John Russell
Well-known member
The choice of a suitable support system for sport optics or cameras is possibly more complex than the choice of the optics themselves. One only has to look at the enormous variety of tripods and heads on offer by the major manufacturers.
For us birders some of the factors to be considered are:-
Height requirements (user height, angled or straight scope)
Stability (scope weight, magnifications used, digiscoping?)
System weight (compatible with fitness of user if it is to be carried long distances)
Collapsed dimensions (transport in rucksack or travel luggage)
Quality (durability, ease of use etc.)
Cost
This all leads to very personal requirements (in my case: age 60+, height 1,90m, straight Zeiss Diascope 65 with 23x eyepiece, no digiscoping, often carried for 2hrs+). I hope the following may nevertheless be of some interest.
The Diascope was initially used with an old Gitzo Series 4 tripod, which had been acquired for use with a monorail camera. It weighed 5,6kg! The 3-way pan and tilt head was soon replaced by an FLM friction ballhead and this saved 1,5kg but it was still much too heavy. The high thermal conductivity of the aluminium also compounded the discomfort in cold weather.
The ballhead was , however, quite a good solution. With correctly set friction it just stays where it is pointed without any further adjustment so is very fast in use. Fortunately the centre of gravity of the Diascope 65 is almost directly above the mounting thread so little preset friction is required and some degree of lateral tilt, which is almost unavoidable with a ballhead, is not a nuisance with a straight scope.
My height dictates eye level viewing at about 180cm so, allowing for height of head and scope, the top plate of the tripod should reach 160cm without too much centre column extension. This is where the choice of lightweight tripods gets rather limited.
Gizo however offer 4-section versions of their Series 2 tripods with a maximum height of around 150cm (centre column not extended) in carbon fibre, basalt and aluminium. Quoted weights are from 1,4 to 1,9kg.
My local dealer had all 3 in stock so I took along my scope and ballhead and tried them out. Tapping one of the tripod legs, the vibrations in the carbon fibre tripod were damped quicker than in the basalt tripod and the aluminium model came in a distant third.
Taking into consideration the price advantage of around €200 against the carbon tripod the decision fell in favour of the GT2942L basalt model.
Basalt fibre is made by extruding molten basalt rock and was originally developed in the Soviet Union. It is chemically and thermally very stable (not qualities essential to tripod manufacture) and price and physical properties are very similar to glass fibre so it would appear that Gitzo's decision to use it were dictated more by marketing considerations than its physical attributes.
It does however look very good with a matte anthracite sheen similar to carbon fibre.
The basalt fibre tubes are made with 3 laminations of diagonal and longitudinal layers, whereas the carbon tubes consist of 6 layers.
On the Series 2 tripods the top tubes have a diameter of 28mm so that the fourth section is only 16mm in diameter. Fully extended this naturally has a negative influence on rigidity but to achieve the same maximum height with 3 sections would necessitate increasing the closed length of 60cm by about 12-13cm.
The legs cannot rotate with respect to one another so, in the closed position, it is possible to lock or unlock all sections simultaneously with a single twist of the rubberised rotating locks. The feet are rubber but can be replaced with spikes available as accessories. It is also possible to splay the legs at two different angles but a shorter centre column would be required to achieve a height below 42cm. This of course is of little relevance to scope users.
The top casting and the tops of the leg sections are cast in magnesium alloy and there is not a gram of excessive material. The finish is in the traditional Gitzo grey hammer paint and exudes an air of quality.
There are little details like grub screws to lock the top plate to the centre column and the top plate to the head. A stainless steel insert at the base of the centre column has a spring-loaded hook to add balast for stability and is protected by a rubber O-ring to prevent damage to the legs, when folded.
The centre column is grooved and non-rotatable. this enables one to alter the height for shorter viewers and still stay "on the bird." With a ballhead the rare requirement for elevations above 30° requires one to use the cutout and the lack of a panorama facility on the FLM head would have meant rotating the whole tripod. This prompted me to look for alternatives and I settled on a Gitzo 1277M centre ballhead. Apart from the panorama locking lever it has a single knob to progressively adjust friction and to lock. Operation is very smooth and Gitzo seem to have done their homework on static and dynamic friction as, with similar friction, it holds the scope at an angle better than the FLM.
Stability is improved if the number of interfaces is reduced to a minimum and the centre of gravity of the scope is kept as low as possible. I consequently replaced the top plate of the ballhead with a Manfrotto quick release plate and this was secured with Loctite after degreasing all threads. The Manfrotto quick release seems to be a standard among birders, is effective and has the advantage of being considerably cheaper than the Gitzo and Arca Swiss-type alternatives.
I have now acquired some experience using the combination in the field and, despite the flexibility of the bottom leg sections, it has provided stable viewing at 23x magnification and 1,8m height in moderate winds, which is excellent performance for a measured tripod weight of 1,79kg.
For those of normal stature (or angled scope users) the 3-section GT2932 would provide even better stability.
My25 year-old Series 4 Gitzo tripod was built like a battleship but finish was not its strong point. The current generation has achieved a degree of perfection that deserves a place in MOMA.
John
For us birders some of the factors to be considered are:-
Height requirements (user height, angled or straight scope)
Stability (scope weight, magnifications used, digiscoping?)
System weight (compatible with fitness of user if it is to be carried long distances)
Collapsed dimensions (transport in rucksack or travel luggage)
Quality (durability, ease of use etc.)
Cost
This all leads to very personal requirements (in my case: age 60+, height 1,90m, straight Zeiss Diascope 65 with 23x eyepiece, no digiscoping, often carried for 2hrs+). I hope the following may nevertheless be of some interest.
The Diascope was initially used with an old Gitzo Series 4 tripod, which had been acquired for use with a monorail camera. It weighed 5,6kg! The 3-way pan and tilt head was soon replaced by an FLM friction ballhead and this saved 1,5kg but it was still much too heavy. The high thermal conductivity of the aluminium also compounded the discomfort in cold weather.
The ballhead was , however, quite a good solution. With correctly set friction it just stays where it is pointed without any further adjustment so is very fast in use. Fortunately the centre of gravity of the Diascope 65 is almost directly above the mounting thread so little preset friction is required and some degree of lateral tilt, which is almost unavoidable with a ballhead, is not a nuisance with a straight scope.
My height dictates eye level viewing at about 180cm so, allowing for height of head and scope, the top plate of the tripod should reach 160cm without too much centre column extension. This is where the choice of lightweight tripods gets rather limited.
Gizo however offer 4-section versions of their Series 2 tripods with a maximum height of around 150cm (centre column not extended) in carbon fibre, basalt and aluminium. Quoted weights are from 1,4 to 1,9kg.
My local dealer had all 3 in stock so I took along my scope and ballhead and tried them out. Tapping one of the tripod legs, the vibrations in the carbon fibre tripod were damped quicker than in the basalt tripod and the aluminium model came in a distant third.
Taking into consideration the price advantage of around €200 against the carbon tripod the decision fell in favour of the GT2942L basalt model.
Basalt fibre is made by extruding molten basalt rock and was originally developed in the Soviet Union. It is chemically and thermally very stable (not qualities essential to tripod manufacture) and price and physical properties are very similar to glass fibre so it would appear that Gitzo's decision to use it were dictated more by marketing considerations than its physical attributes.
It does however look very good with a matte anthracite sheen similar to carbon fibre.
The basalt fibre tubes are made with 3 laminations of diagonal and longitudinal layers, whereas the carbon tubes consist of 6 layers.
On the Series 2 tripods the top tubes have a diameter of 28mm so that the fourth section is only 16mm in diameter. Fully extended this naturally has a negative influence on rigidity but to achieve the same maximum height with 3 sections would necessitate increasing the closed length of 60cm by about 12-13cm.
The legs cannot rotate with respect to one another so, in the closed position, it is possible to lock or unlock all sections simultaneously with a single twist of the rubberised rotating locks. The feet are rubber but can be replaced with spikes available as accessories. It is also possible to splay the legs at two different angles but a shorter centre column would be required to achieve a height below 42cm. This of course is of little relevance to scope users.
The top casting and the tops of the leg sections are cast in magnesium alloy and there is not a gram of excessive material. The finish is in the traditional Gitzo grey hammer paint and exudes an air of quality.
There are little details like grub screws to lock the top plate to the centre column and the top plate to the head. A stainless steel insert at the base of the centre column has a spring-loaded hook to add balast for stability and is protected by a rubber O-ring to prevent damage to the legs, when folded.
The centre column is grooved and non-rotatable. this enables one to alter the height for shorter viewers and still stay "on the bird." With a ballhead the rare requirement for elevations above 30° requires one to use the cutout and the lack of a panorama facility on the FLM head would have meant rotating the whole tripod. This prompted me to look for alternatives and I settled on a Gitzo 1277M centre ballhead. Apart from the panorama locking lever it has a single knob to progressively adjust friction and to lock. Operation is very smooth and Gitzo seem to have done their homework on static and dynamic friction as, with similar friction, it holds the scope at an angle better than the FLM.
Stability is improved if the number of interfaces is reduced to a minimum and the centre of gravity of the scope is kept as low as possible. I consequently replaced the top plate of the ballhead with a Manfrotto quick release plate and this was secured with Loctite after degreasing all threads. The Manfrotto quick release seems to be a standard among birders, is effective and has the advantage of being considerably cheaper than the Gitzo and Arca Swiss-type alternatives.
I have now acquired some experience using the combination in the field and, despite the flexibility of the bottom leg sections, it has provided stable viewing at 23x magnification and 1,8m height in moderate winds, which is excellent performance for a measured tripod weight of 1,79kg.
For those of normal stature (or angled scope users) the 3-section GT2932 would provide even better stability.
My25 year-old Series 4 Gitzo tripod was built like a battleship but finish was not its strong point. The current generation has achieved a degree of perfection that deserves a place in MOMA.
John
