Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2012/04/24
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Peter, the only problem I would have with buying this cheap Chinese tripod is that basically, Benro stole Gitzo's intellectual property. If we care about copyright for our photographs, then we should also care about other forms of IP. I would not buy a Benro, savings or not. Cheers, Nathan Nathan Wajsman Alicante, Spain http://www.frozenlight.eu http://www.greatpix.eu http://www.nathanfoto.com PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws Blog: http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/ YNWA On Apr 24, 2012, at 4:42 PM, Peter Cheyne wrote: > 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 > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >