At 08:06 AM 3/15/99 -0800, Wes Jansen wrote:
>I've always yearned for one of the larger carbon fiber tripods from Gitzo
>but just couldn't justify the expenditure. I was wondering if light is
>necessarily better when it comes to stability. Seems to me that
>lightweight translates to easier to be moved by the wind and other
>forces--you know less inertia.

There's an old saying in the photo world: you can
always add weight to a tripod, but you can rarely
remove weight from a tripod and still have it
function...

All things equal, weight's certainly important. However,
carbon fiber is far stiffer than aluminum and damps
vibrations much better. That stiffness is why it's
used in golf clubs and tennis rackets.

I'm not terribly concerned about my carbon fiber
tripod being too light when I dump 18 lbs of
equipment on it (my 600/4 and paraphenalia). That
weights it down good. Other tricks people use
include carrying a net shopping or similar bag,
hanging it from the top of the tripod and filling
it with local, not imported, rocks.

Of course, it's important to remember to leave
the rocks behind when you start that ten mile
trek back to the car :)

And, the horrible reality is that NO tripod,
head, and telephoto combination is stable in
high wind. The tripod may sit stone still,
but even the best heads and tripod mounts have
a little play in them, and a large telephoto
in the wind vibrates like crazy due to the
large cross-section it presents to the breeze.

In such cases getting out of the wind is
really the only solution.

The carbon fiber tripods have become the platform
of choice for serious wildlife photographers
because of their excellent stiffness and light
weight.

But IMO, if you're not sticking at least 10 lbs
of optics on it they're not worth the money.
Spend it on optics, instead.




- Don Baccus, Portland OR <dhogaza at pacifier.com>
Nature photos, on-line guides, and other goodies at
http://donb.photo.net