I'm tired of babying my Gitzo G1348 around sand and salt water and I'm thinking of giving the Berlebach Report series a try.
I'm aware of the tradeoffs involved going to the Berlebach and they are acceptable to me on paper, but I can only find a few online reviews so I thought I'd see if anyone on here has some more input.
I'm interested in first hand reports from people who've actually used these tripods. Likes, dislikes, gotchas, etc. The heaviest gear combo I'll be putting on this tripod is a Pentax 67 with the 75mm Shift lens. I'm looking at the 923 model in particular.
I have one, the 2042 Report...HEAVY... and of course seriously stable as a consequence. When late Spring arrives here in Philly I leave it on the covered deck of our 10th floor condo unit. On one occasion, sunny when I left town, came back, it had poured down rain and wind direction soaked the deck. Not an issue. Dried off the Benro head and the rest of the rig and there has never been an issue with it. I would not want to carry it around. Air transport I've ruled out, although I think there's a carry case for it. Did I say it was HEAVY? Construction is flawless. Legs extend and retract smooth as you'd want. Knobs for locking the legs in place impervious to weather. I bought it here on FM for $200 year or so ago and couldn't be more pleased with it. But, I sure as hell haven't carried it out of here.
I have a Berlebach Report 302 with an Arca Swiss C1 geared head on it. That's a Fotoman 617 Panoramic camera/Schneider-Kreuznach 110mm lens combo sitting on the head. I bought the Berlebach direct from the company in Germany a couple of years ago and I have a bag for it - both Adorama and B&H sell Berlebach carry bags. The tripod is totally vibration-free; great in urban environments. The major problem with it is that people want to talk to you about it because you don't see these wood tripods every day.
I have one, the 2042 Report...HEAVY... and of course seriously stable as a consequence. When late Spring arrives here in Philly I leave it on the covered deck of our 10th floor condo unit. On one occasion, sunny when I left town, came back, it had poured down rain and wind direction soaked the deck. Not an issue. Dried off the Benro head and the rest of the rig and there has never been an issue with it. I would not want to carry it around. Air transport I've ruled out, although I think there's a carry case for it. Did I say it was HEAVY? Construction is flawless. Legs extend and retract smooth as you'd want. Knobs for locking the legs in place impervious to weather. I bought it here on FM for $200 year or so ago and couldn't be more pleased with it. But, I sure as hell haven't carried it out of here.
Thanks Anthony. Yes weight and size are the tradeoffs, although the ones I'm looking at are only 1-2 lbs heavier than my 5lb Gitzo. Does yours have a center column? If so, how easy is adjusting it and is stability still ok when extended?
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peter_n wrote:
I have a Berlebach Report 302 with an Arca Swiss C1 geared head on it. That's a Fotoman 617 Panoramic camera/Schneider-Kreuznach 110mm lens combo sitting on the head. I bought the Berlebach direct from the company in Germany a couple of years ago and I have a bag for it - both Adorama and B&H sell Berlebach carry bags. The tripod is totally vibration-free; great in urban environments. The major problem with it is that people want to talk to you about it because you don't see these wood tripods every day.
Thanks for the real world picture, very helpful. I imagine it is a conversation starter, I have the same issue when I'm out shooting with my Pentax 67. Nice camera by the way.
I have owned several wooden tripods from Ries and Berlebach. Currently I have none. My primary interest in wood was because I work in the cold. I expected wood to be less painful on my hands. While I did find that to be somewhat true it didn't really help. All the hardware on the wooden sticks was metal so I still had to handle brutally cold metal.
Now I use all carbon sticks with various foam wraps to protect my hands.
Any "tubular" type legs (alloy or carbon) need to be carefully cleaned after use in salt water. So you may be right that wooden legs might be less susceptible to salt water intrusion. But you'll still need to clean the hardware so you're not going to be maintenance free using wood.
In theory wood should be more resistant to vibration than carbon. In practice I did not find that to be the case. Good counterweights and anchors are needed with any material tripod and that makes more difference than the legs themselves.
Also, wooden sticks are a pain to carry due to weight and limited leg sections. I tried the Ries "backpacker" tripod at one time which does collapse quite small but is a real PITA to setup and breakdown.
Yes, it does have a center column; very easy to adjust; stability is not compromised when my gear is attached, e.g., 5D MkIV and 70-300l IS. I checked through my Buy/Sell feedback and was reminded that I had gotten it from <goatsby> so you might want to PM him and see what else he might tell you. I've gotten Benro monopod w/ Gimbal head for my D7500 and 200-500, and that works really well for carrying it around on short hikes. Steve Perry's "backcountry" (?) site led me to the rig. Worked well for 2-4 mile hike around the Cape last Fall. At the price he sold it for, I couldn't pass it up. Never regretted it.
Haven't used it yet, but I got a flag pole harness of the sort used in parades for carrying flags. I use it now for carrying when moving rapidly is necessary. I just collapse the monopod all the way, extend the harness so that the receptacle is as far down as I need it to be below my belt-line, insert monopod w/ attached camera, and I'm good to go for fast moving stuff.
jeffbuzz wrote:
I have owned several wooden tripods from Ries and Berlebach. Currently I have none. My primary interest in wood was because I work in the cold. I expected wood to be less painful on my hands. While I did find that to be somewhat true it didn't really help. All the hardware on the wooden sticks was metal so I still had to handle brutally cold metal.
Now I use all carbon sticks with various foam wraps to protect my hands.
Any "tubular" type legs (alloy or carbon) need to be carefully cleaned after use in salt water. So you may be right that wooden legs might be less susceptible to salt water intrusion. But you'll still need to clean the hardware so you're not going to be maintenance free using wood.
In theory wood should be more resistant to vibration than carbon. In practice I did not find that to be the case. Good counterweights and anchors are needed with any material tripod and that makes more difference than the legs themselves.
Also, wooden sticks are a pain to carry due to weight and limited leg sections. I tried the Ries "backpacker" tripod at one time which does collapse quite small but is a real PITA to setup and breakdown. ...Show more →
Thanks for the info. I realize I'll still need to rinse of the Berlebach after exposure to sand/salt water etc. but I'm hoping it will eliminate problems with the leg locks starting to seize while I'm shooting due to sand getting in the threads.
jeffbuzz wrote:
In theory wood should be more resistant to vibration than carbon. In practice I did not find that to be the case.
Then you had a faulty tripod. Both Ries (USA) and Berlebach (Germany) state the lack of vibration as the first example of the advantages wood offers over other tripod materials on their Homepages:
Ries: Why Wood? Vibration~ Vibration, or actually, the lack of it.
Berlebach: For more than 120 years, high-quality tripods made of native ash wood have been produced in Mulda. The excellent characteristics of this type of wood in terms of vibration damping, stability and robustness etc, etc...
peter_n wrote:
Then you had a faulty tripod. Both Ries (USA) and Berlebach (Germany) state the lack of vibration as the first example of the advantages wood offers over other tripod materials on their Homepages:
Ries: Why Wood? Vibration~ Vibration, or actually, the lack of it.
Berlebach: For more than 120 years, high-quality tripods made of native ash wood have been produced in Mulda. The excellent characteristics of this type of wood in terms of vibration damping, stability and robustness etc, etc...
Seriously? They state it on their webpage so therefore it is fact? Well, check out weeklyworldnews.com for some other fun facts that must also be true.
I've used multiple wooden tripods. At least two different Ries and a Berlebach that I recall. In actual use I found there was no advantage over a properly setup carbon tripod. I'm not sure how a wooden tripod could be faulty. But I am quite sure I didn't have more than one that was.
Any real advantage in vibration resistance is due more to mass than material properties. Wood is heavy so it takes a lot more energy to induce movement. If a metal or carbon tripod has a proper counterweight it will resistant movement just as well.
Wooden tripods are a pain in the a$$ or more accurately a pain in the back to carry. I can carry a carbon tripod that weighs a third of a wooden one. Then I use my backpack as a counterweight which provides just as much stability.
jeffbuzz wrote:
Seriously? They state it on their webpage so therefore it is fact? Well, check out weeklyworldnews.com for some other fun facts that must also be true.
There's no need for sarcasm. The only time I've compared a wooden tripod to a carbon was in Dublin, Ireland. I have family there and a relative runs a camera shop there. I was back there with a Leica M6 and an early Benro carbon fibre travel tripod. Long story short I tried out a German wooden tripod with a very short name, I think it was Ica on the Samuel Beckett bridge over the Liffey which is a known shaker and I was there in the rush hour. When I got home and developed the negs there was a difference, not big but it was there so I'm a believer.
I've got a berlebach, and it is much more vibration resistant than any carbon fiber tripod I've ever used. Wood dampens better, pound for pound, and it's the reason that so many lightweight telescopes use wooden tripods.
And of course there is the beauty of the dang thing. Love mine, and don't mind the bit of extra weight, which disappears when you consider it as part of the whole setup, cameras, lenses, bags and tripod.
