Tripod setup advice needed! Please :)

squizza

squizza

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For holding Canon 1D mk III and a 500mm f4 IS USM L

Thank you in advance

Kind regards

Sarah
 
A big one?
 
Gitzo and a wimberley is the best that money can buy....you can get cheaper alternatives.
 
for me the Uni-Loc is a great tripod. but I have to say you love them or hate them....
If you do outdoor stuff and get into mud, water, sand or any muck then you are OK as the leg are not going to get anything up inside as the bottom leg section is on the outside .
You can put them on ANY ground no matter where you are you can have two leg on the ground and one up a bank, camera can be high or low on the floor.
 
uni locks are great tripods very versatile but very heavy i use a gitzo 3541 systematic cf strong and light it holds up my d3 and 600 f4 with no trouble
 
squizza said:
For holding Canon 1D mk III and a 500mm f4 IS USM L

Thank you in advance

Kind regards

Sarah
Click to expand...

How much you spending ?

Gitzo 3531 or 3541, with a gimbal mount (Wimberley, Kirk, Jobo), or there are the "don't worry about copyright infringement, reverse engineered" Benro ones.;)

The thing is Sarah you really do need stability with that weight of kit, and length of lens, which comes at a premium.
 
Another vote for Gitzo or copy. The only other tripod I trust my 1DIV and 500 on is the Manfrotto 055CXPRO3. It's not as stable but is cheaper
 
I use a Gitzo 3530LSV and a gimbal head for the 500mm f4L.You've forked out for the body and the lens Sarah so don't be tempted to cut corners now or you will regret it.

You need a basic set of very strong legs with no centre column - just a solid platform to bolt your gimbal onto. It wont be cheap - but you only have to buy it once if you get the right one. ;)
 
I would go Benro (in fact I have :) ) good as Gitzo/Wimberley but a fraction of the price. This would make a lovely combo:

Benro C-397 http://cgi.ebay.com/BENRO-C-397-M8-...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3a57785c7d Get the optional centre column too, it just drops in and locks when you need it. It would be rude not to.

Benro GH-2 full monty gimbal. http://cgi.ebay.com/BENRO-Gimbal-He...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3efdf145fc

You can get both for £550 delivered. Excellent fast service from that supplier and nobody so far has been hit for any import taxes (that I know of). Quite a lot on this recently - search Benro gimbal :thumbs:

Lots of other choices and options on that site, but that's the combo a few folks on here have gone for.
 
Hi All,

Now I am concerned because none of you long lens personages have recommended the Manfroto 393:

http://www.morrisphoto.co.uk/ProductDetails~ProductID~5708.html

I am collecting a Nikon 600 f/4 on Saturday and had whittled the gimbal type head down to this.

Your advice or reasons for or against I am sure will be of as much use to the OP as it will to me.

Best regards

Chris
 
G2EWS said:
Hi All,

Now I am concerned because none of you long lens personages have recommended the Manfroto 393:

http://www.morrisphoto.co.uk/ProductDetails~ProductID~5708.html

I am collecting a Nikon 600 f/4 on Saturday and had whittled the gimbal type head down to this.

Your advice or reasons for or against I am sure will be of as much use to the OP as it will to me.

Best regards

Chris
Click to expand...

It's big and rather crude looking, but works extremely well and is cheap :thumbs:

I think that the weight being evenly suspended between the two pivots takes a lot of strain off the single side-mount bearing gimbals, but it's bigger as a result.

Edit: there's some debate about whether you should use it with the camera suspended below the platform (as the illustration) or resting on it swung through 180 degs as a cradle. Not sure it makes much difference personally. A few members here use one.
 
G2EWS said:
Hi All,

Now I am concerned because none of you long lens personages have recommended the Manfroto 393:

http://www.morrisphoto.co.uk/ProductDetails~ProductID~5708.html

I am collecting a Nikon 600 f/4 on Saturday and had whittled the gimbal type head down to this.

Your advice or reasons for or against I am sure will be of as much use to the OP as it will to me.

Best regards

Chris
Click to expand...


Well I'll heartily recommend the 393. I have one and a Nill Gimbal costing nearly 6 times the price - in practice I don't hesitate to use either.

FOR

The price - it's a bargain! It also comes with a single Manfrotto long lens plate which has a built in safety catch to prevent it sliding out of the head if you have a blonde moment and forget to tighten the jaws. If you use a head with a conventional Arca type plate then you really should have one with safety pins at either end to prevent the lot sliding out. Good quality long lens plates aren't cheap.

As Hoppy alluded to above, the weight distribution has to be more balanced than with a single side pivot point.

AGAINST.

It looks a bit agricultural - it's a very simple basically engineered head, designed to do the job well with no frills, if that bothers you unduly.

It's a tad heavy and rather bulky with it's very wide 'U' frame.

The biggest argument against it is that it uses Manfrottos own unique proprietory design of lens plate. It's wider than the generic Arca type plates so wont fit any other Arca type head. This really only becomes an issue if you want to use different lenses on the gimbal, when you have to swap the only lens plate to the other lens, which can be a bit tedious, or source spare plates, which I'm told you can do.

On the positive side, that reassuring click as the safety mechanism engages when you slide the Manfrotto plate into the shoe is very nice.
 
HoppyUK said:
I would go Benro (in fact I have :) ) good as Gitzo/Wimberley but a fraction of the price. This would make a lovely combo:
Get the optional centre column too, it just drops in and locks when you need it. It would be rude not to.
Click to expand...

I'd skip the centre column. For big lenses, the tripod should always be tall enough that you don't need to raise (or indeed have a centre column) at which point the only point of a column is to stop you putting the tripod flat on the floor for low angle shots - something I do a lot with my Gitzo.

In fact, when I mentioned the Manfrotto 055 earlier in the thread, I should have said that, for Sue's with her gimbal, I got a second centre column and cut it off so it didn't protrude below the base of the tripod, therefore enabling low angle use.

G2EWS said:
Hi All,

Now I am concerned because none of you long lens personages have recommended the Manfroto 393:
Click to expand...

I used to have a 393 but I found it too big and bulky to move around with freely but others love it.
 
grumpybadger said:
I'd skip the centre column. For big lenses, the tripod should always be tall enough that you don't need to raise (or indeed have a centre column) at which point the only point of a column is to stop you putting the tripod flat on the floor for low angle shots - something I do a lot with my Gitzo.

In fact, when I mentioned the Manfrotto 055 earlier in the thread, I should have said that, for Sue's with her gimbal, I got a second centre column and cut it off so it didn't protrude below the base of the tripod, therefore enabling low angle use.
Click to expand...

I had to do that with my old monster Benbo 2 tripod - had it shortened down to nothing and it's retained with a circlip now. The Benbo has a rotating centre column too which you can rotate out of the way to enable using the tripod very low down, but that just doesn't work with a gimbal head! :D
 
grumpybadger said:
I'd skip the centre column. For big lenses, the tripod should always be tall enough that you don't need to raise (or indeed have a centre column) at which point the only point of a column is to stop you putting the tripod flat on the floor for low angle shots - something I do a lot with my Gitzo.

In fact, when I mentioned the Manfrotto 055 earlier in the thread, I should have said that, for Sue's with her gimbal, I got a second centre column and cut it off so it didn't protrude below the base of the tripod, therefore enabling low angle use.

I used to have a 393 but I found it too big and bulky to move around with freely but others love it.
Click to expand...

Agreed Paul. For max rigidity, don't use the centre column, but surely buy one while you're having a spree - it just bolts in and locks in place of the regular platform. And a nice ball head to go with it, like a Benro J-2 or J-3 :)
 
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