The great tripod & head thread!

[uluru]

Hi,
I just bought a P0 (package is on it's way).
I have researching about quick release mounts... I'm indecisive which one should i get... hope you can help me.

I could go directly for the RRS B2-LR-II... but, has anyone tryed the NOVOFLEX Q=BASE II on the P0 Monoball?


Thanks!

 

[beano_z]

So inspired by the great Thomas Heaton of YouTube fame, I've assembled my own version of the perfect travel tripod head. It's not as light as it could have been but I'm satisfied and in comparison to my Linhof 3D Micro, it's already much less bulky.

The idea is that I can level the pano rotating part with the L60 below and then tilt the upper part (RRS MH-02) to reach the final composition. I say "landscape" head specifically as I have encountered many situations where I would have liked shoot a panoramic image with the camera (XF) tilted slightly up or down and with the P0 Hybrid I wasn't able to achieve that motion.

However when I'm using the tech-cam, this is not an issue because the camera just needs to be perfectly level and I'll fine-tune the framing using rise and fall of the front, so in that case I can use the P0 Hybrid or even just the L60 if I really want to go light.

Anyway, yet to test it out in the field, but I'm already looking forward!

 

[arichter]

Is your arca swiss d4 review still around? Link didn't work...am curious.

Thanks! Andy

For my Linhof Techno I use a Gitzo 3541XLS (discontinued, the replacement is called 3542XLS) and a Arca-Swiss D4 head. For me this is the ultimate combination.

The special feature of the Gitzo 3542XLS is the length, 2 meters (80 inches) max height. I can't imagine having a shorter tripod as my shooting style often benefits from a slightly higher position, and with sloping ground I often need the height even if I'm not standing on something. The drawback is it's quite long folded size and weight. As a result I generally don't carry it on the backpack, but over my shoulders. With full camping gear when I have a huge backpack with proper carry system I can put it on the backpack though.

Having no center column it's a pain to use for closeup photography, but I do very little of that so I can live with that.

I went for the Arca-Swiss D4 geared head instead of the Arca-Swiss cube. It's lighter and it's quicker due to unlocking action (which I do use from time to time), so I prefer that. The drawback is that it's a bit "jerkier" in the movements when turning the gears but it poses no real problem for composition, and it's rock-stable so to me it's the best tradeoff I could find. Here's my review of the D4 head: Arca-Swiss D4 review

I'm a bit boring for this type of thread though as I really only use one tripod and one head and have used the same over several years.

 

[arichter]

Well this will be very subjective: I have both, but use the Cube most of the time. I've had the Cube for years, but got the D4 ~4 years ago because I wanted a geared head that was a bit lighter so I could take it into the mountains. I believe a geared head is a must if you have a DB without good live view. Now that I have live view, I can use a ball head like the P0 or RRS B40 without driving myself crazy.

So in my opinion, if you have a CMOS camera with live view, I would get a Cube and a small ball head (maybe the P0) and forget the D4. Use the cube unless you have to go light. If you do not have CMOS live view, then I would get the D4 and use it for everything.

I'm actually considering selling my D4 because I just don't use it much anymore. But it is hard to give up such a nice tool!

Dave

Edit: I guess I'm not even sure the D4 is lighter! But it seems lighter... :loco:

If you do sell your D4, please let me know what you are looking to get for it... Andy

 

[Shashin]

OK, my turn to add an interesting tripod.

Here is my dilemma: how do you travel light, but also take support? I am trying to get a kit together for the business trips I take. The tripod has been the hardest part of this. I have a small Gitzo that I have taken mountain climbing and been great, but it is still about 1.3 kg and relatively long. Tabletop tripods come it two flavors, those that have three fixed legs and a simple head, but get you no more height than a few inches, think Manfrotto, or something like a Gorilla pod that states the flexible legs can attach to anything like tree branches, only to find out the places you go either have no trees or they are grown in the wrong places. I think I have just found a really nice solution: Oben CTT-1000 carbon fiber tabletop tripod.

The tripod is about 500g in total and folds to 10 inches. The legs and extension are carbon fiber and the fitting metal. The main tripod gets to a height of 15 inches and the included extension/center column adds an additional 12 inches. Certainly not perfect. Certainly not something for an RB67. But, with smaller cameras, it is a nice option--it is rated to 11lb/5kg. I was going to change the head, but was pleasantly surprised.

The extension is pictured below the tripod. I think this would be a very interesting tripod for macro as well.

Oh, and it is just shy of $100. (And when was the last time you saw something in Dante's forum that was 100 bucks except a custom soft release!)

 

[danlindberg]

The smallest and lightest I have are the tiniest legs from Novoflex. 30cm long folded means they can be inside most bags. The head is 9cm if you don't need to unscrew the legs. It extends to a whopping 110 cm.

Add the featherlight Canon 50/1.4 with lots of character and I have a superlight and small camera with support.

And I guess most would think that the lens would be just a gimmick on that body, but it has surprised a few people. I adjust vignetting in raw and crop by default 10% of the frame, what remains has character and can without a doubt be used. This one is wide open.

 

[Audii-Dudii]

My travel tripod is a (NLA) Benro 0681T that I've modified a bit to save weight. I also replaced the ballhead that came with it with a miniature geared tripod I assembled from a pair of 25mm, aluminum-bodied goniometers and a rotational stage made by Melles Griot (and alas, NLA).

It's compact enough to fit easily in my Hartmann messenger bag, extends tall enough that I can photograph with my camera at eye level (and I'm 6'1" tall), rigid and stable enough to support my Sony RX1 for the long-exposure, nighttime photography I like to do, and weighs just under two pounds:

I don't know why it was discontinued (but I do that its official replacement is significantly heavier) but used ones turn up on eBay every so often. Unfortunately, the "mini-Cube" geared head is strictly a DIY thing and would be difficult to exactly duplicate today because all the bits I used are very much unobtanium. But it shouldn't be difficult to assemble a functional replica and if you hate using a ballhead as much as I do, it's an option to consider...

 

[Shashin]

Dan and Audii, thanks for your posts. Probably like yourselves, I have a, well several, tripods for when I am committed to a shoot. That travel solution has been the hardest where you would like to take a tripod, but not commit to its weight and size (mostly because I am packing so much other stuff). What I also found was tripods with center columns were the most compact for the height--case in point, my old Gitzo Totolux which can extend to almost eye level but collapse to 37 cm. However, on my journey to figure out a good solution for my situation, I came across tripod extensions to give a tripod more height, especially for tripods with no center column. Sunwayfoto makes two carbon fiber extension for either 12 inches or 16 inches. Cheap and light. For those interested, here is the link to the B&H page and there are buttons to switch between the two models if you want to check out specs.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...foto_et_02_carbon_fiber_tripod_extension.html

 

[Geoff]

Travel is the hardest: either bite the bullet and take a real Gitzo (pick your size) or if smaller, take your chances. One option is the MeFoto small CF tripod, with built in center column and bollhead. Nothing too awesome, but its 16 ½", a bit thick when folded. If you don't use the last of the leg extensions (it has 4 short ones), its reasonably steady, and will hold a MF camera. Although sometimes it helps to rest your hand on it!

Minimizing the length matters - once in a jungle I borrowed a Manfroto monopod which had little tripod extensions at the bottom - about 6" long. Using long delay, mirror lockup and a leaf shutter, and keeping it only 3' high, was able to shoot up to 8" sharp!

 

[MGrayson]

In the spirit of thecentercolumn.com, I've been measuring the stiffness of various tripod, leg, and head combinations. My methodology is to put a camera with a big lens (SL+90-280) on top, put an accelerometer on the lens (iPhone), and give it a whack. This extremely sophisticated test rig gives pretty repeatable results. The question is: what's important? For instance, the Gitzo 3 series is barely less stiff than a similar Novoflex, but it damps vibration much faster. Oddly, the large Novoflex doesn't seem as great at either stiffness or damping, but it can double as a jack stand for auto repair.

Plenty more to try...

Matt

 

[Shashin]

In the spirit of thecentercolumn.com, I've been measuring the stiffness of various tripod, leg, and head combinations. My methodology is to put a camera with a big lens (SL+90-280) on top, put an accelerometer on the lens (iPhone), and give it a whack. This extremely sophisticated test rig gives pretty repeatable results. The question is: what's important? For instance, the Gitzo 3 series is barely less stiff than a similar Novoflex, but it damps vibration much faster. Oddly, the large Novoflex doesn't seem as great at either stiffness or damping, but it can double as a jack stand for auto repair.

Plenty more to try...

Matt

But what are the actual forces on a tripod--they aren't guardrails. Is hitting a leg representing the forces a tripod is designed to counter? I wonder if trying a strong fan would be a better vector with which to measure stability. Wind is fairly consistent and evenly distributed. Perhaps designing a structure in place of the camera to test drag would be useful as well as a baffle to stop and start the wind from the fan to simulate gusts.

Interesting project Matt. I took a Gitzo Totolux with 4-section legs to support a Mamiya 6 in the mountains (3,000m) and extended its rather long center column. It was quite stable in spite of its looks. I since replaced it with a CF Manfrotto. But none of my tripods are resistant to flex if I apply force, but all give sharp long exposures.

There is a mystery here...

 

[MGrayson]

But what are the actual forces on a tripod--they aren't guardrails. Is hitting a leg representing the forces a tripod is designed to counter? I wonder if trying a strong fan would be a better vector with which to measure stability. Wind is fairly consistent and evenly distributed. Perhaps designing a structure in place of the camera to test drag would be useful as well as a baffle to stop and start the wind from the fan to simulate gusts.

Interesting project Matt. I took a Gitzo Totolux with 4-section legs to support a Mamiya 6 in the mountains (3,000m) and extended its rather long center column. It was quite stable in spite of its looks. I since replaced it with a CF Manfrotto. But none of my tripods are resistant to flex if I apply force, but all give sharp long exposures.

There is a mystery here...

I think the testers care about wind on the camera (well, lens) itself. The point is to watch the vibration after an impact. I hit the lens sideways. The vibration looks like an exponentially decaying sine curve. The frequency tells you stiffness (torsion spring constant) and the decay rate, damping. No, I don’t know how to interpret the results. sometimes resonance at higher frequencies shows up.

M

 

[JimKasson]

I think the testers care about wind on the camera (well, lens) itself. The point is to watch the vibration after an impact. I hit the lens sideways. The vibration will be an exponentially decaying sine curve. The frequency tells you stiffness (torsion spring constant) and the decay rate damping. No, I don’t know how to interpret the results. sometimes resonance at higher frequencies shows up.

M

The pure damped sinusoid only occurs in second-order linear systems. The behavior of an actual camera on a tripod is more complex than that. Even in a such a system, the frequency is not solely dependent on the stiffness; the mass is equally important.

Here's a look at the second-order linear system approximation:

https://blog.kasson.com/the-last-word/on-vibration-control/

https://blog.kasson.com/the-last-word/on-vibration-control-part-2/

https://blog.kasson.com/the-last-word/on-vibration-control-part-3/

Jim

 

[MGrayson]

The pure damped sinusoid only occurs in second-order linear systems. The behavior of an actual camera on a tripod is more complex than that. Even in a such a system, the frequency is not solely dependent on the stiffness; the mass is equally important.

Here's a look at the second-order linear system approximation:

https://blog.kasson.com/the-last-word/on-vibration-control/

https://blog.kasson.com/the-last-word/on-vibration-control-part-2/

https://blog.kasson.com/the-last-word/on-vibration-control-part-3/

Jim

Jim,

We're getting off on the wrong foot here. My background is in nonlinear PDE. I'm talking about silly experiments one can do with almost no extra equipment, and observing that certain properties of the system can be measured. Of COURSE it's an approximation, and possibly not even relevant to real world usage. Of COURSE frequency depends on mass (I was using the same camera in each measurement). The idea was for anyone with an engineering or physics background to find it funny. Not as a challenge to real engineers.

Now if you'd like to comment on the techniques and results published at thecentercolumn.com, I'd be very interested in your opinion. They *do* some actual experiments taking photos in wind, but their ranking of tripods is based on an odd formula.

Best,

Matt

 

[JimKasson]

The idea was for anyone with an engineering or physics background to find it funny.

Sorry, that went over my head.

 

[MGrayson]

Sony, that went over my head.

Then I can only apologize for my poor sense of humor. Thank you for the links to your work, BTW.

Best,

Matt

 

[JimKasson]

My background is in nonlinear PDE.

You're a mathematician? My hat's off to you. I took (linear) partial differential equations at Stanford when I was an undergrad. Never used it afterwards. Should have taken linear algebra instead, the lack of which I really felt when I became a color scientist, but I was a physics major at the time (graduated in EE), and it was a requirement.

Jim

 

[stephengilbert]

"The idea was for anyone with an engineering or physics background to find it funny?"

What! People with an engineering or physics background find things funny?

 

[JimKasson]

"The idea was for anyone with an engineering or physics background to find it funny?"

What! People with an engineering or physics background find things funny?

https://interestingengineering.com/25-best-engineering-jokes-make-your-day-better

 

[MGrayson]

Yes, this is getting :OT:, but I'm rather fond of:
There's a fire in the hotel.
The Engineer fills a bucket with water and puts the fire out.
The Physicist lights a match, holds it under the faucet. Says "Ahah!" Fills a bucket with water, puts the fire out.
The Mathematician turns on the faucet. Says "A solution exists." Turns off the water and goes back to bed.