vbhargava wrote:
I was in crater national park and left my gitzo traveler 1545T along with the Really Right Stuff BH 55 ball head. Had hoped for a good Samaritan to turn it in to lost and found, but no such luck. I am considering replacing the tripod and ball head. Tripod choice would be a sturdy, light weight, compact and quick setup. Ball head should be arca compatible. stable with heavier lenses on both DSLR and mirror less cameras. I did consider Peak Design carbon fiber but the reviews for the ball head are poor including no panning. Any recommendations based on your personal experiences? Thanks
I was in crater national park and left my gitzo tr... (
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Sorry to hear about the loss of your tripod.
I looked up the Gitzo model and it's one of their lightest.... Seems odd to fit it with a head like the RRS BH55 that probably weighs almost as much as the leg set!
Honestly, I'm not a fan of the 0 and 1-Series Gitzo. To me they just seem too light. I would want at least the 2-series and I actually use several Gitzo 3-series.
There are many good tripods out there. What I recommend looking for...
1. Look for a kit of legs with head, especially with travel tripods because they need to be matched sizes to fold properly. It's also usually a better deal to buy a kit, instead of purchasing individually.
2. Get a tripod with as few leg sections as possible. In a travel tripod that probably means 4-section. Any legs with more sections than that, the lower sections are very spindly and there can be a lot of flex.
3. Travel tripods almost always use a center column. My most stable tripods have no center column at all and are sufficiently tall without need for one. But that's not likely to be possible with a travel tripod. So look for one that's tall enough with as little center column as possible. Some travel tripods now even have multi-section tripods, which can't be good for stability! I'd avoid those!
4. Carbon fiber is your best bet, but you probably already know that.
5. Personally I prefer a tripod with twist type leg locks, like your Gitzo had. Those are low profile, self-adjusting for wear and reasonably resistant to water and dirt intrusion. Levers can be faster to set up than the twist type of locks, but do wear and need adjustment and/or replacement eventually. Both levers and thumbscrew locking mechanisms also typically protrude and are more prone to catching on branches and such, while carrying them in the field.
Even if I shop around elsewhere eventually, initially I like to use the B&H Photo website because they list virtually every known tripod and have a lot of search filters that can narrow down the selection to just what I want to see. For example, I did a search there for carbon fiber travel tripod/ballhead kits that have similar weight capacity to your Gitzo (22 lb.) and have Arca-Swiss quick release compatibility. B&H lists nearly 1300 tripods! By using those search filters I pretty quickly narrowed it to 28 possibilities:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/products/Complete-Tripods-with-Heads/ci/2635/N/4075788742?filters=fct_head-type_4106%3Aball-head%2Cfct_leg-lock-type_4128%3Atwist-lock%2Cfct_material_774%3Acarbon-fiber%2Cfct_quick-release-system_7375%3Aarca%2Cfct_reverse-folding-legs-travel-design_7236%3Ayes%2Cfct_support-weight_4142%3A18-lb%7C20-lb%7C22-lb%7C25-lb%7C26-lbMany of those tripods reverse fold to be as compact as possible (one of the reasons the head and legs need to be a matched set). Below is the result. It includes a Gitzo Series-2. Others that have impressed me are the Benro Travel Angel Series-2. (Their Bat and Rhino might be fine, too... I just haven't had any experience with them.)
Also note that I couldn't narrow the above search to 4-section legs or by maximum height or other factors that might be important to you. If something on that list appeals to you, I'd recommend further online search for reviews and such.