Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2012/04/24
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hi Jayanand, about 8 years ago I bought a carbon fibre Gitzo G1257 and a Gitzo ball head. This was mainly for use with a view camera, but it is not too heavy to use for general use either. I later bought a gimbal mount so that I could use my 400/2.8 lens with it. Even with this heavy lens, the G1257 holds steady, although I wouldn't want to use any lighter tripod with that set-up. Anyway, my point is that on vacation in Shanghai I saw a camera store with many Chinese made tripods that were indiscernible from Gitzo, except for the label. ... And the price. I paid 90,000 yen for my Gitzo, whereas these tripods were about a quarter that price. A little Googling later found stories that Gitzo wanted to collaborate with this Chinese company and gave them the plans for their 6x CF series tripods. The Chinese company ended up not collaborating, but produced the same tripods themselves. The company was Benro. There's also a company called Benbo which make tripods, which probably leads to some confusion sometimes. . You might want to look into Benro. I wish I'd known about them before I bought my Gitzo. Another tip, I have lost two of my three Gitzo feet. They become loose easily and are expensive to replace. If I ever get around to replacing them (maybe from Benro), I'll add a drop of Loctite to each All the best, Peter