Carbon Fiber Tripods

[grjsk]

How good are they really? FLO offers this one:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/tripods/sightron-japan-carbon-fiber-tripod.html

2.1 kg, 30 kg capacity. That just sounds insane. Is it realistic? I know manfrotto has a few decent tripods, but even the ones that are quite a bit heavier only has a capacity of 8-12 kg.

[johninderby]

Very expensive though. This is a lot cheaper and will carry nearly twice the load.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/berlebach-tripods/berlebach-uni-18-tripod-heq5-eq6.html

Edited August 15, 2020 by johninderby

[grjsk]

12 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Very expensive though. This is a lot cheaper and will carry nearly twice the load.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/berlebach-tripods/berlebach-uni-18-tripod-heq5-eq6.html

Yeah, but 4 times as heavy 🙂 The Report 212 is a better fit for me, but a carbon fiber tripod is tempting, IF the capacity is correct, which I somewhat doubt..

[johninderby]

The Report 212 is only 2.8kg without the tray but will hold 20kg and has the advantage of less vibration than a metal or CF tripod.  Fair bit smaller and ligter than the UNI tripod indeed.

[Paz]

55 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Very expensive though. This is a lot cheaper and will carry nearly twice the load.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/berlebach-tripods/berlebach-uni-18-tripod-heq5-eq6.html

Oooh they look good, I should not have clicked on the link, now I have to try and forget I ever saw that tripod!

[johninderby]

8 minutes ago, Paz said:

Oooh they look good, I should not have clicked on the link, now I have to try and forget I ever saw that tripod!

Then whatever you do not even think of clicking on this link. 

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/351419-show-us-your-berlebach-product/?tab=comments#comment-3826482

Edited August 15, 2020 by johninderby

[Highburymark]

2 hours ago, grjsk said:

How good are they really? FLO offers this one:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/tripods/sightron-japan-carbon-fiber-tripod.html

2.1 kg, 30 kg capacity. That just sounds insane. Is it realistic? I know manfrotto has a few decent tripods, but even the ones that are quite a bit heavier only has a capacity of 8-12 kg.

I haven’t tried the tripod in question, but it’s certainly possible. When I was planning my system a few years ago I needed a super-light camera tripod that could be used for all my needs - from packing away in luggage for trips away to carrying two loaded refractors for white light and ha solar observing. I ended up buying a 4-series Gitzo carbon fibre tripod which is incredibly light, and will happily carry two 8-10kg telescopes very robustly. I have never needed anything else. 

[Stu]

12 hours ago, Highburymark said:

I haven’t tried the tripod in question, but it’s certainly possible. When I was planning my system a few years ago I needed a super-light camera tripod that could be used for all my needs - from packing away in luggage for trips away to carrying two loaded refractors for white light and ha solar observing. I ended up buying a 4-series Gitzo carbon fibre tripod which is incredibly light, and will happily carry two 8-10kg telescopes very robustly. I have never needed anything else. 

Ditto Mark. I bought an as new Gitzo GT5542LS rated at 40kg from eBay for a decent discount and it takes whatever I want to put on it. I can pop the Ercole on and have a decent but still highly portable dual setup, or put something like a Scopetech Zero on it for a much lighter/travel friendly setup for a single scope.

It’s always hard to know how good these are without trying them. I had a Report 2112 some years ago and liked it a lot, but sold it in favour of a Redsnapper CF one, top of their range but found it very poor in comparison and returned it. I then bought an Induro aluminium one which was excellent and I kept that until replacing with the Gitzo.

Worth noting that the Sightron one only goes up to 830mm, very short but good if that’s what you want. Report 2112 is 176mm max so quite different in that respect.

[billhinge]

I used to have  a well respected manfrotto carbon fibre in  the old days of film cameras (nikon f6). It was 'relatively' light but I found my  self a little concerned about the bowing of the narrowest leg parts when fully extended, never broke but I didn't like it.

I ended up selling it and now I have 2 Berlebachs (big and small). If I was going to  take something  on  holiday  I still have a sturdy manfrotto metal monopod with a mini tripod set of legs (good for film cameras, useless for telescopes but then again I  plan to buy the panny GH6 when it comes out with vibration controlled lenses so I probably don't need that monopod anymore)

Back to the original tripod, looks cute but I wouldn't pay £500 for it

[Second Time Around]

I've just bought a ScopeTech Mount Zero and wanted a carbon fibre tripod for it.  This invaluable site purely lab and field tests a lot of camera tripods for stability and portability: https://thecentercolumn.com/

As a result I've just ordered a tripod from the Leofoto Ranger range.  These have no centre column and so fold to a very compact size. They're now imported into Europe with 16 in the range in various weights and sizes, all but 3 having ball and socket heads in a package deal.  This page on the new European Leofoto website has a chart giving the full specs: https://www.leofoto.com/products_detail.php?id=362  There are also a lot of other Leofoto ranges.

I don't need a ball and socket head but do need a heavy duty tripod so went for the Leofoto LS-364C.  This is a full size 4 section tripod with the top section being made from 36mm carbon fibre, but weighing only 1.77kgs/3.90lbs.  It's rated to 25kgs/55lbs.

Not all the Leofoto range are available in the UK, including this model.  However London Camera Exchange and Wex Photographic stock many of them. 

I was happy to buy from an EU country and pay on PayPal so I've ordered it from Dext in Sweden for a cost of £320.  It arrived within a couple of days.  Go to https://www.dext.se/sv/stativ/ranger-tripod/https://www.dext.se/sv/stativ/ranger-tripod/https://www.dext.se/sv/stativ/leofoto-ls-364c-trebenstativ-i-kolfiber.html for a wide selection of Leofoto tripods.

Edited August 17, 2020 by Second Time Around

[Deadlake]

Here is a list of carbon fibre mounts, some can carry quite a load 

SuperMount Act series
Gitzo systematic 5 series
Gitzo systematic 4 series
Gitzo systematic 3 series
Photoclam Astro tripod
K-Astec PTP-C22
Leofoto LN-404C
Xiletu L-404C
Innorel RT90C

however the Gitzo comes out ahead due to its damping properties, otherwise Leofoto, but damping not as good. However reading this

https://thecentercolumn.com/2019/10/24/tripod-weight-ratings-are-meaningless/

makes the choice harder...

Edited August 16, 2020 by Deadlake

[Deadlake]

On 15/08/2020 at 21:02, johninderby said:

Very expensive though. This is a lot cheaper and will carry nearly twice the load.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/berlebach-tripods/berlebach-uni-18-tripod-heq5-eq6.html

Also have this as well, https://www.firstlightoptics.com/tripods/berlebach-report-312-tripod.html, advantage of height over sightron.

[Steve Paterson]

On 15/08/2020 at 20:17, grjsk said:

How good are they really? FLO offers this one:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/tripods/sightron-japan-carbon-fiber-tripod.html

2.1 kg, 30 kg capacity. That just sounds insane. Is it realistic? I know manfrotto has a few decent tripods, but even the ones that are quite a bit heavier only has a capacity of 8-12 kg.

I don't own this tripod but I got to see and hold one a few days ago and I have to say that I personally wouldn't buy it as an astronomy tripod.  Two tests were:

a) Solid small mount with an 18kg capacity with a Celestron C9.25 (approx 9kg with no eyepiece or accessories - so OTA only) on this tripod - vibrations took many seconds to die down which would make focusing very difficult.

b) This tripod at its lowest setting, legs fully splayed with no mount - grab hold of the legs at the top and try to twist them.  Not rock solid at all and there was enough movement to make me think the vibration issue is caused by the tripod.

If I were looking in this price bracket, I'd give the Berlebachs serious consideration instead.  Part of the problem is this tripod does not have a spreader bar.

But please don't take my word for it - try the tripod out if you can before you buy and try out similar tests.

One other thing to consider  - this tripod only extends to 830cm.  Is that high enough for your use because that's on the short side.  A consideration if you're going to use it with a longer refractor but please check.

[johninderby]

I beleive that the max load given for many photo tripods is the max weight they will hold without collapsing unlike astro tripods that give the max usable weight. 🤔

Edited August 18, 2020 by johninderby

[HollyHound]

I also looked at that very same Sightron tripod and was just about to buy it when I realised that it's maximum extended height was much too low for my requirements, so I went with the Berlebach Report 372 and couldn't be happier 😀

Edited August 18, 2020 by HollyHound

[Space Hopper]

Gitzo 5533s user here.

A substantial purchase, but its an amazing tripod. A thing of beauty.

I use a lightweight alt-az mount  and a short tube 4" refractor and it handles them beautifully.

I can swap the flat feet out and replace them with spikes if necessary.

It's 2.7kg in weight with a 40kg capacity.

I picked up a nice matching ball head off eBay to go with it.

                            

Edited August 18, 2020 by Space Hopper

[Highburymark]

Shop around and you should find great deals on Gitzos too. I bought mine in a pre-Xmas sale from an online camera store for half price. Previous generation 4 and 5 series models are all exceptionally robust