantly breaking down, requiring parts from the factory to keep it going. However, I believe that was back before the current generation of non-rotating legs came out. Hopefully the quality issues remain a thing of the past.

The heaviest lens I plan on using is a 70-200/2.8 and 400/5.6.

FWIW, I just received my GP-s ballhead today with that new lever style quick release clamp. I really love the engineering of Acratech stuff. A friend of mine owns the GP; I'm really glad I bought the GP-s for the reasons you pointed out. If you haven't seen it, the lever has a safety that requires you to pinch the lever tip to make it move.

I plan on checking out the Gitzo and maybe Induro tripods at the local camera store tomorrow to see how heavy/sturdy those tripods are. I figure the Feisol will be lighter and maybe a little less sturdy that the Gitzo. Hopefully that'll be enough to judge what the Feisol's performance will probably be for me.


- Marcos

tvphotog wrote in post #13961251
I've taken both apart, and frankly, I'm more impressed by the Feisol engineering. I've beat my 3441T around a bit and over almost two years, have not had issues.

Interesting. When you took apart the Gitzo and Feisol, was that out of curiosity or to fix something?

In any event, I'm really close to pulling the trigger on the Feisol.

marcosv wrote in post #13962671
Interesting. When you took apart the Gitzo and Feisol, was that out of curiosity or to fix something?

In any event, I'm really close to pulling the trigger on the Feisol.

I was cleaning the legs of both after using them at the beach. The lowest locks got gritty.

It's a very simple process, but I was able to see how each was constructed. Gitzo uses a collet to grip the leg on tightening. It was cracked in a couple places such that I couldn't easily remove it for cleaning. This problem was mentioned in a thread about a year ago. Despite the cracking, there is no problem with continued function and good tightening. It's not something that requires replacement, only a commentary on the design.

Feisol uses several interlocking collets, all of which were in good shape when I cleaned and reassembled them. There are instructions for that in my review.

tvphotog wrote in post #13964145
It's a very simple process, but I was able to see how each was constructed. Gitzo uses a collet to grip the leg on tightening. It was cracked in a couple places such that I couldn't easily remove it for cleaning. This problem was mentioned in a thread about a year ago. Despite the cracking, there is no problem with continued function and good tightening. It's not something that requires replacement, only a commentary on the design.

Feisol uses several interlocking collets, all of which were in good shape when I cleaned and reassembled them. There are instructions for that in my review.

Thanks for elaborating and the link. Very interesting. Makes me want to see how my friend's Gitzo Basalt Series 2 is put together...

One of the perks to having no center column, is when you find something down on the ground you want to get your camera close to. A rig like this gets down to about 10.5" from the ground to the bottom of the camera.

RandyS wrote in post #13965179
One of the perks to having no center column, is when you find something down on the ground you want to get your camera close to. A rig like this gets down to about 10.5" from the ground to the bottom of the camera.

All set up for taking stitched panoramic shots. The clamp comes off the top of the head so you can put it on the 'bottom' of the panoramic base. (shown w/ a Kirk rail)

Nice. What rail are you using in the second picture?

FWIW, I just played with the Gitzo at the local camera store today. Their copy had problems with the clamps in one of the legs; one of the locks looked a bit cracked compared to the others and reminded me of tvphotog's comments on his.

So I'll be pulling the trigger on the Feisol later this week.

That's the Kirk LRP-1 Long Rail Plate.

RandyS wrote in post #13966951
That's the Kirk LRP-1 Long Rail Plate.

That looks really promising. I just started researching rails for panaramics and macro use. The Kirk plate is $75 cheaper than the pano rail that Acratech sells (although I wonder if the adjustable stops on the Acratech would allow for faster setup for pano applications).

Another question: ever look into Feisol's leveling base? I know I could flip the GP-s ballhead upside down, but, I wonder if the leveling base's performance is good enough not to make the tripod less stable.

I was looking at the Acratech rail, and yea - the stops would make it faster to set up. But it wouldn't be by all that much - you'd be shaving a fraction of a second off of a fraction of a second. You need to judge for yourself if that's worth $75.

The Kirk rail has a numbered scale on it. I slip the rail into the clamp, aligning the "5" with the front edge of the clamp for the 50/1.4 and turn the clamp knob 1/2 turn - done. Takes something less than a second to line up the rail where it goes and tighten the clamp.

I've thought about the leveling bases. As far as function, it really doesn't seem like it would be any better than what I'm doing now. Maybe if I just left the base on the tripod all the time it would save me the time of moving the clamp, which I'll admit is a bit of a pain (but only a bit). But then I'd be taking this 3.2lb rig and adding something like another 1/2 lb to it. Not exactly what I had in mind when I picked this tripod and head up.


ETA: For what it's worth, the laser engraving on the Acratech rail is MUCH nicer than the scale on the Kirk.

RandyS wrote in post #13968003
The Kirk rail has a numbered scale on it. I slip the rail into the clamp, aligning the "5" with the front edge of the clamp for the 50/1.4 and turn the clamp knob 1/2 turn - done. Takes something less than a second to line up the rail where it goes and tighten the clamp.

Hmmm... You make good points. It sounds like the scale on the Kirk rail should be good enough to do without the stops of the Acratech.

Hey Marcos -

I just found (looking through the 'Market Watch' forum) another maker for rails. The guys in Market watch had high praise for the lens plates from this site and the prices are good. It's certainly worth at least a look.

The GP series heads work nicely for (single row) panoramic shots.