Carbon fibre tripod

[johnnyp]

Apologies if this is the wrong section. I currently have a Skywatcher tripod (for the star adventurer) with pillar that came with my azgti. I'd like to upgrade for something more stable, and something I can adjust the height of while in use for scope spotting duties. I have my eye on this one from innorel. Any experiences with it or its variants? (I will be mounting a 72ed on it ) 

Carbon Fiber Tripod-INNOREL GT324C Professional Compact Portable Tripod for Digital DSLR Camera Heavy Duty Camera Stand Support with Special-Shaped Center Column 1.25in/32mm Tube Max load 55lbs/25kg https://amzn.eu/d/hvkBLCj

Cheers all and clear skies 

 

 

 

 

[LaurenceT]

One of hidden problems I have encountered with carbon fibre tripods is nothing to do with load capacity but more to do with the dampening of vibration through the legs.

I had the Skywatcher tripod you mention and found it unsuitable for my Mak127 as the slightest touch on the focuser would generate unpleasant vibration in the eyepiece, an electronic focuser helped a bit but still wasn't really the answer.

Being a hobby photographer of many years I had several tripods knocking around. In the end I settled on a quality CF Manfrotto tripod.

There was an improvement but the addition of a tripod leg bag and a 4Kg kettle weight did the trick. The tripod in your link looks to be an excellent choice.

[JAC51]

I bought as a travel mount a Sirui AM254 carbon fibre tripod with a pillar  to use for travelling with a TakFS60 and a Borg 76mm. I thought the Sirui was fine for the purpose and the Sirui has an official payload of 12kg half of the tripod you are looking at.

[JeremyS]

Personally I’d avoid an CF tripod with a rising centre column. Even when not extended it can be a weak link.

CF tripods are great for travel, but for grab and go use at home I prefer the damping characteristics (and smell 😊)of  a wooden tripod, like the Berlebach Report. Nice to have a tray between the legs, too.

[JeremyS]

Like this

[Elp]

One of mine is a leofoto 253, works very well for AP and anything else. You want to avoid many leg sections as the more you have the more likely it is to not dampen properly. You have to weigh up the closed height Vs how high you want it to be in operation. The leg sections in your link however are a reasonable thickness so may work. The centre column may or may not be an issue as even when locked it may be prone to turning in use. Berlebach are also very good but not what I class as portable if that's a requirement.

[JAC51]

58 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Personally I’d avoid an CF tripod with a rising centre column

That may be a good point the tripod I have has a screw on column rather than an extending one. For travel it also means that the legs can fold up in a more compact package. Originally I had a SLIK small aluminium tripod with a centre column which I would never extend more than about 10cm because it would wobble too much.

But to be fair things move on and it is a different mount you are looking at.

If I had the space and was not needing to travel I would have chosen a wooden tripod over a carbon fibre one.

[JAC51]

scope spotting duties.
My apologies I forgot this part of what you wrote so portable yes carbon fibre yes 

[johnnyp]

4 hours ago, JAC51 said:

I bought as a travel mount a Sirui AM254 carbon fibre tripod with a pillar  to use for travelling with a TakFS60 and a Borg 76mm. I thought the Sirui was fine for the purpose and the Sirui has an official payload of 12kg half of the tripod you are looking at.

Maybe the 25k payload isn't needed then . My whole kit  only weighs around 7kg. 

[johnnyp]

Thanks for all advice lads, seems like the innorel will do the trick. I've gone for the one with 25kg payload to future proof myself :). Plus it's Christmas 🎄

[Ratlet]

I've got the version of that innorel tripod without the column.  I'm using it with a 130pds and az5 which is a fair bit of movement arm and weight on the tripod.

You do get some vibrations with the legs fully extended, although it's only an issue at higher power (x80 is okay, x160 is not pleasant).  As Laurence mention hanging weight off the hook does help.

Ultimately though not having the legs extended makes a massive difference.  It's one of the reasons I want to build an observing chair.

I've just bought a steel leg tripod to compare and whilst I've only tried it on solar, at x80 it seemed improved but obviously weights quite a lot more.

I think you might get better performance with the 72ed and azgti than I have with my combo as everything is more central and being honest the 130pds is even pushing the limits of the az5 so it's probably a contributor to the vibration too.

[johnnyp]

35 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

I've got the version of that innorel tripod without the column.  I'm using it with a 130pds and az5 which is a fair bit of movement arm and weight on the tripod.

You do get some vibrations with the legs fully extended, although it's only an issue at higher power (x80 is okay, x160 is not pleasant).  As Laurence mention hanging weight off the hook does help.

Ultimately though not having the legs extended makes a massive difference.  It's one of the reasons I want to build an observing chair.

I've just bought a steel leg tripod to compare and whilst I've only tried it on solar, at x80 it seemed improved but obviously weights quite a lot more.

I think you might get better performance with the 72ed and azgti than I have with my combo as everything is more central and being honest the 130pds is even pushing the limits of the az5 so it's probably a contributor to the vibration too.

@Ratlet that useful feedback thank you. I use my 72ed mainly with a azt6 which is quite light. I very rarely go over 35x mag. I'm mostly a low power sweeper:). I observe sitting down so the legs extended won't be an issue. The main interest for me is being able to adjust the height easily when I move to using a 45 erect diagonal for spotting birds and planes etc. 

[JAC51]

Congratulations and let us know how it goes. There is no harm in being over mounted.

 

[Ratlet]

1 hour ago, johnnyp said:

@Ratlet that useful feedback thank you. I use my 72ed mainly with a azt6 which is quite light. I very rarely go over 35x mag. I'm mostly a low power sweeper:). I observe sitting down so the legs extended won't be an issue. The main interest for me is being able to adjust the height easily when I move to using a 45 erect diagonal for spotting birds and planes etc. 

You'll be well served then!

I tried mine with a normal chair with I think 2 legs extended, or maybe 1 and it made a huge difference in stability, and that's with a bigger mount and scope on it, and like yourself, I love me some low power observing.

I keep meaning to 3D print an adapter so I can use my Tair 3 telephoto with eyepieces and try that out on the mount/tripod.