Photographer’s Wish List: Gitzo Series 3 Carbon 6X Systematic XL Tripod

I’ve had the same tripod for over four years now.  When I first saw the Manfrotto 190xPROB series I instantly fell in love.  As a matter of fact the Manfrotto tripod I have today was the first piece of equipment I purchased, even before my digital SLR!  Also being a landscape photographer, I’m just as concerned with how my camera is stabilized as I am what camera making pictures with.

Enter the Gitzo systematic tripods.  The first time I’ve ever seen a Gitzo was when I saw Art Wolfe do a talk about his travels to the edge series.  I saw him using what seemed to me like an odd looking tripod without a centre column.  I was intrigued.  Later this year I met Ted, a rep for Gitzo and soon enough he showed me what this baby could do.  Ted was nice enough to let me try out a GT3541XLS for a few weeks.  The Gitzo systematic tripods are the most stable tripods I’ve ever used.

 

Here are some features:

-Carbon Fibre ALR designed tubes

-No centre column to reduce the amount of vibration (a centre column may be added if you want the extra height)

-Quick quarter turn leg locks

-The XLS version I had extended to just shy of under 2m (198cm or 6’5″)

-Extremely light 1.97 kg

Pros:

-Extremely light for a tripod of that height.

-Very sturdy.  I was borrowing my friend’s Mamiya RB67 medium format camera and it held up with no problems.

-It was quick to set up as the leg locks could all be turned at once.

-The height allows you to have different perspectives and if the ground is uneven or if you’re standing by a ravine the extra height is a blessing.

Cons:

-It can be overkill for a portrait session or a wedding.  It’s best suited for landscape photography and trekking out to the mountains.

-The rubber feet can be lost very easily.  Without knowing I had lost one of the feet in some tall grass.  I spent a considerable amount of time looking for it but gave up and decided to shell out the $20+ to buy a replacement set (luckily they sell them in groups of three).  I’ve heard some people actually using locktite so they don’t lose theirs.  Not a big deal to either locktite them or to just check them every once in awhile to ensure they are screwed in tight.

Conclusion:

This tripod is on my wish list for sure.  It comes with a price tag (MSRP of $789.95) for just the tripod.  Considering this tripod will last you in excess of over 20 years it’s worth every penny.  My first big equipment purchase of 2012 will be this tripod.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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This entry was posted on Friday, December 9th, 2011 at 8:52 am. It is filed under Round Pixel News and tagged with Calgary, equipment, industry news, photography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.