Evenin' All
I'm in the market for a new tripod and ball head. It/they must be able to "carry" a Canon 1d with a Sigma 150 - 500 attached to a balancing rail as a minimum. Since my upgrade to the added weight of the 1d, frankly I'm not sure which way is the best way in terms of tripods and ball heads.
Yes, I know that "you've spent $X why skimp" and "this has the best reviews" etc etc.
What I want is an honest and unbiased review of Sirui carbon fibre tripods and ball heads. Online reviews suggest that they are OK but somewhat "light" and in need of weighing down via a bag or other on the central shaft hook (of course not a problem, just management of your situation).
Has anyone on this forum bought one and in a position to tell me how they perform, particularly with a relatively heavy body and lens combo.
My main interest is birds - generally these pix are taken in a walk, carry, handheld situation - but I dabble in landscapes and "macro", hence the need for a good tripod to replace my ageing aluminium one.
Thanks
Tim
A mate uses one with his D3 and is very happy with it I'll email him and get the model No, he does a lot of macro and I've never seen him or heard him say anything about hanging any weight off it ,you can spend a lot more but I dont see the point, I still use an old Velbon sherpa 250 and a $50 Beike gimbal head and don't have any complants.
Thanks Sparrow.
Yes that is the information/advice I am getting on the net. If it is absolutely necessary to spend more then I'll save my pennies and delay a purchase, but I'm not convinced that for my needs, some of the expensive name brands warrant the sometimes 3X price difference. It is of course a balance between how much am I willing to pay, how often will I use it, how reliable is the rig supporting my camera, and how easy is it to get service or parts if the worst happens etc, etc.
Until recently I've been happy with my old (15 years +) aluminium tripod, but it is showing it's age (somewhat wobbly and difficult to adjust with my camera/lens combo's), so when I decide on a replacement, I'll consign it to my school photo-club where it will probably be flogged to within an inch of its remaining life.
Tim
OK the one he has is a T1204x and like me he was happy with his old alloy one a "Benro" (his even cheper than I am) his wife bought the Sirui for him for his birthday from eBay after much research, he is very impressed with it especally how compact and light it is compaired to his old one , he thought it was going to be too light but has found it to be very stable to use and has even had the camera mounted under the frame to shoot some tiny little orchids (his such a woose) , its max load is 10kg
Thanks Sparrow
I am looking at the 2204 with a ball head. It seems that there are several places where it can be bought for a reasonable price. Yes, the abilty to mount under the tripod is very attractive to me as well - I probably will not use it much, but when the need arises it will be useful
Tim
Never even heard of that name. In all honesty, I would stay away from anything like that, which does not have a known name.
Manfrotto, Benbo, Gitzo, Velbon and Sherpa are about the names I would suggest.
Though I have one called Feisol and I bought that years ago, as many American bird photographers use and love them and they cost about half of what an equivalent Gitzo does. As it states: You get what you pay for. I am not entirely happy with my tripod and rarely use it. I should have spent an extra 500 bucks to buy the Gitzo.
Just reread your post. Not sure if your Sigma has OS, IS, VR or what they call that in Sigma land. You should be able to get relatively sharp shots hand holding that with a higher ISO if you use the 1D. Even a 1D2n is good at ISO1600.
Thanks for the advice. Yes you are correct with hand held, and most of my bird photos are hand held. However I am also interested in longer exposures that would be impossible handheld, and multi frame landscapes that are better served with a support of some sort. Hence the need for a tripod, still looking!
Thanks Jim
After reading some independant reviews - all of which expressed surprise at the unexpectedly good build quality, I decided to go with the Sirui N2204 and ballhead, and also purchased it from Mainline Photos. I too am impressed by the cost/quality balance. Half turn locking/unlocking and very tight section to section tolerances make it a very good tripod in my opinion, especially as it will be used infrequently. The added advantage is that one of the legs unscrews to be a monopod.
The ballhead is very easy to use and handles the weight of my camera and lens very easily, with no noticable slippage. This again was a point made in the reviews I read.
Yes, it is a relatively "light" setup, but that is easily remedied by adding your backpack to the hook at the bottom of the central shaft, or as I did for near-vehicle use, filled a 1.25l bottle with fine gravel and attached some picture hanging wire to the top.
I'm very happy with the purchase, so hopefuly it will continue to live up to my expectations as time passes.
Tim