What tripod do you use and aren't many identical?

R Liewenberger wrote:

Jorginho wrote:

Hi I recently bought me a Rollei Traveller tripod. Nice, light and easy to use. Good for traveling. I have an E-M1.2 and a GH4 so they tend to be less heavy than their DSLr counterparts.

But I shoot timelapse with the GH4 and pics with the E-M1.2 on quite a few occassions (say noctilucent clouds). So I like to have another one. Also: the traveller is great for light weight but it is not as stable as a heavier or may be better designed produt. After all this tripod only costed about 90 euro's or so so you can't expect too much.

So now I found a Rollei C50i (aluminium or carbon) which ahs been replaced by the C5i. Which is te exact same tripod but cheaper and comes with only one Arca plate instead of two with the 50.

Looking into this closer It seems to me they are all made by the same manufacturer and I guess it is Sirui but may be Sirui is not the manufacturer but one of them. Does not matter.

Is this true, have you noted or has someone found an article how Rollei=Mefoto=Sirui=K&F=Geekphoto etcetc. The balheads all look identical too. But are they?

Hi Jorge,

the Rollei tripods are made in Mainland China by Fotopro, who make tripods for various brands.

https://fotopro.com/pages/brand

'Fotopro' was also mentioned in this little year 2015 review of a Rollei C5i; in those days you could still find both names on the tripod: https://web-done.de/testbericht_review/rollei-c5i-stativ-mit-kugelkopf-fph-52q-im-test/

A pic from that article:

https://web-done.de/testbericht_review/rollei-c5i-stativ-mit-kugelkopf-fph-52q-im-test/

Btw, his conclusion was something like "weder Fisch noch Fleisch" (meaning it's neither a very lightweight travel tripod nor a big and heavy one for studio use), but a nice working compromise when it comes to price, size/weight and stability.

Apart from that: any recommendations under 150 euro/dollar?? Thx!

Too bad you didn't decide buying a Rollei tripod about 1.5 years ago, when I bought my Rollei 'Rock Solid Beta 180 Carbon'!

In November 2017, Rollei had a clearance sale, before in 2018 introducing their new line of 'Mark II' versions, for the Gamma, the Beta as well as the big Alpha and Alpha XL.

The Beta 180 Carbon used to be € 399, now it was down to € 79.99 (alu version now € 59.99), the Gamma 180 Carbon from € 299 down to € 69.99 (alu € 49.99).

Within a day or two they were all gone, after someone posted about it on https://www.mydealz.de/

A few days later they started showing up on ebay ('mint, like new', 'used exactly once', 'just unboxed, but never used', 'got it as a present but already owned one', etc.).

I actually missed that clearance sale, but after reading a test where this Beta 180 Carbon was the second best one, I decided to buy one on ebay.

Payed € 120 for mine, I think a very good price for something that was € 400 just two weeks before! Because of the 2-year warranty I asked the seller to also send me his original invoice; from that invoice I could see he was one of the lucky ones who only payed € 79.99 for it.

You still can find these Rock Solid tripods, Gamma, Beta as well as Alpha, without the 'Mark II designation, these days on ebay. Usually the warranty ends in November 2019, so you know they are from that November 2017 clearance sale. https://www.ebay.de/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=rollei+rock+solid&_sacat=0

But it is really a shame to see what some sellers are asking for these tripods now, when you know what they actually payed for them!

I liked the Beta over the less expensive Gamma mainly because the better leg diameter, 31 mm for the top segment, so the lowest one is still something acceptable. The center columns of both the Beta and the Gamma can be put in a horizontal position, that is why they have that '180' in the name. It looks like they dropped that feature on the new Mark II versions, just like they went from flip lock to twist lock now. And the max. leg diameter is up to 32 mm now.

A nice Rollei picture of the Beta and Gamma Carbon 180:

Two ebay pics of the one I bought:

I am not really a friend of tripods, but looking at what I had, a heavy old Linhof I found at work and a super-flimsy brass one from the 50s, with a bottom leg segment diameter comparable to a cigarette, I thought it is time for something new now. Think I have used it three times so far, once inside and twice on the veranda. Oh well! But I like the feeling that there is a good tripod in the house, in case I actually need one!

But maybe I should upgrade to one of the nicer ones from their Apha series; no silly center column so I could also practice some gymnastics with it!

Liewenberger

Oke...wir sagen in Die Niederlande Vlees noch vis...Aber sagt mann auch manchmal wenn mann uber mFT redet...Jack of all trades master of none ist glaub ich aehnlich.

Oke...I read in that the tripod is quite heay at 2,4 Kg mit Kopf. That is about 1 Kg heavier. Otoh not bad and I can use it for when I just travel by car and not need to hike for longer distances. When it is windy it mightbe handy. Looks grat btw! do you happen to know how gamma is different from beta?

Thanks for the time you took and providing me with very useful information!