Help! Lightest Photo Tripod?

Tachyon · Post by **Tachyon** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 1:53 pm

What is the lighest photo tripod + head you ever come across that can handle a load of 3 kg? I'm looking for one for airline travel.

Cheers!

river · Post by **river** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 11:40 am

I am using this tripod for 3" refractor, liaght and nice tripod but a bit tricky on balancing the load.SLIK Able 300DX

Captured some moon images with this setup before, see
moon1 and moon2. Try to capture M6 but I get some star trail on a 1/80 sec exposure :?

gsrhodes · Post by **gsrhodes** » Mon Nov 14, 2005 3:42 am

I have a Gitzo Basalt G1098 tripod, which weighs 1.8 pounds (0.82 kilograms) and is reported to carry a max load of 4.4 pounds (2 kilograms). However, I can tell you that I routinely use this tripod with my Canon 20D digital camera and a couple of lenses, including a Canon 200mm f4 L lens, which together weight more than 4.4 pounds (just the lens weighs as much as the tripod and head put together). I believe this tripod could easily suit your needs for traditional, non-astro photography, and possibly for visual astronomy...the stiffness of the legs is high, and vibrations do damp out rather quickly. With a lightweight telescope, the tripod may be suitable for visual astronomy use. But I have not tried using it for this purpose yet.

The Gitzo tripods are not cheap. With a small Gitzo ball head, I paid nearly US$400 for mine. But it is amazingly tiny, super light weight, expands to an adequate height, is extremely, extremely tough and well made, easy to use, and exceeds the specs in terms of loading.

You can read more about this tripod here:

http://www.bogenimaging.us/

Click on the Gitzo link along the top and then choose "Basalt" under "Tripods by Series"

The G1197 is reported to carry up to 8.8 pounds (4 kilograms), and you could consider it a safer bet. But, it weighs more and is about US$100 more expensive.

Post by **weixing** » Mon Nov 14, 2005 8:58 am

Hi,
I'm looking at the SLIK PRO 330DX ( http://www.thkphoto.com/products/slik/slik-pro-03b.html ) and SLIK PRO 340DX ( http://www.thkphoto.com/products/slik/s ... 03-1b.html ) for my DSLR camera... I most likely will go for the 340DX... around the same weight, but can take 1kg more load.

Have a nice day.

Tachyon · Post by **Tachyon** » Mon Nov 14, 2005 11:05 am

Hi Weixing, do you know the price for the 340DX?

Graham - Thanks for your suggestion! The G1098 certainly looks attractive! I will enquire locally about the prices. BTW, your pics are nice! I liked the one at Yellowstone(?).

Cheers!

Post by **weixing** » Mon Nov 14, 2005 11:19 pm

Hi,
I just buy the SLIK PRO 340DX tripod... it max load is only 3kg (SLIK PRO 330DX is same load, but is max height is taller) and the centre screw size is smaller than the SLIK PRO 700DX, so I think you can't use it for the MicroStar, unless you can find the correct adapter. You can take a look at my SLIK PRO 340DX before you decide.

By the way, I got the SLIK PRO 340DX at S$140.

Have a nice day.

Tachyon · Post by **Tachyon** » Tue Nov 15, 2005 9:02 am

Curious, the max load in the webpage you referenced earlier is 5 kg. Is there a typo? If it is really 3kg, then for telescopes it should be 1.5 kg (50%). That's a bit low...

Cheers!

Post by **weixing** » Tue Nov 15, 2005 3:35 pm

Hi,

Curious, the max load in the webpage you referenced earlier is 5 kg. Is there a typo? If it is really 3kg, then for telescopes it should be 1.5 kg (50%). That's a bit low...

Cheers!

No idea...

But the tripod is very light.

Anyway, may be you should try the PRO 400DX or the PRO 500DX... price should be between S$150 to S180.

Have a nice day.

gsrhodes · Post by **gsrhodes** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 1:05 am

Tachyon,

Good luck with your decision. I hope you find the best tripod for your needs!

Graham

Tachyon · Post by **Tachyon** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 9:43 am

Graham,

Thanks! Clear skies to you!

Andrew