Moose, I know what you mean.I have a carbon fibre Manfrotto 190 3 section. It
is my go to tripod for all manner of work.However it is not really a travel
tripod.I have a very good sports tripod..but it does not enable me to get close
enough to the ground. As you say the never ending search for perfection. On the
subject of B+H, I have found some good deals from them this year. Their free
expedited shipping, good prices, and the fact I don't pay state taxes have
resulted in some good deals.A new 160gb classic ipod saved me over 25% on best
UK price.
The main issue is UPS and their delivery dates /times. Twice this year the
computer has shown "out for delivery" only for there to be a "no show" with the
item delivered the following day!
Regards
John Duggan,
Wales, UK
________________________________
From: Moose <olymoose@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Olympus Camera Discussion <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2014 11:46 PM
Subject: [OM] New! Shiny! (Featuring B&H's new shipping deal.)
Well, not really; matte black, actually.
My never ending search for the perfect travel/field tripod has landed another
new one chez Moose.
Waaay back, I had a Velbon Max i 343e, which I quite liked with my 300D. Then
came the 5D, and the little tripod and small Velbon QR plates weren't up to the
task.
Then the Manfrotto 190CXPRO3 came to the rescue, with A-S style QR. Now that
I've gone µ4/3, it's bigger and heavier than I need. Still a first rate tripod,
but I found myself not using it. Recently, I've been carrying the 343e again,
in spite of the fact that I dropped it on a rock and one leg won't collapse all
the way.
Now Velbon's done it again. They've combined the newish idea from others of
allowing the legs to flip 180 to store parallel to the center post with an
improved version of the single twist, multi-section legs they tried before.
The result is only slightly heavier than the 343e, much smaller collapsed, much
more solid, much more flexible and incredibly quick to deploy and un-deploy.
The legs are amazing. Assuming they keep working properly (5 year warranty!),
they are both quick and precise. Untwist the rubber foot, and it makes little
clicks. One click, pull, and you get one section extended, two clicks for two
sections, and so on. Six sections, but more stable than the 343e's four.
I've used about three times, including the close-up of the mini OM-1 I just
posted, and am liking it a lot so far.
They sell it in four packages. For The US (& Canada?), they seem to have
decided we need big QR plates, and sell one with pan head and one with ball
head with a big plate system, which is ridiculous on a µ4/3 camera body; WAY
too deep.
For at least Asia, they continue with their small plates, which is the type
I've been using. I could have bought a ball head one with the small plates from
Japan, but not in time for our trip. For less money, I bought the pan head US
one from B&H. I've wanted a half decent pan head anyway, and I've put my old
Velbon QR head on the tripod for most use.
This is the one I bought.
<http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/769662-REG/Velbon_UT_45L_UT_45L_6_Section_Aluminum.html>
B&H has a new shipping option. For anything over $50, they offer free expedited
shipping, UPS three day select. This is a huge improvement for those of us far
from them, and makes them competitive with Amazon for me.
My tripod arrived in three days, instead of a week or more or paying extra.
Three Legged Moose
-- What if the Hokey Pokey *IS* what it's all about?
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