Tripod - Carbon vs Aluminium

TGphoto

TGphoto

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Tom
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Hi,

I am looking at buying the Manfrotto Befree GT, basically a beefed up version of the Befree and Befree advanced, tested this in a shop and was impressed by what it offered for the size, weight and stability mixed with Manfrottos very long warranty.

I am stuck between the Carbon and Aluminium versions. I have found them with a £73 price difference.

In the real world, other than the weight saving (which isn't that much), will I get any real world significant advantages for my £73? I don't mind the weight of the aluminium one as I'd have thought it'd be a bit more sturdy.

Thanks,

Tom
 
Heavy equals more stable IMO, something I appreciated when I walked all the way up to hilltops and found out that there is much more wind up there lol.

Of course Carbon is easier to carry around and is a fantastic light, strong and good looking material.
 
There's not that much weight difference between Aluminium and Carbon Fibre, as mentioned above, the heavier a tripod is, the more sturdy it is, always a trade-off, for me it would be the aluminium version and save the £73
 
I have the Carbon Befree GT, does what I want and seems stable enough.
One factor nobody has mentioned is Carbon has far better shock absorption properties than Aluminium.
Lighter and warmer to the touch too, much more pleasant on cold days
 
I purchased the Manfrotto 055 carbon fibre 4 section legs (had my own 3 axis head) after spending days looking at the specks of the Manfrotto range. I had discounted cheaper ones, lighter one, 3 section one and some from other manufactures (VERY expensive & I couldn't justify the cost). I needed a firm tripod and the ones I had previously purchased had proved to be a waste of money, they were either to femmer or too light to use in any sort of breeze. They would wobble when trying to aim the camera making it harder to frame the shot and get a good photo.

I chose the 4 section legs as the bottom section of the 4 are larger diameter than that of the 3. The weight saving over the aluminium version isn't worth the extra cost but when you take in to account the fact carbon has far better shock absorption properties than aluminium and warmer to the touch too, much more pleasant on cold days as @tijuana taxi mentions it makes it worth the extra. Without additional weight the tripod is rock solid except at its maximum height where its stability drops to good (or better than good).

You get what you pay for (most of the time).

I now have a setup with full Arca Swiss compatibility between tripods, monopods, cameras, lenses, shoulder slings and will shortly have cold shoes on Arca Swiss plates to mount on my tripods

Yes it is heavy, but so in my 150-600 mm zoom.
 
tijuana taxi said:
I have the Carbon Befree GT, does what I want and seems stable enough.
One factor nobody has mentioned is Carbon has far better shock absorption properties than Aluminium.
Lighter and warmer to the touch too, much more pleasant on cold days
Click to expand...
:plus1:

@TGphoto - if you are thinking of buying it from that offer I'd go for the carbon fibre one :)
You can always weigh it with by hanging stuff.
My befree never had a hook which annoyed me but they may do these days
 
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The head it comes with is just ok, I changed the clamp to an Arca Swiss type, no fan of the Manfrotto system.
Twist type leg locks are good, can feel where the lock and unlock bite point is, not too much turning
Its worlds apart from the original Carbon Befree which I also owned, even the bottom legs are of a decent diameter.
Feet are nasty little bits of rubber, no idea why they couldn't put some decent round ones on there.
All in all its pretty good for the price and decent warranty too.
 
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tijuana taxi said:
I have the Carbon Befree GT, does what I want and seems stable enough.
One factor nobody has mentioned is Carbon has far better shock absorption properties than Aluminium.
Lighter and warmer to the touch too, much more pleasant on cold days
Click to expand...

Thanks for letting me know. Yeah I am not too bothered about the warmer to touch thing, that's never bothered me. Shock absorption is one thing to consider indeed.

Dangerous said:
I purchased the Manfrotto 055 carbon fibre 4 section legs (had my own 3 axis head) after spending days looking at the specks of the Manfrotto range. I had discounted cheaper ones, lighter one, 3 section one and some from other manufactures (VERY expensive & I couldn't justify the cost). I needed a firm tripod and the ones I had previously purchased had proved to be a waste of money, they were either to femmer or too light to use in any sort of breeze. They would wobble when trying to aim the camera making it harder to frame the shot and get a good photo.

I chose the 4 section legs as the bottom section of the 4 are larger diameter than that of the 3. The weight saving over the aluminium version isn't worth the extra cost but when you take in to account the fact carbon has far better shock absorption properties than aluminium and warmer to the touch too, much more pleasant on cold days as @tijuana taxi mentions it makes it worth the extra. Without additional weight the tripod is rock solid except at its maximum height where its stability drops to good (or better than good).

You get what you pay for (most of the time).

I now have a setup with full Arca Swiss compatibility between tripods, monopods, cameras, lenses, shoulder slings and will shortly have cold shoes on Arca Swiss plates to mount on my tripods

Yes it is heavy, but so in my 150-600 mm zoom.
Click to expand...

I do also have a larger, heavier tripod as well. This one is for when I don't want to lug the big one around or when I go abroad.

nandbytes said:
:plus1:

@TGphoto - if you are thinking of buying it from that offer I'd go for the carbon fibre one :)
You can always weigh it with by hanging stuff.
My befree never had a hook which annoyed me but they may do these days
Click to expand...

If I go for the carbon one it'd be from that offer. I bought the aluminium one (befree GT) for £127 the other day, but could return it if I feel the carbon is a better fit.

They are both a massive step up from the woeful original befree.
 
Is the weight a massive issue in use?
I very rarely use mine, but it has, as I (foolishly?) assume most do, a hook so that I can hang my backpack on it to add weight and stability.
I know that my old aluminium one was a lot heavier then my carbon fibre one and as a result it rarely got taken out and then got replaced..

Maybe I should add that I'm not a landscape guy and am speaking from a position of ignorance..
 
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tijuana taxi said:
I have the Carbon Befree GT, does what I want and seems stable enough.
One factor nobody has mentioned is Carbon has far better shock absorption properties than Aluminium.
Lighter and warmer to the touch too, much more pleasant on cold days
Click to expand...
Think you mean vibration damping - while carbon tripods arent fragile they wont take being dropped from a height or take heavy hits like aluminium will.

The Carbon version is 300g lighter than the ali version. if it was something i was lugging around all day and especially up hills id go for the carbon version personally. Best part of 12oz is a saving id happily pay for.
 
AgentOrange76 said:
Think you mean vibration damping - while carbon tripods arent fragile they wont take being dropped from a height or take heavy hits like aluminium will.

The Carbon version is 300g lighter than the ali version. if it was something i was lugging around all day and especially up hills id go for the carbon version personally. Best part of 12oz is a saving id happily pay for.
Click to expand...

I did indeed mean vibration damping, thank you.
 
SFTPhotography said:
My view on tripods - so long as they hold the thing still get the cheapest one you can. Save money and get the Aluminum one
Click to expand...

I have a redsnapper aluminium one, I paid £35 on these forum and it performs rather well tbh. I can see where you are coming from but vibrations can be a problem in some cases.
 
AgentOrange76 said:
Think you mean vibration damping - while carbon tripods arent fragile they wont take being dropped from a height or take heavy hits like aluminium will.

The Carbon version is 300g lighter than the ali version. if it was something i was lugging around all day and especially up hills id go for the carbon version personally. Best part of 12oz is a saving id happily pay for.
Click to expand...

True. 300g doesn’t bother me to be honest, I’m 15 stone so don’t think 300g is going to make much of a difference to be honest. The alu one is 600g lighter that my current tripod and head.
 
Carbon fiber is generally both stiffer and with greater vibration dampening for a given tube diameter/wall thickness. IMO, stiffness matters much more than dampening (stiffness prevents movement, dampening absorbs it after it has occurred). But carbon fibers' stiffness is directional along the length of the fibers, so the way the tubes are made (weave/directionality/density/etc) can make a big difference... a cheaply made CF tripod can be quite bad.
 
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I have had a few cheaper tripods, one travel one the is light enough to carry all day. It isn't very stable especially with the legs fully extended. Hanging my backpack helps a bit but the thin legs start to bend when using the long zoom and the bag. Far better than hand holding but not stable enough.

The other tripods had larger diameter legs, were more stable and hanging extra weight improved stability but still not stable enough.

Maybe I'm expecting too much from cheap tripods. I got the Manfrotto 055 CF legs, quite a bit heavier but a massive improvement in stability. Adapted my backpack to carry the tripod on the side and I was not aware of the weight even after 6 hour session. It wasn't cheap either but well worth the cost.

I also appreciate the added benefits CF has over Ali.
 
I have the Manfrotto 055 3 section in both aluminium and carbon fibre versions.
Apart from being much lighter, the legs of the carbon fibre version do not flex anywhere near as much as the aluminum version.
 
Brian G said:
I have the Manfrotto 055 3 section in both aluminium and carbon fibre versions.
Apart from being much lighter, the legs of the carbon fibre version do not flex anywhere near as much as the aluminum version.
Click to expand...

Mine is the 4 section CF, heavier & larger diameter leg sections (IIRC) but the shorter collapsed length was better for me.
 
From the Manfrotto technical data:

Legs Tube Diameter 3-section 29.2, 24.8, 20.4 mm

Legs Tube Diameter 4-section 29.2, 24.8, 20.4, 16 mm

So the 4 section has an extra, smaller diameter leg.
I prefer the 3- section since it's stiffer, although more difficult to carry.
 
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Brian G said:
From the Manfrotto technical data:

Legs Tube Diameter 3-section 29.2, 24.8, 20.4 mm

Legs Tube Diameter 4-section 29.2, 24.8, 20.4, 16 mm

So the 4 section has an extra, smaller diameter leg.
I prefer the 3- section since it's stiffer, although more difficult to carry.
Click to expand...

Must have been thinking about the 055 vs another model. I looked at so many models I made a list of my options and one by one scratched one off the list till only one left.

I'm unlikely to use it with legs fully extended so the bottom section will normally either not be extended or only halfway at most
 
I used to use alloy but found carbon fibre to be much better so I now have 4 tripods 3 carbon fibre and 1 alloy which never gets used.
 
I have just bought the 190Pro 4 section CF tripod with the Xpro ballhead, I'm pretty pleased with it so far.
I did get confused by their ranges though, the BeeFree GT XPro has almost identical specs to my 190 and has thicker legs and folds to 40cm rather than the 56cm of my 190.
I thought the 190 range was a step up from the BeeFree tripods...
I got the 190 as it as levers to lock the legs the GT Pro had twist locks, and I broke my last tripos through overtightening and wrecked the shim and split the carbon fibre leg...
 
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