[Leica] Ultimate travel Tripod... - not worthy of the Leica item??

[henningw at archiphoto.com (Henning Wulff)]

At 9:52 AM +0100 4/6/09, Frank Dernie wrote:
>Jan,
>I appreciate the Leica as a hand held camera but nevertheless I also 
>carry a Leica "tabletop" tripod with small ball head (only available 
>secondhand now) and cable release. It takes very little space and is 
>much more rigid than the lightweight CF tripods, I have the Gitzo 
>1550T, which also takes ages to erect so I almost never take it with 
>me. I can usually find something to put this rigid little assembly 
>on, with stupendous results which would be impossible handheld.
>It has got me out of tight spots, when, for example, I wanted to 
>take some church interiors at Assisi with reasonable depth of field.
>Certainly it is unlikely that the full potential of a lens is 
>realised without a tripod, but the Leica "look" is there anyway, 
>just not the maximum sharpness ;-)
>

I also have and use the Leica table tripod, with a variety of heads. 
My usual travel tripod right now is the Minox tripod, about 25cm long 
and 1cm across, as the legs screw into one another, and it has a 
small ballhead at one end. It used to have a small cable release that 
tucked into the other end, but that has disappeared since I got it 50 
years ago.

Since a lot of the photography I did, and sometimes still do, is 
larger format tripods have always been part of my kit.

I have 1028 and 1228 Gitzo CF tripods, used with Culmann ballheads 
mostly. They have the best combination of small size, lack of weight, 
compatible load capacity and smoothness for these tripods. All other 
heads, and especially the Gitzo and Manfrotto offerings for these 
tripods seriously lack in one department or the other.

Then I have a three aluminum Gitzos, mainly a 320 and a 509 that have 
now seen a lot of use. The 320 is the basic tripod for 4x5, MF SLR's 
and 35mm slr's under demanding conditions. It goes up to over 2m, and 
if I put a platform on it it can hold me. I use a Gizo 3-way head on 
it, a Manfrotto geared head or for true rigidity, a Sinar or Foba 
pan/tilt head. These heads also go on the 509, which is almost 1m 
long collapsed, has 5 sections, and either a double sliding center 
column or a geared column and is about 3.3m extended maximum in my 
configuration. It also weighs over 10kg. I need a 2.5m stepladder to 
use it fully. It allows me to take pictures of buildings in the city 
when cars might get in the way. The Leicas are rarely put on it, but 
the stepladder sometimes helps :-)!

The third Gitzo alminum tripod is a bit of a mongrel. The basic 
tripod started out as a 2 series Gitzo with three relatively long 
sections and a sliding centre column. As I had a number of Gitzos at 
the time, I took sections off other tripods as well as a double 
center column, so that I now have a five section 2 series with a 
double centre column. This was and is my main tripod for my 
lightweight 4x5 outfit, and is great for outdoor stuff, as you often 
need longer extensions than in urban areas due to uneven ground. So 
this one now goes up to 2.5m.

The most I ever take on a trip is the 1228 Gitzo, and that only if 
I'm taking the Noblex 150 or Mamiya 6. When I am only travelling with 
Leicas, the most I ever take is the 1028, and usually only the Minox.

Here they are:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/hwulff/Stuff/Tripods.jpg.html

The Leica is on the Minox tripod, and my quick set-up and very 
lightweight Linhof monopod is leaning against the mongrel Gitzo.
All the accessory bits, columns and cross-colums and other heads aren't 
shown.


-- 

    *            Henning J. Wulff
   /|\      Wulff Photography & Design
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