Tripod question

[zorbo]

Just looking for sugestions if anyone else has had this problem. Many years ago i only shot wildlife with heavy lenses so i invested in a gitzo 6x carbon fibre tripod three sections.
I have since sold all the heavy stuff and am now getting interested in landscape photography and trying to keep things to a minimum as i am only a hobbyist and have to watch the pennies.
I am presently using the gitzo with a kirk bh1 ballhead and i find it a heavy combination .When hiking i have to carry the tripod as it is a bit too long(three legs) to fit securely on my 400 flipside backpack. I have tried several ways of attaching it but it never seems secure . The tripod and head weigh at 6 lbs .Although i consider myself to be fairly fit i am looking for a way to lighten the weight.
Has anyone else had same problem and if so what was the outcome. I also have a giottos aluminium tripod that is shorter and fits better ,but is heavier still. The ballhead weighs st 2 lbs on its own.

 

[Retune]

The current Gitzo Travelers are light, rigid, extend high and collapse small. You can also buy them as kits with matching lightweight heads. But at current prices they won't help with watching the pennies...

 

[nandbytes]

I use feisol CT-3342 with a markins Q3i ballhead with quick release lever.
The whole this is very light and excellent. While I love my feisol since the folded length is 59cm I can't take it on planes. So I am currently looking to swap for a feisol CT-3442 which is pretty much the same as my CT-3342 except it has 4 sections vs. 3 sections so folds down to 48cm which can go on planes.

My plane journeys aside, the feisol tournament tripods i.e. CT-3342/3442 are the only two I have found that are light, give a very good height without central column, wide diameter legs which all makes it very good for stability over all.

I used have the kirk bh1 which I replaced with markins. The bh1 is really overkill so I sold it, the markins easily handles up to 100-400mm or 70-200mm/2.8 lenses which are the largest I use.

 

[Son_of_Thor]

The Feisol tripods are a good option, lightweight and pretty rigid considering. Can be picked up for decent prices used every now and again but pretty pricey new. I'd look at the smaller Sirui ballheads to go with for a pretty decent combo.

 

[chris malcolm]

How about a monopod? Even just tucking its unextended foot into your trouser belt can give you a few extra stops of stability. You can get quite good stability for long exposures with a monopod if you can brace yourself or it against a wall, tree, etc.. I've sometimes taken good exposures of as long a second by carefully leaning the monpodded camera against something, and using remote shutter release and praying. I now usually take some strong cord and elastics around with it so I can strap it firmly to a tree, park bench, fence post, etc.. Not as convenient or versatile as a tripod, but often good, and much lighter and more easily portable!

 

[rob-nikon]

I have the same issue and have been thinking of ways to lighten the tripod load. I’ve recently downsized from large wildlife lenses to smaller kit (still doing wildlife with a 100-400 but it’s smaller and lighter than I was using for wildlife. I’ve swapped last year to f4 lenses for landscape use). So far my concussions have been that the gitzo 3542LS I have is probably as light as I can get for the size of legs it is. It weighs 1960g on its own. The uniqball head with panning clamp weighs in at 1017g making an overall total of 2977g. I’ve thought about swapping to a gitzo traveller or get say a smaller tripod like a 3 legged thing. Swapping to a gitzo traveller kind of makes sense as I don’t need the tripod for heavy wildlife lenses. But...... I like the size, height and stability of the 3542LS and the fact you can attach spike feet to it (you can’t with the traveller). I’m kind of worried I would lose those with s traveller tripod.

So far I’ve solved the issue temporarily but removing the head and putting it inside the backpack. The gitzo legs on there own weigh 1796g so are easier to carry. I will likely be looking at tripods and heads at the photography show in March.

Another way to look at this is, is your bag the right one for hiking? If we are talking serious hiking such walking miles up mountains a hiking backpack with camera insert may be a better option. It’s possible it could have better strapping to attach a tripod than the flip side 400.

 

[zorbo]

Some good comments ,Thanks guys i have a monopod but does not work for me . I did consider carrying the ballhead in my bag but not tried it out yet and i agree it is overkill for me now as my biggest lens is 100-400 and not used much either.I do not do a lot of hiking really and love the stability of the gitzo but cannot afford the shorter model .I think maybee my first step would be another lighter ballhead .As for the backpack I only recently bought the 400 flipside on a whim and i found out the hard way that is is not a great deal bigger than my old backpack.I still have the 600 bag from my 500 f/4 and trying to see if i can convert it to take my gear and tripod.

 

[Unlocker]

Have gone through similar myself recently. Had a GT5562GTS (the 9ft tall one!) for the big lenses, but since the 400mm went, so did the tripod.

For landscape work, I did get a GT3543LS kit on a Black Friday offer, which was a lot better weight wise, but did miss the option of a bit more height so after spotting a good deal on a GT3543XLS, I've stuck with that for the best compromise of height / weight.

The other issue for me was my 405 geared head, it's well loved but a bit heavy (1.6KG) and cumbersome. That has been replaced with the newer Benro GD3WH which I don't like as much but fits in the bag if I need it to and is less than half the weight.

For me, anything small with a centre column is a compromise too far and I'd never touch a ball head with a barge pole!