Dolica Carbon Tripod with Ball Head $129

Dolica CX620B104 61-Inch Proline Carbon Fiber Tripod with Ball Head

I actually bought this tripod about a month ago and thought that the rotating dial had a little more slop than I would have liked. I figured that $129 doesn't get you much of a tripod but Dolica's reply to my email showed me the real value behind this deal.

Dolica had a technical rep personally call me and spend about twenty minutes on the phone with me. He explained how I could adjust the dial tension screws but, more importantly, said that they are serious about their five-year warranty. If I can't get the dial tensioned correctly, he'll swap my ball-head for another one. And, he said he'd be happy to do that at anytime during the five year warranty.

I know that I'll eventually want a "good" tripod but my choices were to buy a cheap one or go without. This seemed like a good deal at $129 but their high level of customer service makes it an amazing deal!

Glad to hear that they have good customer service.

I have the 40$ model, and I'm happy with it so far.

Caca when you get it let me know how good it works. I been using a 15 dollar tripod that i'm afraid of lol

Downs Photography wrote in post #10519115
Caca when you get it let me know how good it works. I been using a 15 dollar tripod that i'm afraid of lol

You'll probably get the most useful information from the Amazon reviews. All I can really tell you is that it seems ok to me; way better than my old $65 tripod but not nearly as smooth as my buddy's $400 tripod.

How stable is this tripod?

I've never had a decent tripod before, so it feels good to me. Is there any sort of objective test that I can do? One of the reasons I got it is because Amazon has a pretty good return policy. I ended up keeping it, so my opinion is that it's a good deal.

I have a relatively low-end Induro tripod, and when I'm taking pictures of the moon at 400mm (crop sensor), once I get the moon where I want it in the frame and let go of the lens, the images 'bounces' a bit in the frame and then settles down slightly off from where I originally wanted it. This would be a good example of a cheap tripod. Does your tripod wobble a bit like that at longer focal lengths?

genzbenz wrote in post #10558029
I have a relatively low-end Induro tripod, and when I'm taking pictures of the moon at 400mm (crop sensor), once I get the moon where I want it in the frame and let go of the lens, the images 'bounces' a bit in the frame and then settles down slightly off from where I originally wanted it. This would be a good example of a cheap tripod. Does your tripod wobble a bit like that at longer focal lengths?

Haha, yep, with a 500mm zoom lens I have to frame the moon high in the viewfinder and hope it "settles" somewhere in the middle.

Two possibilities: first, my tripod needs a simple tension adjustment that I haven't gotten to yet and, second, the unbalanced 500mm (unbalanced due to my lightweight T2i) might have more leveraged weight than the tripod is designed for.