Lots of great points so far - a few things to add.
Originally posted by wadge22 No personal experience with them at all, but I have had my eye on Colorado Tripod Company for their ballhead.
The price and feature set look very enticing to combine with a nice used name-brand (or new Chinese brand) carbon fiber tripod and come in around your budget.
Interesting looking ballhead - hard to get hold off up here though.
As far as used tripods - I'm perfectly happy to go that route, and in general prefer doing so for reasons such as price and just the sustainability of buying used things rather than new - the problem with tripods is they're so fricking confusing, I don't know how to start looking for used ones! Even new ones is challenging enough...
Originally posted by photoptimist Sorry that I can't offer a better answer but I hope you find a good 3-legged accessory.
Haha - I feel it was still a useful addition to the thread
Originally posted by K2 to K50 When locking down after obtaining the subject in the frame, it is a struggle to avoid the focus dropping and then needing to re-position and lock down all over again.
It looks like that may be less of a problem with the ball head on the Leofoto?
That's what I'm worried about - it looks like it should be strong enough..?
Originally posted by K2 to K50 Your looking at this tripod has me thinking of purchasing a new tripod! Not sure whether to thank you or curse you for that!!!!!!
Muawhahaha go spend more money
This thread was partly prompted by several other recent threads looking for tripods, and the acquisition of the 150-450 with the realization that it's more steady handheld than on my current tripod!
Originally posted by K2 to K50 EDIT: Have you also considered whether a bowl head tripod might suit your needs (re ability to level independently of position of tripod legs etc)?
I have - but I'm not really seeing the huge benefit it it's not being run with a gimbal for example. And the cost...
Originally posted by BarryE I read through the OPs post and came across the ball head being a requirement. I've used several different ball heads and 3 way heads of varying quality and keep on coming back to 3 way being my preference. Ball heads do
seem to be more popular, but why?
Interesting point - I've never used a high quality 3 way head, or ball head for that matter. However I feel the ball head would be simpler for travelling use, as well as a variety of subjects - stationary landscapes to more dynamic birds for example.
Originally posted by TaoMaas After doing a lot of searching, I decided upon the same Leofoto tripod you mentioned. I haven't lived with it long enough to make a final judgement, but so far it seems like a great tripod. The construction quality is very high, it's lighter than my old Gitzo, and it folds up to almost half the length of my Gitzo. My only quibble is that it doesn't quite go up to eye level on it's own...at least, for me anyway...and I'm a touch over 5'9" tall. I knew about this before I bought it, but had decided it was a trade-off I was willing to make for the sake of size, weight, and price.
That's great to hear some first hand experience - especially positive.
The height is definitely a trade off - I'm 5'10" myself - but finding something compact enough and strong enough (and cheap enough!), they just don't get that high.
Most of the shooting using it would probably be landscapes or low to the ground - where I'm either sitting, or using the rear flip screen of the KP. I also found that I could manage at 4.5ft looking through the viewfinder with the 150-450 on, and not too uncomfortably slouching. I'm not intending to use this for primarily wildlife shooting (big lens on gimbal and tripod etc) - the 150-450 will live mostly handheld, but to have the option while bird watching with friends for it to sit on the tripod while I drink coffee for example - not a high use case.
Originally posted by bdery The challenge will be to match the strength to bear a 150-450 solidly with the need to fit inside a carry-on.
Will you use that lens in good light? If your exposures are short, the need for ultimate stability is mitigated. If you expect longer exposures, you'll need something much stronger.
Yep - that's the challenge for sure, hence having to compromise with a smaller max height.
As mentioned above, you can see a bit of outline of my use cases - mainly landscapes where I'd want it held down tight (including with the 150-450).
Originally posted by bdery Another thing to consider is that a lens such as this one is better matched to a gimbal, and that's counter to what you wish for. Plus it's expensive.
I did consider that - but I decided that's not the set up I am looking for at this time - I don't feel that the 150-450 is anywhere near large enough to be used primarily on a tripod.
Originally posted by bdery The tripod which comes to mind for your requirements might not fit your price point. It would be the aluminum version of this one:
Peak Design Travel Tripod Review - Introduction | PentaxForums.com Reviews
I did look at this - the aluminium version does fit within my budget, but I figured it had quite a few drawbacks within my requirements. Having to raise the centre column to get to a comfortable height, in fact having to raise it a bit to use the head at all... having to fiddle about and remove the centre column to get closer to the ground.
As well as the fact that testing at The Center Column shows the PD aluminium to have a stiffness of 456Nm with column all the way down, which is under half of the similarly priced Leofoto I was looking at, with 1095Nm.