Tripods, yet another question...

Hello guys,

I have been reading a lot of posts trying to decide what tripod to buy but I have not found a final solution, please help me.

Like many people here I have a cheap one (from Best Buy) but is very heavy and is huge. Also, I went to my camera store and I was very happy because they have close to 25 different ones so I tried them all, but at the end I like many of them so that did not solve anything.

I have 550.00 dollars to expend and my needs are :

- Very short and light weight tripod.
- Able to handle 70-200mm 2.8 IS and 100-400mm IS.
- Landscapes, some macro and panos as main subjects.
- Able to be close to ground.

I would like to use that budget to buy the legs, ballhead, 2 body plates and 2 lenses plates. Also, I have not future plans to replace my lenses, maybe upgrade the camera body only.

I checked on feisol.com and the price is close to what I want:

2 x FEISOL Quick Release Plate QP-1447100
1 x FEISOL Ball Head CB-50D
2 x FEISOL Quick Release Plate QP-144750
1 x FEISOL Tournament Class four-section tripod CT-3442

Will you guys recommend me something different with that budget ? Thanks a lot...

What about the BM 055XPROB and the Markins M-20 ballhead + RRS plates?

Edit: Oh you said LIGHTWEIGHT...I thought you said SEA ANCHOR...nevermind

I just got the same tripod setup and I'm quite happy with it. I have some smaller glass than you, but I think the CB-50D will be able to handle the load just fine.

I'd get a Feisol tripod but I'd pass on the rest of their stuff (ballheads etc...). Consider Markins as a good pairing with that tripod.

For plates, I'd concentrate on RRS.

If you have to cut down on some of the gear, but stick with the good stuff even if it means you can't get everything right now.

J.