DPReview TV: Choosing the right large tripod - Gitzo, Manfrotto, Leofoto and Sirui tripods compared

Forget all new Manfloppy tripods these days. Carbon and whatnot, they will fall into pieces in just few years. My 055 CXPro3 is literally a flip-flop finger crusher with almost all locks broken after 4 years of heavy field use. All joints are loosened due to severe abrasion.

Shame you guys didn't cover the Innorel RT90C (also sold under other names but with a similar model number). I use one (with a Benro GD3WH) and love it.

Carbon fiber, supports >80lbs, goes to ~5'3" without center column (which is sold seperately), super sturdy and costs ~$300. There are a lot of third party options worth reviewing at this point in time.

Feisol CT-3472 tripod at $600 has 57" height, supports 66 lbs and in 30 seconds add $63 center column kit increasing height to 10+ inches, rock solid with 600mm f/4 lens. $84 and 30 seconds add a quick level base for video and panos.

Feisol CT-3472 gives me 3 tripods at half the cost of my RRS TVC-34L and Feisol is better designed and build quality is as good as RRS and better than Gitzo. I also got an excellent carry case with the Feisol as compared to RRS and Gitzo where all I got was a cardboard box.

I have owned the RRS tripod, two Gitzo tripods, and a dozen other field and studio tripods over the years and nothing provides the utility and build quality (and reliability) of the Feisol tripods. The Feisol CT-3441T is by far the best travel tripod I have found and despite its light weight at 2.6 lbs it supports a 44 lb load with the legs fully extended. Feisol also provides great carry cases - Gitzo and RRS provide a cardboard box.

Hi, there will be many viewers like me, whose mother language is not English. And although I realize that you like to present as much information as possible in the short time frame, for those viewers, speaking a bit slower will make it much more comfortable to understand every word you say.

RRS?

I was convinced to buy Benro Rhino, but this Sirui made me curious. It's similar in specs but 50% more expensive. Where I live this brand is almost unknown so I can't see it for myself in a shop.

Is someone here who could compare these models? Or explain why is it worth it to pay 50% more for Sirui?

BTW, the Gitzo shown in this video costs more than Sigma 85 F/1.4 DG DN.

Also worth mentioning are The Berlebach wooden tripods. Despite the antique looks they can not be condemmed out of hand. They are actually very stable and vibration resistant. The weight is about the double of equivalent modern carbon tripods, but if one doesn't need to carry it around a lot, one gets a lot of stability for resonable money. They are easy to clean if they have been used in dirt or water. The astro people like the heavier versions (they even have a version especially designed for that). https://www.berlebach.de/de/?bereich=details&id=8&sprache=english

Hey, Jordon. How about a segment(s) on video tripods and video heads? Don't let Chris hog all the airtime.

I'm a little confused about this video: the article says "large tripods", but Chris clearly states in the video "medium tripods", which at least 2 of these are, if not all..

When I think of a large tripod, I think of my Leofoto LN-404C, which, when the legs are fully extended, I can walk under upright. I'm 5'-11" or 180.3 cm tall.

I have used them all and only use RRS tripods and monopods today presently own six RSS tripods. I suspect anyone else who has used RSS sticks feels the same. I have had to send four Gitzo's in for repair that was enough for me. I am not a person who uses a tripod very much either other than for wildlife.

There are some really strange vibrations in this review...

Some of the more critical posts below are missing the point (nothing new there of course). The video is an informal look at some different tripods, using them as examples for discussion of the features, and as such it succeeds. It's not a formal test - one clue is in the choice of an 18-year-old well-used Manfrotto as one of just four tripods. I actually own more tripods than that, including an even older Manfrotto 055, so I could make a more comprehensive video I guess, but I don't have Chris and Jordan's charisma.

Thanks guys….this really helps! Appreciate your detailed analysis.

I'll echo others who say that the vibration test doesn't seem relevant. When was the last time you used a tripod on a vibrating surface? Wind seems like the much bigger issue. Maybe a large fan next time?

I would enjoy seeing more comparisons with budget tripods <$100.

See also: https://thecentercolumn.com/testing-tripod-stiffness-and-damping-at-the-center-column/. In fact, would be much better to try to get the picture of the scene while e.g. during 10 second exposure "white noise" mechanical excitation is applied to the camera (and not to the tripod) in various directions in the range of e.g. 1 - 100 Hz.

Why test them with different heads?

Most people buying at that level are going to have favorite heads and a straight leg test would have been better.

I can very highly recommend the Novoflex Tripod system
https://www.novoflex.de/en/

Usually, tripods are specified with their load bearing capacity. Halve that, and you'll get a somewhat realistic number.

I wonder why this hasn't been mentioned in the video at all.

My most stable tripod is a Berlebach, one of the few good aspects about the east-german region of Saxony. Well built, stable, from vibration dampening wood as ash. And it has a ball the center column goes through, so that it's possible to align that vertically without changing the legs positioning (a real hassle on even ground). When doing panoramic shooting, the next best thing is an inverted ball head with a panorama plate on top.

A large tripod recommendations without RRS, FLM & PMG is just well really missing out… Sure top of the range Gitzo still beats everything else, but after Gitzo those three brands sit head and shoulder above everything else. Yes chinese brands such as Benro, Leophoto and Sirui are doing well for their price, but I would still pick FLM over these as it’s a more refined Chinese made version (probably thanks to it being a german company)

Also center column in a large tripod, really! A centre column mostly make sense in smaller tripods to reduce their overall folded seize. , when deciding to carrying such a huge tripod you really should not accept stability and damping compromises that you get with a centre column. A big tripod is for maximum stability at high hight, a no column “systematic” is far superior to everything else.

Amusing video guys, but you really need to move on from your vibrator obsession! A tripod works by steadying the camera by connecting it rigidly to the ground. If your vibration test measures anything, it’s probably damping, so an ancient wobbly wooden tripod would win. A really rigid lightweight tripod is going to send all those vibrations to the camera, so the best tripod will give the blurriest photos…..
A much better test would be a long exposure and something that gives a consistent low frequency gentle shake to the camera body, to simulate wind buffeting. How about one of those dancing flowers fitted to the hot shoe?

I have a Gitzo SystematicGT3543LS and it's the best tripod I have ever owned bar none if a solid base regardless of size is your aim.

A large tripod comparison without Really Right Stuff has very little value if the purpose is to inform viewers about the best options.

Btw Loeofoto’s product are an obvious RRS rip off, no way I would ever buy anything from them.

It is quite strange that almost all new tripods have higher center of gravity (putting big screw or even two between head and tripod) making tripod less stable in extreme conditions.

Maybe better (more realistic) way to test the tripod stability is to use longer lens >200mm and take one shot without timer and one with 2 second timer (5+ sec. timer probably would give sharp images on all tripods).

I bought this exact same Sirui a few years ago to replace my manfrotto 055cxpro4 (that had the same problems as Chris').
I had to send it back as in real world usage it was flimsy and unstable. It uses a dirty trick to win the race of numbers (height/weight): leng angle (22°) is steeper than the competition (23-24°). Nowadays they don't even display it in the feature chart.

That was very informative. Thx

Good video - thanks. Video is quite a good medium for tripods - perhaps more so than for cameras/lenses, because of the more mechanical nature. Slight shame that the leg angle locks weren't really covered, but difficult to cover everything I guess.
Any plans to post the test samples? These are one thing that don't work so well in video.

DPR does bring up some common things that people forget when considering a tripod, like vibration (for example, not all CF tripods are made the same).

But if you really want some good suggestions, go visit thecentercolumn.com . Tripod reviews is all they do.

Gitzo, Manfrotto, and Sirui are some of the more common brands, but there are many others, some of which I never heard of. In fact, I just got an FLM tripod recently. Not the cheapest thing out there, but according to a lot of reviews I read, it's a very sturdy tripod that isn't really that have or large.

One TIP I will give to people..... even if your tripod has a center column, don't use it. I prefer to buy ones that don't have a center column (my FLM doesn't which is one of the reasons I got it). Of course I do have a cheaper $200 Sirui travel tripod which I like, for the most part, except it has a double-center column that extends (which I superglued down so it doesn't move).

As always, a fun video to watch. My 2 cents I will add to any newbie photographers that may stumble upon this comment...I am not picking a brand, but I will say, buy the best tripod that fits your needs and budget (even used). A bad tripod is a piece of junk that will drive you crazy and you will throw it away. Buy once and use for literally decades, if not the rest of your life. My Gitzo Studex Performance (so old it says made in France) and Foba Superball head combo is 30+ years and still works just great (with almost zero maintenance I am ashamed to admit) for my needs. So solid that it is overkill for my newer and smaller gear (no more Pentax 67 on it), but works wonderfully for my 80mm telescope as well.

Chris, Jordan regarding the vibration test, a comment from an engineer.

Weight gives stability and has little influence on damping (changes the frequency a bit). A good tripod needs stability and damping. The way load is applied, the way excitation is applied matters with respect to the response (amplitude, frequency). You may have excited eigenmodes with your shaker not really relavent in practical tripod application and may have missed excitation relevant. I guess you are aware that you are testing the system tripod plus ballhead? If you want to test the tripod, use the same ballhead.

Your test of vibration resistance is incomplete. Structures (in this case tripods) have resonance, that is to say they resonate to varying degrees to particular frequencies.
To make a just comparison you would require a variable frequency tripod vibrator and to test each tripod at as large a range of frequencies as possible, at as many extensions (heights) as possible.

In your example the Gitzo most likely happened to be resonant to your vibrator’s native hum at the leg extension you arbitrarily chose, while strictly by chance, the other tripods were not.

Love the videos always, and this one is no exception. I am really enjoying these comparison videos that are coming out on the weekends.

I would agree with the others that it would have been nice to include Really RIght Stuff in this kind of review in the future.

Should have gone with equal heights for all tripods.

My large tripod: TILTALL. I've had this since 1985 !!!

Why did he choose that model Leofoto tripod for an article about choosing the right LARGE tripod, then complain it’s too small? Leofoto DOES have larger tripods that would have been more appropriate for the article.

Would’ve liked to have seen either really right stuff or promedia tripods in this review. That said Gitzo without question can always be counted on to represent the premier brands.

Interesting to leave out RRS from this…personal tuning test lol but I find them as one of the best tripods on the market.

Now we need a follow-up episode covering various Tripod Personal Massage Devices (TPMDs) to science which has the best performance in tripod vibration tests. Just for research porpoises, of course.