'Not too heavy' tripod for a Kowa TSN-883? (1 Viewer)

So I wanted to buy my birding obsessed bride a quality scope for our 43rd anniversary next month. After listening to you folks the quality (and price!) kept inching up to the Kowa TSN-883!

I know it is 'short-sighted' to stick a $3,000.00 scope on a 50.00 tripod! So where is the sweet spot both in weight and price for a compact and easy to use tripod? (We do a fair bit of mild hiking and I'm the designated burro so therefore my interest in weight!)

NOTE: I think I prefer the locking leg levers instead of the knurled knobs you twist. (sorry I don't know the technical terms.) And we don't do digiscoping... yet!

Many thanks in advance for any advice! Steve

I would look at Sirui carbon fibre tripods (cheaper than Gitzo, but still good quality). I think you can get a sturdy tripod close to 4 pounds or a bit less. Sirui VH-10 is a good fluid head (but the weight is 2 pounds). You might get away with a lighter head and tripod, but smaller tripods with 5 leg sections can be wobbly fully elongated. You also need to consider how much height is needed. 3 leg sections and no center-column would be the most stable alternative but rather bulky.
In the end it depends on your type of usage and demands. For hiking some compromise in stability seems sensible. My "lightweight" setup is 4 pounds for both tripod and head with some sacrifice in stability. The Kowa 883 is pretty good balanced so you might be able to find something in the same range that will work acceptable for you.

Hi,

first of all, welcome to BF.

In general, you should take half of the maximum load given by tripod manufacturers or less as a good weight of scope and maybe camera for a stable stand.

Having 3 sections instead of 4 is preferred - less lugs means less flex plus that way the lowest section has a larger diameter which also means less flex. I personally prefer twist lugs as there's less things to go wrong with them.

Also you might want to choose legs so that you can use them comfortably with the center column down or at least mostly so. Having it extended decreases stability quite a bit.

Regarding head, I prefer to err on the side of stability and have chosen the Manfrotto 500AH. I have tried the often recommended 128 RC and it was not stable enough for me.

My tripod legs (the predecessor of the current Velbon Geo N535) and head are about 2.3kg. I use a scopac to lug it around like a backpack - this is quite comfortable for me.

Joachim

Vespobuteo said:

My "lightweight" setup is 4 pounds for both tripod and head with some sacrifice in stability. The Kowa 883 is pretty good balanced so you might be able to find something in the same range that will work acceptable for you.

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Thanks for the input! Do you remember what your "lightweight" setup consists of?

Durango1 said:

Thanks for the input! Do you remember what your "lightweight" setup consists of?

Click to expand...

4-section Gitzo Mountaineer carbon fibre tripod (I use Gitzo Systematic for heavier gear). In general, Gitzo is a bit overpriced IMO if you don't use your gear professionally.

The small fluid-head is a Benro S2P (P means it has Arca-swiss compatible plates, the S2 version don't have that). S2/S2P is only rated to 5.5 lb (2.5 kg) max load so you have to be careful with heavier scopes but its weight is only 0.8 lbs (0.4 kg). Panning, stability etc. will not be super smooth though.

I also have a Benro S4P (weight 1.5 lb/680 grams) that is rated to 8.8 lb (4 kg) that works better for larger scopes. It's lighter than Sirui VH-10 but the Sirui is a bit smoother in panning and probably the better head of the two. VH-10X would be even better with step-wise adjustable horizontal drag, but with more features the weight increases.

As I needed arca-swiss-plate compatibility the VH-10 was not an option for me.

Another light weight alternative might be the Sirui VA-5, but haven't tried that one and max-load might be a bit low for larger scopes.

I have the scope and would recommend this lightweight head:

https://smile.amazon.com/Velbon-PH-...pID=41rTvzUZjnL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

I tried more expensive fluid heads and found this one to be more reliable and quicker to get me on the birds. Unless your friend plans to do a lot of digiscoping, fluid heads are unnecessary.

For the legs, I would look at Velbon carbon fiber tripods. Cheaper than Gitzo but still good quality. Not sure if they still make the model I have (el carmagne 630), but I have been happy with it.

We have sold hundreds of the Promaster XC525C carbon Fiber tripods. It has 9 layers of carbon, is light weight (about 2 lbs) and comes with a ball head which you can remove. I would suggest the Manfrotto 700RC2 fluid head. Normally the tripod with the Manfrotto head is $389.98. As a member of the forum we can do the combo for $344.99. The tripod has a 1 year no fault warranty.
Please feel free to call me at 516-217-1000 with any questions. I am here most days from 9-6, Saturdays from 10-5

Thanks
Joel
Camera Land