Sturdy Tripod. "No" budget.

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GeordieStew

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Morning all

Looking for a new tripod (to join the 3 other ones I never use). Calling on your experience!

Criteria
150cm+
Carbon fibre
Prefer twist locks
No centre column
Ideally 3 leg sections (possibly 4)
Spiked feet available (prefer supplied but not the end of the world)

Not too fussed about weight. The difference between "light" and "heavy" is only a couple of kg. Not hiking with this.
Not too fussed about folded size. Not hiking with this.
Not too fussed about price. I have £500ish in mind. But would stretch.

Let me know some companies/models to look out for.

Thanks in advance
 
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Benro tortoise is exactly what you describe and well in budget. The 34 and 35 are lightweight and can hold 30kg of kit.

Carbon fibre, twist legs, no central column and even come with the optional metal feet you require.

I’ve got the 34C and it’s a great bit of kit. Fits nicely on the front of my vanguard 66 bag and matches really well with the GH5C gimbal too
 
Have a look at Feisol, well made, solid and don't skimp by having narrow final sections.
 
FLM CP30 range. I have the XL (discontinued now I believe) which has an 85" (210cm) max height and have had it for a number of years with no need/desire to find anything else.

Removable centre column, twist locks that actually work, rock solid. It is a little on the heavy side though.

Wouldn't recommend 3LT as mine had bits break on it, and one of my students had one just fall apart. It was in their early days though, things might have improved now.
 
FLM and Gitzo would be and has been my choice.

Vanguard also make some decent stuff, my only experience is a small travel tripod which seems fine.
Feisol looked ok, but no longer have a UK distributor so could be problematic if anything needed sorting.
 
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James J said:
Benro tortoise is exactly what you describe and well in budget. The 34 and 35 are lightweight and can hold 30kg of kit.

Carbon fibre, twist legs, no central column and even come with the optional metal feet you require.

I’ve got the 34C and it’s a great bit of kit. Fits nicely on the front of my vanguard 66 bag and matches really well with the GH5C gimbal too
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I have the 35C and totally agree. Fantastic tripods.
 
I've got a Gitzo 3 series and would recommend it highly.
 
Gitzo 3/4/5 series would be perfect. I use a 3 series with my 10x8 cameras and they’re actually light enough to be used in the field if you wanted.
 
Sky said:
I have the Manfrotto 057 (with no centre column) too. I can't recommend it highly enough - it's as sturdy as my studio camera stand and that monster cost in excess of £2000.00 about twenty five years ago.

It's also strong enough to climb on:

View: https://youtu.be/8Fq_dJZs1xg?t=3406
Click to expand...

I love mine, 3kg just in the legs but I've hiked with it. With the 405 head it's quite a heavy thing, but for shooting there's not substitute for sheer mass. It just hasn't got the twist locks etc the OP wants. Gone are the days you could get them for £370 off amazon.

I've heard a few bad anecdotes re Gitzo tripods and the twist locks etc failing. One of my workshop clients had one fail and whilst Gitzo sent a replacement etc, it wasn't great with the leg just collapsing mid shoot. Personally I'd be wary.

I'd rather avoid anything made/designed in China though.

Really Right Stuff look good but with the price to match.
 
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SFTPhotography said:
I thought 3LT were UK as were Benro. Quick googling reveals how wrong I was.

I stand corrected.
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I'm not denying that you can get some real crap from China but they also manufacturer a lot of really good quality stuff.

At the end of the day a factory will manufacturer something to spec and to a price determined by the customer.

I think 3 Legged Thing is a UK company but tripods are manufactured in China, probably to a high specification. Benro is a Chinese company but their tripods are great. Kingjoy are a Chinese company and from what I understand are the factory who manufacture tripods for a few big brand tripods.
 
Really depends on what you are going to be using it for... If you are just using it to support the weight so you don't have to (e.g. floppy gimbal head) then you don't really need that much from the tripod. But if you are trying to do high resolution astro photography you probably need a much sturdier support.
 
ecoleman said:
I'm not denying that you can get some real crap from China but they also manufacturer a lot of really good quality stuff.

At the end of the day a factory will manufacturer something to spec and to a price determined by the customer.

I think 3 Legged Thing is a UK company but tripods are manufactured in China, probably to a high specification. Benro is a Chinese company but their tripods are great. Kingjoy are a Chinese company and from what I understand are the factory who manufacture tripods for a few big brand tripods.
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Fully agree with this. It's the spec that determines the quality - the Chinese are capable of manufacturing to a pretty high standard...as well as a low one. I know Benro are quite highly rated and I'm very pleased with my geared head from them. I have a heavy duty Feisol which is pretty solid and a lighter weight Leofoto for when I don't need the weight
 
sk66 said:
Really depends on what you are going to be using it for... If you are just using it to support the weight so you don't have to (e.g. floppy gimbal head) then you don't really need that much from the tripod. But if you are trying to do high resolution astro photography you probably need a much sturdier support.
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I want as sturdy as possible. I don't want to spend another £300 to find its a bit light/whatever.

I'd rather spend £600 or £800.

£1000 hurts for some reason (it's a chunk of money).

My current tripods are
iFootage TC7 (fine but don't like the locks on legs)
Leofoto 284C (fine but too short)
Peak Design CF (fine but not sturdy enough for me)

As I said, don't mind carrying heavy(ish) and bulky(ish) to get sturdy and reliable.
 
This is the video that made me buy a Kingjoy.

This probably make me look like I have a vested interest in Kingjoy tripods but I assure you I don't. I just think that for £500 it is a superb tripod that you won't regret buying and will last for years.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=824_iFvSQGY&t=690s
 
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Look at the Artcise AS90c and AS88c

i traded in a Gitzo 5 series after getting the AS90 and then got an AS80 as well

4 leg sections though but quite solid and only around £300 incl

spikes
75mm levelling bowl
standard fixed base insert
 
While I own/use Gitzo and RRS, I don't really recommend them... IMO you pay a bit too much for the name. But if you can get one used, or on sale, they're very good.

Not particularly fond of Manfrotto or Benro; they're good for the money, but use a bit cheaper components and overall build quality is just a bit down IMO... that said, I have a Benro that's lasted over a decade (and it's somewhat worse for wear).

Sirui is generally as good as Gitzo IMO, and the AR-3402 might meet your needs.

There are other high end tripods I would put with the Gitzo/RRS category (e.g. ProMedia Gear). And there are a lot of middling brands I would put with Benro/Manfrotto. And there's probably a few more brands that should be there with Sirui, but I have no direct experience with them (e.g. Feisol?).

To a certain extent it's largely just mass production with CNC machines from a few Chinese factories. The best recommendation is to get a tripod rated for at least 3x the weight you are going to put on it; especially if it's something of an unknown brand... some companies load rate their tripods based on stability/usability; other's rate it based on failure/destruction.
 
GeordieStew said:
Thank you all. Certainly lots to consider.

It seems that if I want 3 sections, I may have to give up on 150cm+. There are some available but they're thin on the ground and not sure it is worth it.
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Better to get an extra tall 4 section and not use the last section (or as much of all of them) when you don't need the height and need the increased stability.
 
Look for a second hand Gitzo 5543 (around £400-500) - If you need 'rock solid', reliable, easy to maintain and strong residual value, you won't find better. - I have been using mine (in some very unfriendly environments) for ten years now and and would not consider changing it, for anything else!
 
GeordieStew said:
I've created a spreadsheet with 40 options. Prices and heights and weights and leg sizes and test results etc.

I need a random number generator, I think ;)
Click to expand...
Anything that doesnt meet the height, bin
anything that doesnt meet loaded weight, bin
you’ve no tripod weight restriction
anything without twist locks bin

i suspect from original post that stability is your main thing and that will be a function of the leg dia and height. Its not a straight line function either and if you only partly extend legs then that has an influence. I’d base on biggest tube dia as the other smaller dia leg tubes are usually related to top tube

In your spreadsheet divide extended ht by biggest leg dia and use that to rank, smallest number at top.

is there anything about the top ranked one you dont like, outside budget preference, ratings from trusted site poor, just dont like the brand (shouldnt be in list if not an option). If not buy it, if there is move down.

you might have 3 or 4 with similar ht/dias then i suggest you redo the ht/dia for the subset based on the tripod with the min ht diameter and use that ht for all. Leaving 2-3 cm unextended in a taller tripod really helps with stability. You can ger to the same small subset and do price.

Its a bit overkill to choose a tripod but you’ve done the donkey work now.

a few years ago i was doing LE work and got fed up with movement of my manfrotto 190 on 3-5 min exposures. I bought a used Gitzo GT5531 tripod. It was great stability wise but one of the twists occassionally started slipping. I bought the expensive replacement plastic shims but no help. Put up with it for years just overtightening the dodgy twist and hoping for best. Eventually it just p***ed me off and i sent it off to one of the shops for a sale price and took it. I was looking at a replacement new and that was £800-1100 for 3 legs and some locks for the Gitzo 5 series. I looked about and there was a chinese company selling one with better specs than gitzo for £300.

i took a chance on the as90c. Came with rubber feet, spikes, standard head plate plus 75mm levelling bowl. It’s been great. So much so i got its little brother the as80 for when i need to tuck the tripod into the side of my bag. It was a punt but honestly my view is even if gives me 5-6 years i could have 3 or 4 for the price of gitzo legs then theres the accessories. If the same package was being sold by Gitzo/ RRS you’d be up at £1500+

i add this last bit as its likely a lesser known brand will end up quite high on the spreadsheet and in my experience its worth not just rejecting. Tripods are overpriced at the upper end by the manufacturers as a branding exercise. Manfrotto and Gitzo are the same company. enro is chinese you:ve just heard of them.

Good luck with choice
 
Jim_Tod said:
Anything that doesnt meet the height, bin
anything that doesnt meet loaded weight, bin
you’ve no tripod weight restriction
anything without twist locks bin

i suspect from original post that stability is your main thing and that will be a function of the leg dia and height. Its not a straight line function either and if you only partly extend legs then that has an influence. I’d base on biggest tube dia as the other smaller dia leg tubes are usually related to top tube

In your spreadsheet divide extended ht by biggest leg dia and use that to rank, smallest number at top.

is there anything about the top ranked one you dont like, outside budget preference, ratings from trusted site poor, just dont like the brand (shouldnt be in list if not an option). If not buy it, if there is move down.

you might have 3 or 4 with similar ht/dias then i suggest you redo the ht/dia for the subset based on the tripod with the min ht diameter and use that ht for all. Leaving 2-3 cm unextended in a taller tripod really helps with stability. You can ger to the same small subset and do price.

Its a bit overkill to choose a tripod but you’ve done the donkey work now.

a few years ago i was doing LE work and got fed up with movement of my manfrotto 190 on 3-5 min exposures. I bought a used Gitzo GT5531 tripod. It was great stability wise but one of the twists occassionally started slipping. I bought the expensive replacement plastic shims but no help. Put up with it for years just overtightening the dodgy twist and hoping for best. Eventually it just p***ed me off and i sent it off to one of the shops for a sale price and took it. I was looking at a replacement new and that was £800-1100 for 3 legs and some locks for the Gitzo 5 series. I looked about and there was a chinese company selling one with better specs than gitzo for £300.

i took a chance on the as90c. Came with rubber feet, spikes, standard head plate plus 75mm levelling bowl. It’s been great. So much so i got its little brother the as80 for when i need to tuck the tripod into the side of my bag. It was a punt but honestly my view is even if gives me 5-6 years i could have 3 or 4 for the price of gitzo legs then theres the accessories. If the same package was being sold by Gitzo/ RRS you’d be up at £1500+

i add this last bit as its likely a lesser known brand will end up quite high on the spreadsheet and in my experience its worth not just rejecting. Tripods are overpriced at the upper end by the manufacturers as a branding exercise. Manfrotto and Gitzo are the same company. enro is chinese you:ve just heard of them.

Good luck with choice
Click to expand...
Carbon can wear down slightly through use and then needs extra tightening to clamp up.
This often occurs with a bicycle carbon seatpost and needs increasing amounts of torque to stop it slipping.
You can now buy carbon grip products from various manufacturers that is applied to avert this problem.
No reason it wouldn't also work on tripod legs and could prevent a costly accident from slippage.
This is one type Fibre Grip Gel, many others to choose from, but for the money well worth a try I reckon.
 
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GeordieStew said:
I've created a spreadsheet with 40 options. Prices and heights and weights and leg sizes and test results etc.

I need a random number generator, I think ;)
Click to expand...

What you need is a visit to a large shop with as many as possible of the contenders in stock. A £500+ investment deserves it!
 
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