Has anybody tried the carbon tripods made by Velbon (Carmagne 630/640) or Manfrotto (Carbon No. One 440/441) for supporting LF equipment of moderate weight (e.g. an AS F-Line with focal range between 75 and 300mm)?
The B&H specs for the carmagne tripods look rather impressive (B;can support25LbsB+ at 3Lbs weight and below 50cm packed length) - is this just marketing hype?
Manfrotto specs are much more conservative (supports up only up to 11Lbs at similar tripod dimensions, and is shown only with an MF camera on top of it in the flyer)...

If you do use those tripods, did you notice any problems regarding robustness/quality? How compare Velbon/Manfrotto carbon tripods to those made by the carbon pioneer Gitzo?

-- Stefan Dalibor (dalibor@cs.fau.de), November 04, 2000

Answers

I have the Velbon 630, which I primarily use under my Mamiya 6. I think it's a very fine tripod; I liked it better than the comparable 1200 series Gitzo. It has proved durable and easy to use. I don't have much experience using it with a 4x5, since I don't do much with that format. I think it would be OK for a light weight 4x5, but for the system you describe I might feel a bit more comfortable with one of the 1300 series Gitzos.

-- Chris Patti (cmpatti@aol.com), November 04, 2000.

After many months and some advice from this forum I eventually went for the Manfrotto 441 only a few weeks back. I like the Manfrotto because it has lever leg locks, is very user friendly and quick to set-up. It's also a joy to hike with because of the reduced weight (3.3lbs without head).

I use it with an Ebony SW45 a fairly lightweight camera and as yet things have been fine. However I would hesitate to use it in very windy conditions and then only by spreading the legs. This set-up should also be ok with longish bellows extension provided you keep the lens on axis with one of the legs.

-- Trevor Crone (tcrone@gm.dreamcast.com), November 04, 2000.

I found it way to shaky for LF (I tried the ones rated for 13 lbs max.) ...my Gitzo mountaineer is much more sturdy, try them out side by side if you can...I also found that the leg snaps were way slower than the Gitzo twist connectors...

-- Bill Glickman (bglick@pclv.com), November 04, 2000.