Sorry another which tripod question (1 Viewer)

Hi Feathery friends

Just got hold of a Leica APO 77 angled scope and need some tripod advice.

Foolishly I sold a Benbo only a couple of months ago......

I am 6'2", need a tripod that will hold it firm and what head should I go for?

I will try to buy secondhand (Ebay) first to save some money, I am thinking Gitzo/Manfrotto

Give me your thoughts the scope arrives tomorrow and I guess it wont be handholdable.

Thanks Fouldsy

Depends how much you want to spend - Gitzo very good but expensive. Manfrotto cost effective - good value. Do you want carbon fibre? Are you going to digi scope? All this is important in helping you make a choice but try them out if you can......

You cant go wrong with either Gitzo or Manfrotto. My advice is always try to buy something where you have to raise the centre column as little as possible, better not at all. Gitzo would be better here since they make taller tripods, some without centre columns, e.g. the G1325 (fab piece of kit) with a head would mean you wouldnt need a centre column. At your height, raising a centre column more than an inch or two will significantly increase wobble/wind vibration in the head and scope.

i would take a gitzo GT 2330 and a head gitzo 2380 or a 501 manfrotto head.

Am over six foot and use Manfroto 055mfv with 128rc head.

Determining optimum tripod height - for angled eyepiece

Determining optimum tripod height (top of tripod), without center column raised, but with legs fully extended (strongest):

---------- Top of head (not hair)

4"-5" usually

---------- Center of eyes looking straight ahead

Maybe 2" usually

---------- Center of eyes tilted (looking into angled eyepiece), middle of angled ocular

4-6" usually

---------- Bottom of scope tripod mount (top of tripod head)

4-5" usually

---------- Bottom of tripod head/top of tripod, with legs fully extended, center column not raised. GET A TRIPOD THAT IS THIS HIGH WITHOUT THE CENTER COLUMN RAISED BUT WITH LEGS FULLY EXTENDED.

Make sure to error a little on the low side (make the tripod height a little shorter). You don't want to have to shorten your tripod legs every time you use the tripod, or when you look slightly down with the scope, or do you?

When sharing the outfit with shorter people you will have to shorten the legs for them and then raise the center column as needed, make sure that the center column will raise high enough for you under all circumstances. I think I have all of this right.o Make sure to take your own personal and equipment measurements and apply as needed.

Convert inches to centameters as needed.

Of course you need to get a head that will hold the weight of your scope (with or without digiscoping equipment, etc.?), and has the features you need, and get a tripod which will hold the weight of the head and what is sitting on top of the head. Carbon fiber (or some equally exotic technology) is of course better as it damps out vibration a lot quicker and is lighter. Hope I am not stating the obvious too badly, just trying to help and felt like writing a treatise. The Manfrotto View Carbon Fiber Kit 701RC2,055MFV I just got was perfect for me size-wise and I do love it, but I am 5' 10". Even this combo will probably not do well in a strong wind, I suppose hardly anything reasonable to carry will. I wanted a Gitzo 6x carbon-fiber outfit but those things are too ridiculously expensive for me, maybe next time!
:t:

Fouldsy, if you are 6' 2" even, I bet a 59.7"/151.6cm (or maybe a hair shorter) tripod (fully extended but with center column not raised) would be about perfect, but you still have to do the math and measurements. It looks as though you are in very good hands with the advice your fellow Britishers have tendered so far!!!
:clap:

P.S. If you go for a tripod without a center column that makes all this measuring I think much more serious, much less margin for error I think, then you would want to error on the side where the tripod would be a little bit taller than needed and adjust by shortening the legs?! Because no matter what you would not want a center-columnless tripod to be too short.:eek!:

Thanks for your advice, my feathered friends, its looking like a Manfrotton 055 with a 128/129 head, unless I can find a Gitzo at a good price!

Fouldsy

Er, uh, 59.7"/151.6cm (or maybe a hair shorter) would be at the top of the head, not the top of the tripod, I think, sorry.