Are there any Giottos tripod users out there ?

[ajohnw]

Has anyone any experiences good or bad with this make? As it will be a present from some one price fits etc.

John
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[JR1]

One of my MAIN and never be without tripods is my MTL 9271B, I have tripods with CF gimbals up to £1000ish, but my Giottos is never far away.

Why, Giottos is one of the most respected mounts out there, in fact I broke the clip on one of the legs and had to rush out to get a mount the next day as the spare was placed on order (FREE from Giotos), I bought a Manfrotto 055CXPro3, FORGET IT.

The Giottos and gimbal easily and I mean with no fear at all take my D4s and Siggy 150-600, oh and it spends much of it's time in the sea at Widemouth bay.

I have used it with a, sorry, one of THE best BRITISH made gimbals from Lensmaster, the man is a great mechanic, I have had five of his gimbals so far.

I prefer the RH2

http://www.lensmaster.co.uk/rh2.htm

\the centre column can be changed for different lengths and reversed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFsONlqKOEM

[wtlwdwgn]

I have the MT9271 with the twist locks. It's tall enough so I don't have to hunch over while looking through the viewfinder without raising the center post. It isn't all that heavy for an aluminum tripod either. Just my $0.02.

[ajohnw]

Sounds promising. I'm thinking about one of the carbon fibre silk roads with the so called 3D arm. 3 section maybe the shortest although..it seems that the longer one is cheaper but that might be down to looking at too many listings. Sorting the correct bag will be a pain. They don't update which fits what.

Using a Benbo has convinced me that a swinging arm can be useful hence the 3D arm choice.

John
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[xpatUSA]

Sounds promising. I'm thinking about one of the carbon fibre silk roads with the so called 3D arm. 3 section maybe the shortest although..it seems that the longer one is cheaper but that might be down to looking at too many listings. Sorting the correct bag will be a pain. They don't update which fits what.
John
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I have the Silk Road model YTL 8383, the MH 7001 ballhead, the MH621 quick release unit and three sliding plates - two short, one long. It has the column that is settable to horizontal and the legs can also go out almost horizontal. For bench work I also have their short two-section metal MT 9240 - also with the MH 7001 ballhead/ MH621 quick release.

With the Silk Road sections fully extended, the camera plate is 68" above the ground and the column can take it up to 75".

All very sturdy and very good value for money. Let know if you need pics or dimensions.

[ajohnw]

I have the Silk Road model YTL 8383, the MH 7001 ballhead, the MH621 quick release unit and three sliding plates - two short, one long. It has the column that is settable to horizontal and the legs can also go out almost horizontal. For bench work I also have their short two-section metal MT 9240 - also with the MH 7001 ballhead/ MH621 quick release.

With the Silk Road sections fully extended, the camera plate is 68" above the ground and the column can take it up to 75".

All very sturdy and very good value for money. Let know if you need pics or dimensions.

What case if any do you use with it Ted. That is the one I would favour - but family would prefer me to have the short 3 section one for the sake of 50mm. Some consider space a premium around here. I want a case/bag that will take it with a head on. Worst "case" in that respect is my 3 way which puts and extra 100mm on the length. I'm not keen on bags which are significantly too big.

John
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[xpatUSA]

What case if any do you use with it Ted. That is the one I would favour - but family would prefer me to have the short 3 section one for the sake of 50mm. Some consider space a premium around here.

John
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I don't use a case, sorry. It would fit snugly in a 32" long bag (internal dimension) with head and quick-release attached, if that's of any help. Since I personally built everything on the property, SWMBO has little say in what goes where . .

[ajohnw]

This seems to be a bad aspect of Giottos - they make bags but don't give any idea of which one is suitable for their newer tripods. They only list them for tripods they don't make any more. Phone call in order I think but why make a tripod that closes down more than others and not a bag to go with it?

John
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[Glenn NK]

I HAD one; the one with the 3D column/post - it's offset so it angles down to get the camera close to the ground. I thought I had finally found the ideal tripod for flower work.

The problem was that quite often when I thought I had tightened the knob to change the angle of the post, I'd let go of the camera and it would come crashing down.

I sold it on consignment - I feel somewhat bad about this because some other poor soul might damage his camera when the post slips.

Giottos is an Italian name but it's made in China - might be a clue as to the problem. It wasn't expensive and now I know why.

I replaced it with a Gitzo Explorer with the same feature (a post that will angle downwards) - it works very well. However the Gitzo was much more expensive.

Glenn

[rpcrowe]

I have a Giottos MT8180 which is an excellent, but discontinued, tripod... It is sturdy, well made and articulates so I can place my camera at any spot I desire. Although this is a carbon fiber tripod, it still weighs about eight pounds with the ball head. However, this tripod is so sturdy (Giottos recommendation max load = 26 pounds or 11.8 kg), I believe that other brand tripods as sturdy would be as heavy or heavier.

I have the Giottos MH1300 ball head with Arca Compatible quick release. The head is quite good but, there is a slight problem when using the quick release clamp with non-Giottos plates. The Giottos clamp incorporates a safety stud that is retracted by pressing a button at the rear of the clamp. (see red button at rear of Giottos Arca Compatible clamp in image below) The stud doesn't retract all the way into the base of the clamp and Giottos plates have a channel that facilitates sliding the plate into and out of the clamp. If you are using a non-Giottos plate, you have a choice of routing a similar channel in the plate or simply opening the clamp all the way and placing the plate onto the clamp from the top (which is the way I do it since I don't have the equipment to route a channel into the plate).

Alternately, you could remove the safety stud from the clamp but, I like the idea of having that safety stud which will prevent the plate (and camera to which it is attached) accidentally sliding off if somehow the clamp was erroneously loosened.

I like my Giottos MT8180 quite a bit but, this tripod is a little heavy for boonie tromping and is also too large to fit in my check-on suitcase when traveling by air. I use a modified SLIK Pro 330DX (with shorter center column and Flashpoint F-1 ball head) titanium tripod as my boonie tromping and traveling tripod. That unit weighs only a little over 2 pounds (about one kilogram)...



The Giottos and the SLIK make a nice combination. Each has its own capabilities and limitations...

I believe that the Giottos is manufactured in Taiwan (AKA: Formosa or Nationalist China).

[ajohnw]

I HAD one; the one with the 3D column/post - it's offset so it angles down to get the camera close to the ground. I thought I had finally found the ideal tripod for flower work.

The problem was that quite often when I thought I had tightened the knob to change the angle of the post, I'd let go of the camera and it would come crashing down.

I sold it on consignment - I feel somewhat bad about this because some other poor soul might damage his camera when the post slips.

Giottos is an Italian name but it's made in China - might be a clue as to the problem. It wasn't expensive and now I know why.

I replaced it with a Gitzo Explorer with the same feature (a post that will angle downwards) - it works very well. However the Gitzo was much more expensive.

Glenn

You had better not ever try a Benbo Glenn or the other make that is more or less the same. If I buy the Giottos which looks likely and that aspect doesn't work as it should it will simply be sent back.

What am I saying - me buying - no some one is buying it for me which means it must be very usable.

A warning on side arms of one sort or another. As they have a weight on the end they can have a damping time after the camera has been touched. Possibly even due to mirror / shutter shake. It's much more noticeable than the usual problems with a vertical centre column. Not too much concern on some cameras because of the zero shake option but carbon fibre should be a better option than higher tensile alloy etc.

John
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[Glenn NK]

A warning on side arms of one sort or another. As they have a weight on the end they can have a damping time after the camera has been touched. Possibly even due to mirror / shutter shake. It's much more noticeable than the usual problems with a vertical centre column. Not too much concern on some cameras because of the zero shake option but carbon fibre should be a better option than higher tensile alloy etc.

John
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Yes, that is a problem with side arm tripods - I'm probably using MLU or LV, so not a problem.

Wind is less of a problem with the tripod than it is with the flowers, so if the flowers aren't blowing, the tripod isn't affected by the wind.

I would think that centre column Giottos would be OK - it was just the 3D (side arm) model that I had trouble with.

Glenn

[EricRich]

Giottos tripods is the best tripod i have ever used, perfect lightweight tripod. I am having the same tripod. Its legs are really very strong. Never faced any problem.

[ajohnw]

Mine arrived today but I wont get to look at till Christmas day. Talking to the retailer the longer 3 section 3d arm one should fit well in a Manfrotto 80cm bag with space for a head. I do wonder why Giottos haven't sorted out their own bags for their newer tripods. To be honest I prefer to buy them complete with bag as they usually fit well and it's pretty obvious when I see one in the flesh what sort of head can be left on.

Fancy having to fit a 1.5kg tripod with ball heads that weighs 1/2 kg. 3 ways even more or some flimsy plastic thing that these days aught to be dough moulded and contain carbon fibres for strength just using decent metals where they are needed. At the top end the Iron Age springs to mind. Bottom end iffy casting metals at times more suitable for dinky toys - not always fortunately.

John
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[ajohnw]

Mine arrived today but I wont get to look at till Christmas day. Talking to the retailer the longer 3 section 3d arm one should fit well in a Manfrotto 80cm bag with space for a head. I have to wait and see. I do wonder why Giottos haven't sorted out their own bags for their newer tripods. To be honest I prefer to buy them complete with bag as they usually fit well and it's pretty obvious when I see one in the flesh what sort of head can be left on.

Fancy having to fit a 1.5kg tripod with ball heads that weighs 1/2 kg. 3 ways even more or some flimsy plastic thing that these days aught to be dough moulded and contain carbon fibres for strength just using decent metals where they are needed. At the top end the Iron Age springs to mind. Bottom end iffy casting metals at times more suitable for dinky toys - not always fortunately.

John
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