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Lighter weight Tripod

Red735i

Member
As we get older, or because we have a bad back, or just because, we want to lighten up our tripod, we need to get a lighter tripod. I have done some research into what makes a tripod heavy... It is NOT the legs..... it is the head on top....

Where are you taking this tripod? Backpacking? Day shooting a few meters/miles from the car? Next to the car? Travel, which means carrying it aboard a plane in a suitcase where length, folded up is THE most important spec... it has to fit. Pick something you are willing to carry for weight.... the further the distance to your shooting location, the lighter the tripod may be... ( or you are a 20-something, and weight does not matter!)

First off, do away with the steel frame legs. Ditto the Aluminum legs. Ditto the wooden legs. Get Carbon Fiber. yes, it is more expensive, but not that much more. It is THE lightest of the available materials.

Next: What diameter legs do you need? Want? This is a personal choice, since most legs will hold up an enormous weight, compared the the weight of any rational or other camera. Start considering with leg diameters in the one inch range. Go up or down from there to meet your expectation. remember that more diameter = more material = more weight. I tried out several legsets and found one that seemed to meet my expectations....

Next, what height is right for you? Are you 6'4 " tall? 5' 5" (I am)? The base of the column must be comfortable for your height, your camera mounted on top, and your subject material... ( Shooting flowers, a low level activity, does not usually require as much height as a landscape shooting style, which requires more height. Other reasons too... like do you use the LCD on the back of your camera for framing? A view camera? That requires more height....Do you use a Rolleiflex TLR? that is a waist level camera - lower height). Do you want or need a column that goes up and down? Reversed ( upside down for real close to the ground shooting) In any event a VERY personal choice.

I have a Carbon Fiber tripod that I have used the last few years. it is a bit too wobbly, so I decided to pursue a new tripod with better features. I had a Zomei 888C. $129, 3.3 pounds with supplied Ball head.

For me, the Gitzo GT2540L was about the best choice. 3.3 pounds without head. There is a lighter series, the 1540 series. the 1540 is a bit lighter (2 pounds w/o head), not as tall as I wanted, and not quite as rock solid.

I wanted the extra height.

After all that, all you got so far is a set of legs.... you still need to put a tripod head on top..... which is the biggest problem to date..... they all seem to be made from Steel, or are chunky and heavy aluminum. Magnesium or Titanium is lighter. Potentially. The light weight ones are in the 2 pounds range. My old Bogen was 3 pounds! head ONLY!

Tripod heads were, a few years ago, all 3 way heads with 3 separate "stalks" that controlled the axes... front/back tilt, up/down tilt, left /right rotation. Heavy. Very controllable. Awkward to carry. Cheap.

Then some genius designed the Ball head. A bit less "accurate" but significantly lighter, smaller, and cheaper to build. Most of those on the market were/are designed to have the left/right rotation at the bottom of the head, nearest the legs. the chief problem with this is that you level the camera above the rotation axis. Which means when you want to rotate for a panorama for instance, the camera is not level through the image range and you go about fiddling forever to get the legs set right so that the rotation is always level in the camera plane. My older ball head favorite was a Arca B1. The combination with my old legs weighed 6.5 pounds.

Arca Swiss B1, a really good head, weighs 28 ounces. The Markins Q3i Emille weighs 13 ounces, with quick release. Probably the best value, light weight, precision choice ($300) for a traditional Ball head.

RRS charges $380 for the BH40 with screw type quick release. Weight is 16 ounces. Heavier than the Markins. Specs seem to the the same.

If cost is really no issue, you could get a Markins ball head that is made from Titanium. ( $1300). Good movements. HEAVIER than the aluminum Q10 at 19 ounces. Not svelte. But you got bragging rights.

But the problem with them all is that when you level the tripod using the head to do the leveling, the plane of the head is NOT parallel to the earth. Panoramas will require constant re-leveling as you pan.

Then the geniuses at Arca Swiss fixed this ( at least I think they invented the idea, but not important) ... they put the rotation parts ABOVE the leveling parts... You set the legs down any which way. You level the camera on top using the ball feature, and, because the rotation axis is ABOVE this point, you can rotate anywhere and the horizon is always level... pure genius. These are the P0 and P1 ball heads from Arca. Weight is 11 ounces.
There is 1 problem.. Arca wants you to use their Slidefix proprietary mounting plates. Not so many are offered, and those that are, at prices at 10x what they should. They sell a version without a QR, it is model 801211.
So I went looking for a good Arca quick release.. something that would fit on top of the head ( 60mm) and round. The solution is the SunwayFoto DDY60P0. ( Amazon, $39) Fits and looks like it was made by Arca.
Why pick this combination? Because it is THE lightest precision ball head and quick release you can buy. It weighs, together, 15.4 ounces. 426 grams. By comparison, the Arca B1 head weighs 27ounces, and has a traditional ball head design.

Well, not really, ARCA offers a geared head called the Cube ( and another that is a bit less big). These heads do the same thing by geared movements... they cost, for the head only, well in excess of $1,000.00.


Remember that all this started when I went looking to cut weight from my tripod... This is the best solution I have found.... Total weight of MY combination of legs, head and quick release is 67 ounces, about 4 pounds 3 oz.

I am happy. Light weight (even though it is almost 1 pound heavier than my Zomei, it is MUCH more stable), more stable, better QR.
Note that the ARCA p0 head is not cheap. But if you are not adverse to purchasing used. it can be quite reasonable. Just be sure to get the clamp system you want... or none, like I did.
 

Red735i

Member
I should add that tArca apparently glues down the QR to the ball head. It is virtually impossible to get the 2 to separate. You can send it to Arca repair, and they will charge you about $100 to take them apart. Why would you do this to change a QR you do not want... buy the version you want..... Standard Arca QR? Arca Slidefix? Slidefix is also called Monoballfix.
Buy what you want.
 

Audii-Dudii

Active member
I should add that tArca apparently glues down the QR to the ball head. It is virtually impossible to get the 2 to separate. You can send it to Arca repair, and they will charge you about $100 to take them apart. Why would you do this to change a QR you do not want... buy the version you want..... Standard Arca QR? Arca Slidefix? Slidefix is also called Monoballfix.
Buy what you want.
If you're obsessive about weight -- *raises hand* -- another alternative for many photographers (depending upon the genre(s) of photography they pursue, of course) is to forgo a tripod head altogether.

For some photographers, a leveling base or even a simple panning base might suffice, whereas for others -- such as yours truly -- attaching the camera directly to the tripod almost always works well enough for my purposes.

I know this for a fact because that's what i did a few years ago when I opted to replace my heavy, slow-in-use Arca Cube with ... well, nothing. And I don't miss either its functionality or 2.2 lbs of weight at all!

Of course, I've also adopted a technique that allows me to level my tripod (and in turn, my camera) at least as quickly as I could ever level my camera using the Cube, so that aspect of this setup yielded a net improvement in performance.

And my DIY FrankenKamera provides in-camera movements, so it's very rare I ever need to point the camera up or down or rotate it side-to-side to frame the composition I want or capture individual frames for a stitched pano.

However, on those occasions when it is necessary for me to do so, it's a simple matter to temporarily install an inexpensive ($20-30), lightweight (only 140 g!), Chinese-made panning base. There are similarly inexpensive and lightweight leveling bases available, too, if you need to add that functionality.

Of course, if the photography you do requires you to use these functions for every photo you take, then using a tripod head, as you are doing, is obviously the way to go.

As for lightweight, carbon fiber tripods, I researched this subject very thoroughly last summer and actually borrowed and bought several tripods to test before finally settling on the Leofoto LS-323C: https://www.leofoto.com/products_detail.php?id=238

I was able to buy mine N.I.B. at a significant discount from an eBay seller and it ticked the boxes for all of my minimum requirements, especially its maximum height, which is ~59.5" when used with the OEM rubber feet and 60" when used with the aluminum feet I made to replace them so as to save a few more ounces of weight.

With the replacement feet and a few other minor modifications I made, my LS-323C weighs a mere 2 lbs., 13.8 ounces. (As an aside, my complete camera outfit, including tripod, A7R body, FrankenKamera lens adapter, external battery pack and wireless remote receiver, and the lens I use most often these days, weighs only 6 lbs., 11.5 ounces in total! And even at this point, there are still a few more ounces of weight I can save once I get around to revising a couple of parts, but this setup is light enough as-is that I haven't been in any hurry to do so.)

Anyway, good for you that you've found a solution that meets your needs and your budget! :)
 

Red735i

Member
Pretty impressive weight cut you did. I know there are lighter solutions possible, but it takes someone special to replace The tripod feet by making your own Wonderful.
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
Hmm. Nowhere in these long diatribes is an assessment of what kind of equipment you are trying to hold steady. An eye level camera with a fast, long lens has different leg and head requirements compared to a waist level camera with a short wide lens.

I have several sets of legs and several heads, varying weights and types. What I'm using a lot nowadays is the Peak Design Travel Tripod, the CF version. This seems sturdy enough for my Hasselblad kit, small enough to fit in my travel pack, and tall enough for me (I'm just shy of 6'). In its case, it weighs 3 lb 1 oz. The standard, built in head takes Arca-Swiss type camera plates and is strong enough to handle all of my current equipment; if I need more positioning precision Or panorama swings, I can swap the standard head for a universal head mount and go with either a geared 3D head or the A-S Monoball P0h head.

Good enough for my purposes. I've carried it on three trips between when I received it and the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown and cessation of all travel, it's the most convenient and capable tripod I've owned in this class of light, compact, and portable camera support equipment.

G
 

Shashin

Well-known member
This is a good place to start if you are looking to lighten the load of a tripod: https://thecentercolumn.com/

It has some very good articles and reviews/test of tripods.

My current tripod is a bit over 2lb, depending if I use the short or long center column. I have a Gitzo 1545 Traveller with a generic ball head from Oben. I found there is a cognitive bias to what feels solid and to what is solid.
 
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