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Archive 2023 · Tripod primary leg angle - Is 23 deg. the new trend?

onthebeam
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p.4 #1 · Tripod primary leg angle - Is 23 deg. the new trend?

Mine still points upward. No complaints from the Mrs.

May 23, 2023 at 07:24 AM

Cliff L.
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p.4 #2 · Tripod primary leg angle - Is 23 deg. the new trend?

RT-- wrote:

at this thread.
Does Gitzo still use cast parts, and paint them with hammer paint to hide the cracks?

Uhhh... you're thinking of Manfrotto.

May 23, 2023 at 09:06 AM

hiepphotog
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p.4 #3 · Tripod primary leg angle - Is 23 deg. the new trend?

It's interesting that RRS switched to the wider stance on the Mark 2, at least with the now discontinued TFC-14.

https://i7.xitek.com/forum/pics/202301/0/90/90_1672985016794_5692.jpg
https://i7.xitek.com/forum/pics/202301/0/90/90_1672985085859_6648.jpg

Jun 04, 2023 at 07:18 AM

sjms
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p.4 #4 · Tripod primary leg angle - Is 23 deg. the new trend?

measuring a rev1 TQC14 (w/center post Apex) and a rev2 TVC24 (w/modular apex) using a Starrett protractor #490 (that's the old school really accurate analog bubble based one

) TQC at 24.5 degrees and the TVC at 25 degrees.

the spread at the base of the triangle will be different due to the different total leg lengths of the 2 models (total height difference)

taking in account the variables introduced by the wooden floor i'd call it, within a margin of error, equivalent.

Jun 04, 2023 at 06:39 PM

sjms
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p.4 #5 · Tripod primary leg angle - Is 23 deg. the new trend?

molson wrote:
Uhhh... you're thinking of Manfrotto.

no, he is on the right path. Gitzo uses a pretty sophisticated casting technique using a Magnesium alloy and in order to protect it against corrosion (and it is an essential part of the assembly) does use a special paint that does look like mini hand hammering.

Jun 10, 2023 at 03:42 PM

Cliff L.
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p.4 #6 · Tripod primary leg angle - Is 23 deg. the new trend?

sjms wrote:
no, he is on the right path. Gitzo uses a pretty sophisticated casting technique using a Magnesium alloy and in order to protect it against corrosion (and it is an essential part of the assembly) does use a special paint that does look like mini hand hammering.

No, I meant Manfrotto, who have had a lot of issues with fragile, porous castings which tend to crack, especially in cold weather - in response to the silly comment about Gitzo hiding cracks with paint.

Jun 10, 2023 at 03:55 PM

sjms
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p.4 #7 · Tripod primary leg angle - Is 23 deg. the new trend?

well it also seems that Vitec the large owner of a whole slew of media based manufacturer including Vinton, Gitzo, Manfrotto, Schactler and quite a few more related gear has updated their name back in 2022 (missed that along the way it seems) and is called Vindendum. along with some other divisional names too

to explain it better: https://videndum.com/find-out-more/

Jun 10, 2023 at 04:00 PM

Russ L. Miller
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p.4 #8 · Tripod primary leg angle - Is 23 deg. the new trend?

Actually, there are several reports of broken Gitzo spiders AND leg castings - as demonstrated by a simple Google search; some of the reports are older, so Gitzo may have corrected the problem.

Jun 10, 2023 at 06:13 PM

sjms
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p.4 #9 · Tripod primary leg angle - Is 23 deg. the new trend?

read the new and improved Gitzo warranty: https://www.gitzo.com/global/customer-service/warranty-terms-and-conditions/

Jun 11, 2023 at 02:48 AM

ULTRA777
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p.4 #10 · Tripod primary leg angle - Is 23 deg. the new trend?

Bobarino wrote:
I hope that 3-series LS324CEX tripod works out for you, but I would temper my expectations to a certain degree. Mind you, there's always that trade-off between stability and portability..

I currently have five carbon fiber tripods from Gitzo; a 1-series Mountaineer,, a 2-series Traveller,, a 3-series XLS Systematic, a 4-series Traveller/Systematic, and a 5-series Systematic. I would say that the 3-series GT-3542XLS is probably the most versatile of that bunch, but it can't approach the stiffness and stability of the 5-series. The overall height of the 3-series XLS is what makes it so versatile. I'm roughly 5'9", and that...Show more →

I just purchased a GT5543XLS to replace my aging Manfrotto 055 PROB and am happy with the stability. Gitzo specifies the first leg angle to be 26�, which is about the same as my old 055 upon manually checking.

While Gitzo's 5 Series may well be the last word in ultimate stability, for traveling, my wife has voiced some objections to me bringing it along. I was considering a smaller travel tripod and noticed that the 4 Series is only listed at 23�. Not sure why Gitzo would be changing leg angles between their Systematic Series, as I would have thought the benefits of a 26� first leg lock would scale proportionally between the different sizes.

That being said, have you noticed much stability difference between the 4 and 5 series? I'm not referring to rigidity, as the 4 series would be less, but stability differences arising because of the lower leg angle.

Oct 21, 2025 at 10:10 PM

Bobarino
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p.4 #11 · Tripod primary leg angle - Is 23 deg. the new trend?

ULTRA777 wrote:
I just purchased a GT5543XLS to replace my aging Manfrotto 055 PROB and am happy with the stability. Gitzo specifies the first leg angle to be 26�, which is about the same as my old 055 upon manually checking.

While Gitzo's 5 Series may well be the last word in ultimate stability, for traveling, my wife has voiced some objections to me bringing it along. I was considering a smaller travel tripod and noticed that the 4 Series is only listed at 23�. Not sure why Gitzo would be changing leg angles between their Systematic Series, as I would have thought...Show more →

Personally, I've not done that specific comparison between the 4 and 5 series, and that's mostly due to the specific reasons why I purchased both models. My 4-series was chosen to be used as a heavy-duty "Traveller Systematic", with a folded length of 18". (Gitzo GT-4552TS). I wanted this size specifically for travelling on smaller aircraft.(bush planes, or planes on floats).

I chose my 5-series (GT-5532S) simply because I wanted to experience the stiffest and most stable tripod that Gitzo makes, regardless of size. Yaw stiffness was an important consideration.(dealing with high crosswinds)

I also have series 1 and 2 Mountaineers, plus a 2-series Traveller, and my favorite among those is the 2-series Mountaineer.(GT-2542).

That said, it really boils down to what you want to do with it. For example, I really like the 1-series Mountaineer for street-type photography. (ample height for me, fast set-up speed and reasonably compact footprint).

Regarding your specific question, yes do I notice a difference, but that's primarily due to my 4-series having five leg-sections vs the three leg-sections on my 5-series. The 5-series simply doesn't budge. The bottom leg-section on that 5-series, is the same diameter as the top leg-section of my 3-series Systematic.(GT-3542XLS). With the 4-series 5-section model, the bottom leg has the same diameter as the top leg-section of a "0" series. That said, the three lowest leg-sections on my 4-series 5-section, are made of high-modulus carbon fiber. It's important to choose wisely, based on your specific needs.

Edited on Oct 22, 2025 at 10:58 AM · View previous versions

Oct 22, 2025 at 09:38 AM

GroovyGeek
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p.4 #12 · Tripod primary leg angle - Is 23 deg. the new trend?

23 degrees is Leofoto marketing BS. The first thing I do with all my Leofoto tripods, which I love, is put a file to the legstops. 5 mins later I have a 25 degree tripod that is less than an inch shorter than the 23 degree abomination.

Oct 22, 2025 at 10:31 AM

Fred Amico
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p.4 #13 · Tripod primary leg angle - Is 23 deg. the new trend?

GroovyGeek wrote:
23 degrees is Leofoto marketing BS. The first thing I do with all my Leofoto tripods, which I love, is put a file to the legstops. 5 mins later I have a 25 degree tripod that is less than an inch shorter than the 23 degree abomination.

Do the same here.

Oct 22, 2025 at 04:45 PM

MikeEvangelist
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p.4 #14 · Tripod primary leg angle - Is 23 deg. the new trend?

The resurrection of this thread has prompted me to finally file the leg stops on my little Ulanzi tripod. It resolves the one thing that bugged me about an otherwise very nice tripod.

Oct 23, 2025 at 09:45 AM

tsdevine
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p.4 #15 · Tripod primary leg angle - Is 23 deg. the new trend?

This is truly silly, kind of a shoot yourself in the foot on the manufacturers part. Decreasing leg angle just to eke out a little more maximum height (I assume that's the reason) on the spec sheet seems shortsighted.

Oct 23, 2025 at 10:28 AM

RT--
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p.4 #16 · Tripod primary leg angle - Is 23 deg. the new trend?

IIRC the reason for a shallower angle is not height but footprint.
I haven't really noticed instability but I keep toying with the idea of modding one of my tripods.

Oct 23, 2025 at 10:40 AM

GroovyGeek
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p.4 #17 · Tripod primary leg angle - Is 23 deg. the new trend?

RT-- wrote:
IIRC the reason for a shallower angle is not height but footprint.
I haven't really noticed instability but I keep toying with the idea of modding one of my tripods.

For outdoor use the stability difference is large and very noticeable.

Oct 23, 2025 at 11:57 AM

gdanmitchell
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p.4 #18 · Tripod primary leg angle - Is 23 deg. the new trend?

Bobarino wrote:
Personally, I've not done that specific comparison between the 4 and 5 series, and that's mostly due to the specific reasons why I purchased both models. My 4-series was chosen to be used as a heavy-duty "Traveller Systematic", with a folded length of 18". (Gitzo GT-4552TS). I wanted this size specifically for travelling on smaller aircraft.(bush planes, or planes on floats).

I chose my 5-series (GT-5532S) simply because I wanted to experience the stiffest and most stable tripod that Gitzo makes, regardless of size. Yaw stiffness was an important consideration.(dealing with high crosswinds)

I also have series 1 and 2 Mountaineers,...Show more →

I�m going to risk a slight diversion of the thread here to follow up on the comparisons among the Gitzo lines.

I have an older (10-15 years?) Series 2 Mountaineer (in the extra tall size) that is my �light� tripod, though it is stiff enough for most of my regular uses, including putting a Canon 5DsR with a 100-400 L zoom on the thing. I�d say that this particular combo pushes it close to its limit, but it works.

I also have an older and much larger/heavier Induro tripod that I bought in a slightly weak moment maybe 15-20 years ago. Outfitted with the RRS BH-55 it has been my heavier option, but the leg locks have not held up, to the point that I really want to replace it. (I can make it work fine, but I�m tired of wrestling with the poor locks.)

Because my Gitzo has worked so reliably for me, even under the abuse of lashing it to a backpack for multi-day backpacking trips or loading it onto mules for other backcountry trips� I�m strongly leaning towards replacing the old Induro with a second Gitzo. I�m looking at the tallest models since I often work on uneven terrain and I want to eliminate the center column. From what I can tell that means either the Systemic Series 3XL GT3543XLS or the Systemic Series 5 GT5543XLS. (Perhaps I�m missing something, but I do not see an extra long Series 4�)

I�m interested in any thoughts from those of you who have experience with one or another or (especially) both. I lean to wards the Series 5 for its maximum solidity since I have the lighter Mountaineer, but I also don�t want to unnecessarily burner myself with a Series 5 if the Series 3 will be solid enough.

Thanks.

Oct 23, 2025 at 12:45 PM

scrappydog
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p.4 #19 · Tripod primary leg angle - Is 23 deg. the new trend?

gdanmitchell wrote:
I�m going to risk a slight diversion of the thread here to follow up on the comparisons among the Gitzo lines.

I have an older (10-15 years?) Series 2 Mountaineer (in the extra tall size) that is my �light� tripod, though it is stiff enough for most of my regular uses, including putting a Canon 5DsR with a 100-400 L zoom on the thing. I�d say that this particular combo pushes it close to its limit, but it works.

I also have an older and much larger/heavier Induro tripod that I bought in a slightly weak moment maybe 15-20 years...Show more →
I have a 3-series Systematic and I love it. I have an LS model (GT3541LS), not the XLS model, so mine is a little shorter but still fairly tall. The extra tall will be helpful on uneven ground, for some astro shots pointing high, and if you are tall. I'm 5' 10' and find my 3-series okay for 95% of shots, but occasionally I wish it was taller. If it matters, my 3-series is about 26" at its shortest, so about 8-9" longer than a Gitzo traveler tripod.

The stability is excellent, but there are limits. When I was in Iceland, the winds were extraordinary and I was taking longer exposure shots of a waterfall with a 70-200 at 200mm. It was able to deliver, but I literally had to put all my weight on my 3-series to stabilize it. I also use it with my birding scope and it works pretty well.

I've seen both the 4-series and 5-series in the field (but haven't shot with them). The legs are thicker than the 3-series and will offer even more stability than the 3-series, but at the expense of size and weight. The 5-series is a total beast, but in a good way - the legs are impressively thick.

Oct 23, 2025 at 01:30 PM

ULTRA777
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p.4 #20 · Tripod primary leg angle - Is 23 deg. the new trend?

gdanmitchell wrote:
I�m going to risk a slight diversion of the thread here to follow up on the comparisons among the Gitzo lines.

I have an older (10-15 years?) Series 2 Mountaineer (in the extra tall size) that is my �light� tripod, though it is stiff enough for most of my regular uses, including putting a Canon 5DsR with a 100-400 L zoom on the thing. I�d say that this particular combo pushes it close to its limit, but it works.

I also have an older and much larger/heavier Induro tripod that I bought in a slightly weak moment maybe 15-20 years...Show more →

You are correct, Gitzo does not make an XLS model in the 4 Series.

Having said that, after you have tried a 5 Series it is pretty hard to use anything else as your stability standards quickly get recalibrated. I went for the GT5543XLS because it is 60" to the top plate with only the top three legs extended!

So most of the time you will probably find yourself using it as a 3-section tripod, which means that 99% of the time your bottom leg section will be 32.9mm, which is actually the same as the top leg section of the GT3543XLS. As you already have a lighter Mountineer, I'd consider the 5 Series.

Oct 23, 2025 at 04:18 PM

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