you made the statement I have owned a dozen pro level tripods over the years. you know that says quite a bit. I can say I have owned less primarily because I haven't needed too.
the stories that are told here, by PHOTOGRAPHERS no less, about the hardware failures and not a single image to provide a demonstration of these disasters. what can be said?
Why would one buy a dozen of prolevel tripods?
Next to my second traveltripod I'm on my second one after many years of heavily (ab)use...
FTR I owned a Gitzo 5 series 4 sections LS for years bought the Gitzo GT5533LS a year ago, it's (like the former one) large and heavy but its RIGID (better than any RRS tripod offers)
Since the OP is shooting with a much lighter rig, I'd say any of the tripods on his list will do more than sufficient.
Like sjms states it boiles down to details.
On top of this if Gitzo's service is that bad in the US (beats me, overhere it's topnotch and 'old' parts can be bought) I wouldn't consider to buy Gitzo anyway.
Btw PMG is allso superb with their aftersales service and their products are of very high quality. (in my own experience with the Boomerang, Katana, Katana jr and HM1 monopodhead.)
Does anyone know what the leg tube diameters on the RRS Series 4 tripods are? I haven't been able to find that information anywhere. Leg tube diameter is the largest factor in tripod rigidity and RRS tripods tend to have slightly larger tube diameters than the Gitzos for tripods of similar weight and series. The top tube on the Gitzo GT5533LS has a diameter of 41.3mm. I just don't know about the RRS.
have you tried contacting them?
I just tried. I believe they are in weekend mode now and should reopen Monday/Tuesday before shutting down till jan 2 2020
The numbers I have show that each step up, from the thinnest series 1 section to the thickest series 3 section, adds 3.9 to 4.2mm (4.06mm average) to the tube diameter. The thickest series 3 section is 36.7mm, so a solid guess for the series 4 tube would be 40.6-40.9mm.
well there shouldn't be that variation due to the proper fit. my TVC-33 which is one of the oldest around (ordered 10/07/2009 and shipped 11/13/2009) is per my 40+ year old fowler caliper 1.450" or 3.683cm dia
sjms wrote:
you havent tried the Versa Tripod Series 4
When I was looking for a new tripod a year ago I looked at and tried the TVC43, but I couldn't nail the differences between the 5533LS and the Versa to justify the price tag.
It's the same weight but a bit longer and payload is on paper 5 kg better but it's allso
double the price overhere.
(999€ for the Gitzo, 1999€ for the RRS)
Together with the fact my former Gitzo never had a problem and served me flawless in the wetlands, Kalahari and Antarctica (to name a few destinations) it was an easy choice.
peter_n wrote:
There is product variation. The top leg section on my RRS 33S is 37.72mm.
Strange. I would assume they'd want to keep everything within series the same dimensions. My relatively new 34 is within 0.1-0.2mm compared to sjms' measurements.
AlexNOR wrote:
Strange. I would assume they'd want to keep everything within series the same dimensions.
My bad, I use a Fowler caliper also but something went wrong with my measure and I only measured one of the legs too. Sloppy. This morning I measured all three and they are:
Thern wrote:
When I was looking for a new tripod a year ago I looked at and tried the TVC43, but I couldn't nail the differences between the 5533LS and the Versa to justify the price tag. It's the same weight but a bit longer and payload is on paper 5 kg better but it's allso double the price overhere.
If I was living in Belgium I'd do the same thing. To my knowledge RRS does not have a repair facility in Europe and I know RRS customers in the UK have had problems sending their tripods to the US and getting them back through Customs. A pity because their customer service is excellent. Here in the US Gitzo service is very poor but luckily I haven't needed it much. I had a good experience using the tripods but I stopped buying anything Gitzo some years ago.
