[steven smith]

I have a K10d, one of my lens's is Sigma 500mm, the tripod I have is a little shaky for that lense plus the camera. Rather than order blind I thought I would take advantage of prior expierence. thanks.

[mel]

I popped this over to the field accessories forum. You'll find there's several other threads here dedication to tripods as well. Good luck with your search.

[sholtzma]

Though your question is about the tripod, quite reasonably, you should also consider the tripod head. Are you using a ballhead? If so, some manufacturers/distributers will advise you about the capacity of the head. Probably you should think also about using a gimbal-style head for such a large lens.

[Pentaxie]

Yes, for such a large lens, you will need a fairly sturdy ball head joint and a strong tripod as well.

[Al_in_the_Shire]

I don't think you will want to go with a Ball Head with that lens. The Canon 500 F4 is about a pound and a half more, and most recommend a good gimbal head as almost a necessity.

The Sigma weighs in at about 7 pounds. Add in a 1 1/2 pound camera, a 2 gimbal, and you are looking at sticking 10 plus pounds on top of your tripod.

Rule of thumb would be a tripod that will support 2 to 3 (more like 3 for this combo) times the weight you are going to put on the legs as your starting point for the tripod.

Where you shoot, like salt water, sandy conditions, comes into play as you will have a lot of maintenance on the tripod if you want it to last for more than a year especially with the new AR twist lock legs, and Gitzo now does not even recommend their tripods be used in salt water.

Add in the fact that Gitzo changes models a lot. Some recent posters in other forums have run into problems with getting parts for older ones. I dont know if this will continue, Manfrotto and Gitzo are now aligned somehow from what I have read so maybe parts in the future will be easier to find. Anyway, there seems to be some jumping ship from the bird crowd when it comes to Gitzo. Not a huge amount, but enough to make one worry about spending 600 or more on a set of legs.

Depending on what you want to spend, there is the Really RIght Stuff tripod, about a grand I hear, that should work, and there are some rather large Fiesols that will probably support the load for less.

Anything with a wide base, that supports 25 pounds or more should be OK. That's where I would start. It's going to be heavy, and you might want to look into a shoulder pad for the legs (you can find them on Art Morris's site)

There was an old thread here about someone who got the Pentax 600 and showed the tripod he got for it. I would look back a couple months and you will probably find it. It was a well done post with some very good info.



On another note, I have been trying to find someone who owns this lens. How is it performing for you? How is the IQ at 4.5 and have you ever tried to put a TC on it? Sigma says it is compatible with both the 1.4 and 2x converters. Any overall impressions would be great, and much appreciated.

[smf]

In the post immediately above, I suspect this is the Art Morris website:
Arthur Morris / BIRDS AS ART

The B-A-A Store portion of the site offers items for sale.

[Al_in_the_Shire]

Yes, that is it, sorry for not posting a link.

[Entropy]

I have a K10d, one of my lens's is Sigma 500mm, the tripod I have is a little shaky for that lense plus the camera. Rather than order blind I thought I would take advantage of prior expierence. thanks.

Which Sigma 500? 50-500 (aka Bigma) or the 500/4.5 prime?

Either way - I'd suggest one of the larger Benros or Induros. Aluminum is a better choice than carbon fiber unless you are hiking a lot with the tripod, since a heavier tripod will lower the CG of the setup.

The Adorama Flashpoint CF tripods appear to be identical to the Benros/Induros.

You'll probably want to look into a gimbal head for your lens. Adorama has one that's much cheaper than the Wimberley units - FPDG1 Flashpoint Gimbal Head 1 with Quick Release, Supports 15.4 lbs.

I have a Benro C-158n6 carbon fiber unit and love it. It has been replaced with slightly newer models, but if you're not hiking frequntly with the tripod like I do, I'd suggest looking into a 3-section aluminum 2-series or 3-series tripod. Benro part number will likely be something like A-257 or A-357.

[Miguel]

Steven S.--What are you using the Sigma 500mm lens to shoot right now? Birds and wildlife? Sports? And will your needs be changing in the future?

Once these requirements are better known, it will be easier to match up a solution.

M