support system review (for people like me)

blonde wrote in post #3090828
well, i don't think that i am qualified enough to talk about plates etc.. becasue i just used the wimberely ones. if any of you want to do a review on that one, feel free

I'll write something up on Wednesday or so when my second L bracket comes in. I have a RRS L plate for my XTi now, and one for the 5D on order. I had one on the 1DmII but will go w/o on the 1D as it will never see a tripod. If you do a lot of tripod work (I do), especially when doing a lot of landscape and portrait shots, then the L brackets are well worth the extra $$$. This is because you never have to "flop" your head over for a portrait shot which it awesome. It always made me very nervous flopping my camera and lens over because the CG is now well to the side of the tripod and it could tip over. Add to the the fact that switching orientation takes 3 seconds versus 15 and it's a huge time save. I also like the "roll cage" look even though it weights more. The only issue is the cost being $140 per for a L ...

Here you can see the 1 series L w/o the camera (looking at it from what would be the front of the camera if it were there):

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thanks Ben. i am not sure if you want to put it in the original review but let me know and i can update the original post.

Snir, good, common sense info. Worth reading for anyone considering a tripod purchase. Tripods seem to be one of the accesories that people try to cut corners on. Better to do it right the first time, rather than learn the hard way.

Just got done reading your 500 review, and now you post another excellent piece of writing.

As to L plates, I've contemplated getting one, but just don't want that huge thing all around my camera. It's not that often that I drop the camera into one of the dropouts on my RRS 55 ballhead, so don't know if it's worth $185. The bottom plate is a permanent fixture on my camera. I don't even notice it's there.

mark

I got here reading your other tripod threads. The Markins Q3 ballhead is absolutely magnificent for smaller setups up to 1-4 or Bigma 50-500 size. I love the Q3 because it is so amazingly small. Apparently my dealer has even tried loading up a Wimberley Sidekick and 300/2.8 on it, although that's not really recommended.

My earlier heads had some drift with a 1D and 100-400 when angled off axis at 45 deg, which makes the setup very rear-heavy. Glad to report zero drift with the Q3.

You already have the M20 though, which is the be-all-end-all in the Markins series. I would probably adopt the M20 and a Gitzo 3540 if I ever had to handle the supertele's, but for just about everything else, my 'light' rig of a Q3 and a Gitzo 1530 should do the job just fine.

Ideally, I would deploy two setups - the big Gitzo and big Markins for the supertele's, and my small setup for everything else. As I have no superteles and no plans to adopt any, the small setup will be everything for me.

actually, i was thinking of going with 2 tripod setup with my Gitzo 1325 + full Wimberley for my 500 f4 and a manfrotto 3021 with a Kirk BH3 or marking Q3 for everyday use.

Great review, thanks for putting this together!

Is there a tripod/ball head or other combo that is light for bushwalking and travelling, but can handle a heavy load as well? There are light CF tripods, but can they handle say a 500mm?

yabbie wrote in post #4017295
Great review, thanks for putting this together!

Is there a tripod/ball head or other combo that is light for bushwalking and travelling, but can handle a heavy load as well? There are light CF tripods, but can they handle say a 500mm?

I'll let snir handle the 500 portion of the question as I don't have one (want!!!) but the acratech heads should really be considered as a light ball head. They're a lot lighter than all the other options from the specs you can find online. They also hold an incredible amount. Their greaseless design is perfect for hiking because you don't need to worry about it getting dirty. I use the acratech ultimate with a gitzo carbon leg set and love it. Super light and very solid. If you need added "weight" to the legs, but want to carry the lightest setup, look at getting an apron and loading it with whatever is around when it's time to shoot. Rocks, water (in bottles), camera gear, whatever. It's a better solution than a heavy tripod because you'll actually take it with you. Heavy tripods tend to live in the trunk in my experience.

Yabbie, a good quality light CF tripod will handle the 500. i use a Gitzo 3530LSV and it handles my 500 without a problem. the problem is that a good quality CF tripod is expensive but in my own opinion they are worth it.

Thanks for the advice guys,

Heavy doesn't do it for me either, I'd never use it. I'd rather pay a bit more, and have something that I'll use all the time.

An acratek head to go with the cf gitzo tripod? I know nothing about what goes on the top of tripods, never used or played with ballheads whatever else there are.
An apron sounds like a great idea.

well, how it works is that you choose the tripod itself (legs) and than you can choose a head to put on it. in my own experience, an apron is rarely needed but it does sound like something that might be useful in very windy days. as for what head you should go with, there are many great option depending on how much gear you need to put on it, price you are willing to pay, weight you are willing to carry etc. just keep in mind that with the higher end heads that use the ARCA system (arca is a type of plate that most top companies use), you will also need to budget extra money for extra plates and body plate. if you want to do some research, you can start by looking at the following companies:

bogen/manfrotto
Really Right Stuff (RRS)
Arcatech
Arca Swiss
Markins
Kirk Photo

just go to google or right here and you should be able to find great info on heads and tripods.

blonde wrote in post #4022816
in my own experience, an apron is rarely needed but it does sound like something that might be useful in very windy days. a

From me the apron is awesome for normal working conditions for filters, other lenses and crap like that... Basically another place to set gear that's closer at hand than the ground/my bag... The adding weight portion is just an added plus if it's windy, but the option is very nice to have when you need it.

But snir, I'm shooting much slower shots (~30 seconds) where any motion is much more apparent. I'd guess with what you're shooting vibrations are much less of an issue, and the camera/lens weight is probably more than enough...

blonde wrote in post #4022816
as for what head you should go with, there are many great option depending on how much gear you need to put on it, price you are willing to pay, weight you are willing to carry etc. just keep in mind that with the higher end heads that use the ARCA system (arca is a type of plate that most top companies use), you will also need to budget extra money for extra plates and body plate.

I just happen to have an acratech ultimate for sale right now.... Check my sig if you're interested!

jacobsen1 wrote in post #4024688
From me the apron is awesome for normal working conditions for filters, other lenses and crap like that... Basically another place to set gear that's closer at hand than the ground/my bag... The adding weight portion is just an added plus if it's windy, but the option is very nice to have when you need it.

But snir, I'm shooting much slower shots (~30 seconds) where any motion is much more apparent. I'd guess with what you're shooting vibrations are much less of an issue, and the camera/lens weight is probably more than enough...

that's why i always use a vest btw, i also do long exposures when i do night time landscape and again, vibration is not really a problem unless it is REALLY windy out there. plus, if it is really windy, i will just hang my bag/vest/bean bag around the head and that should solve it

Sine the topics are sort of related I figure Ill ask the question here instead of starting a new thread ( I did a search )

Does anyone know how well the Wimberley P-5 Universal plate fits the RRS Quick Release clamp? Im sure it "fits" as the RRS QR Clamp takes an Arca plate well...and the Wimberely also takes an Arca plate well. But what about the Wimberley on RRS?

Really helpful. Well written.