I hate blog reviews. I really do. They often belie the reviewer’s gear obsession, than a passion for the art. That said, I’ll offer up my assemblage of a cheap-ass tripod. Carbon fiber, too.
I would love to have the Gitzo CF legs with the RRS ballhead system, but frankly, spending $800 is plain stupid. The first step was finding some legs that met some criteria. a) Lightweight. b) Compact when closed. c) well, there is no “c)”. In reality, the first thing to shop for is a baseplate, but I’ll skip to that at the end.
I found the Amvona (Directron) brand CF81 to be far cheaper on our favorite auction site, eBay, than on their Web site. This is their smallest and lightest carbon fiber tripod. It goes up to nearly 5 feet, collapses around 20 inches, and weighs about 2.5 lbs. (Sorry, no metrics). They’re very sturdy, and there appears to be a small bar inside the center column to hang some kind of s-hook to add a counterweight, as after all, this is a very lightweight tripod (a good thing). As for the build quality— well, it’s… it’s… OK; it’s crap. There are metal paint chips and drips, funky glue at the bottom of the center column; the bag looked like it was dragged through a barn— but hey, I’m really not complaining. If it holds the camera and head/clamp, then fine, I’m happy. It’s so damn cheap, I could (almost) care less if it got stolen. Price paid: approximately $90, shipped. I think a comparable Gitzo would set you back over three Benjamins.
Next, was a head. I prefer a ball head, even though they’re wonky compared to 3-way pans (which knob do I turn?) I would’ve wanted a nice Arca Swiss or Really Right Stuff with a level, but alas, I don’t see shelling out 455-frickin’-dollars-for-a-freakin’-ball-head as very justified. At all. So I shopped around, and there’s yet another Taiwanese/Chinese manufacturer of photographic equipment: Feisol. They also make carbon fiber legs, but none of the smaller three-section systems collapse small enough (and three-section tripopds are arguably more stable than four-section legs), and frankly, they’re a bit more spendy. I found their CB-50H carbon fiber head relatively cheap on their site. They also informed me the clamp, should you want to replace it with one with a level or another brand, takes a Metric 6 hex screw, so you’re all set if you want to go that route. It would be more money, but still far less than a “high-end” manufactured system. Price paid: $172, shipped. Oh well, it wasn’t $250+ for a Markins or Kirk head.
You could get a plate from Feisol, but I use the Really Right Stuff plate that fits my 30D, which has a threading for a hand strap for easy hand holding: my preferred style of shooting. I don’t like neck straps; I think they are painful, ineffectual, and more importantly, super geeky-looking. The Really Right Stuff system is incredible. It’s a Lego™ set beyond compare, with L-plates for grips, rotating flash arms (brilliant!) and the like. This is why this system is great. So I shelled out the 50 or so bucks for the plate, including shipping.
Well, we’re now at $320 or so dollars, and it’s still less than just a set of GItzo über-small legs—head/clamp/plate not included—or what-have-you. It weighs around 3 1/2 pounds, which is relatively lightweight for a tripod. What’s even better? I had a ’spare’ $50 in my PayPal account. Woohoo! I think I did pretty well for a tripod system that works reliably, is lightweight, and it’s pretty damn cheap.