Travel tripod advice

quango2k

quango2k

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Rick
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Hi all,

Struggling to decide on a travel tripod. I basically need something lighter than lugging my Manfrotto 058B studio tripod about to do landscape work..as great as it is, its damn heavy and the bruises on my shoulders can prove it.

I dont want to go mental one one, about £300-400 as a max.

I have had a look at the:

3LT Eddie
Mofoto globetrotter carbon.
My only criteria is Arca swiss plates needed.

is it worth going with carbon over alloy? the weight differences dont seem to justify.
 
I have a Giottos Vitruvian CF with a Manfrotto ball head as my travel tripod. Folds up much smaller than my full sized Manfrottos and uses the same QR system, even if the Manfrotto head is slightly bulkier than the Giottos one supplied with the tripod. Easy enough to swap any head for an Arca compatible one.
 
quango2k said:
Hi all,

Struggling to decide on a travel tripod. I basically need something lighter than lugging my Manfrotto 058B studio tripod about to do landscape work..as great as it is, its damn heavy and the bruises on my shoulders can prove it.

I dont want to go mental one one, about £300-400 as a max.

I have had a look at the:

3LT Eddie
Mofoto globetrotter carbon.
My only criteria is Arca swiss plates needed.

is it worth going with carbon over alloy? the weight differences dont seem to justify.
Click to expand...

I had the travel tripod purchase problem a couple of years ago. I decided that the slightly lower weight of carbon fibre wasn't worth the considerable extra cost, especially since the cheaper metal versions were more robust against accidental damage. I decided on the Mefoto Globetrotter because it stood up big enough, had the useful monopod option, and was the biggest and strongest that packed down into airline cabin baggage size, all at a reasonable price.

It turned out to be a much better tripod than I expected! It didn't advertise itself as such, but the head is a video fluid head, which makes for smooth video and in-camera panned panoramas. I expected that I'd probably later have to buy myself a bigger better tripod for lugging around the home territory, suspecting the Globetrotter's compact travel design would have compromised other features. But it probed so unexpectedly good that I've adopted it as my main general purpose portable tripod.
 
chris malcolm said:
I decided on the Mefoto Globetrotter because it stood up big enough, had the useful monopod option, and was the biggest and strongest that packed down into airline cabin baggage size, all at a reasonable price.
Click to expand...

I bought one as well (although my internal tart made me buy CF ;)), it had the best weight handling for the size (12Kg). Your kit might not weigh 12Kg but it useful to be able to hang a heavy bag of it for stability in windy conditions :)
 
Thanks for the help guys. The designs of both the 3LT and the MEfoto are so similar I suspect they have come from the same factories with different branding.

My cameras are far from light setups (1dx and gripped 5dmk3 using various L lenses) I mostly use a tripod for landscapes, the 058B is a great tripod for this..but weighs about 6kg without a head..so not ideal :)

I think I will go for the alloy Mefoto globetrotter, save some bucks although the geardo side of me is screaming CARBON FIBRE :P
 
quango2k said:
I think I will go for the alloy Mefoto globetrotter, save some bucks although the geardo side of me is screaming CARBON FIBRE :p
Click to expand...

I gave in :)


(Although I'm certain than my shot have blacker blacks thanks to the CF..... ;))
 
well, now I've seen the Benro travel angel which again looks very similar..any views?
 
That'll be the evil forum hamster who helps finance the forum! ;) Trick is to treat the green links with a pinch of salt since they tend to be to selling sites.
 
I have 2 benro tripods, one compact, the other a Gitzo clone, both are excellent, would deffo buy another
 
I have that Benro, it's superb, problem is that I have taken it the last couple of times and just not used it. To be honest I've hardly used it but I keep thinking that I will. I might be persuaded to do a deal on it if you want?
 
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