Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/12/21
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 11:03 AM +0300 12/21/99, Bernard wrote: >> The lever locks on the Manfrotto 441 and 440 Carbone (.n.or was that >> Carbonara?) that I saw locally were adjustable for wear and tension. >> However, they definitley were not as stable as the Gitzo 1228. > >Perhaps what you tried was too loosely adjusted, because the Manfrotto >is amazingly stable and rigid, and in no way (save the 200gr weight >difference) the lesser of the Gitzo's. No, the Manfrotto's were adjusted correctly. There certainly was no play in that area. >> I was not impressed by the Manfrottos. > >I was, and I bought one almost straight away. I've handled Gitzo's and >they never quite convinced me as the thing for *me* to have and use. The >Gitzo metal parts do look very smart, of course. It's the Gitzo leg >locks that I can't live with. I find the leg locks on the 1228 very nice; wide enough and quick enough. But I've gotten used to them as I have 6 other Gitzos from a #1 all the way to a #5 that I don't take more than a block from the car. I got most of them in the 70's after some Linhofs bent in bad places and a Tiltall locked up. BTW, a nice thing about the Gitzo's is that you can take multiple sections from smaller tripods and replace larger single end sections in larger tripods, thus giving tripods with more sections (and greater height). In this fashion I sometimes use a #3 tripod that at times has 6 sections and goes to over 2.4m without center column, and is not nearly as terrible to carry as the 5 section #5, but works well enough with cameras that aren't too heavy and don't have flapping mirrors. * Henning J. Wulff /|\ Wulff Photography & Design /###\ mailto:henningw@archiphoto.com |[ ]| http://www.archiphoto.com