BruceHartman.net

Not quite titanium alloy, but carbon fiber and magnesium…

I managed to sneak in and win these new tripod legs this evening. My current tripod situation is rather dismal. I’ve been schlepping around a beat up Velbon cheapo tripod for a few years, and it’s so far from being a stable platform that I’d get better results by setting my camera in a bowl of jello and driving down a dirt road. Then, before my trip to Vegas I ordered an aluminum model that would fit in my suitcase. It worked in a pinch, but was very wobbly and I felt like it would fall over if I walked away from it. So, after I got home I began looking in earnest for a new set of magic legs.

Carbon Fiber tripods generally go for a few hundred bucks. If you buy this set from Amvona’s webstore, this set will put you back about $299. How they manage to sell them on eBay for what they do makes me wonder what the markup on these really is. Anyway… I got mine after a minor bidding war for $97.25 delivered.

I’m still without a decent head, so really, the total cost will like go up by about 50% whenever I figure out which way I want to go: panhead or ballhead. Right now I’m thinking ballhead, but I haven’t decided yet. I have a few throwaway heads that’ll do the job until I figure out what I want.