Just another tripod thread...

Impulses wrote:

I'm looking for a sturdier counterpart to the T-005X I've been using for travel. I'm still very happy with it for what it is and what I need from it, it's tiny, versatile, and light. However, I want something sturdier for home use, for tests, for astro, for pano work, etc.

My gear is all pretty lightweight for now (~500g E-M5 II + grip + tiny lenses) but I want something that'll work now and in the future if I decide to say, get a 40-150 f2.8, or a tracking mount (1kg), or I wanna use a big lens on my Hejnar pano kit (~300g). Leaning towards an N-1004X + K-20X head, am I aiming too low?

You should consider that you might own the Olympus 300mm Pro or the Pana 100-400 one day and that it can be a bit windy on the day you want use your new lenses and tripod.

It doesn't pack as small as other Siruis (18") but being a 4 leg section model, and having a taller stance sans column, I figure it should be amongst the sturdier alu models... Still just <4lb (w/head) if I do wanna take it somewhere. Should I be looking at the N-2004X instead? The head is rated even higher.

You are mistaken, you must look for less leg sections to find a stable tripod. Unfortunately that means that a) the tripod maybe longer when packed, or b) shorter when unpacked.

I dunno to what extent I can trust their load ratings, the N-1004X is supposed to be good for 12kg and I'm probably never stacking more than 2.5kg on it... I know there's an accessory forum but we're more familiar with each other's M4/3 gear here so...

You can not trust the manufacturer load ratings because there is no standard and every manufacturer can do what ever they like. But you can use this to compare tripods from the same manufacturer.

If you are currently reasonable satisfied with the T-005X then I would suggest to get the N-2004X because of the thicker legs and the larger platform.