p.1 #1 · Is the Gitzo 3532 Mountaineer + GH3382QD ball head the right choice for me?
I've been looking to get a nice tripod for awhile and came across a slamming deal last week on a new Gitzo 3532 Mountaineer Series + GH3382QD ball head for $699 on B&H as part of a cyber Monday deal zone thing they had going on. This combo normally retails for about $1700 or more as far as I can tell. The legs alone are $1400 when not on sale.
I plan on using this tripod for landscape (will hike with it), wildlife, macro, and astro mainly. I shoot with sony full frame mirrorless and my heaviest set up right now is an A1ii + 300mm 2.8 with a 2x teleconverter, however down the line I think I will get a 600 f/4 or the sigma 300-600 f/4. I also have the sony 24-70 gm II and 70-200 gm II, among a couple other lenses. I am 5'10" in my 30s and pretty fit so an extra pound or 2 on a tripod shouldn't break me.
The tripod came in recently and it's great. A super solid piece of gear that would seemingly last a lifetime.
My first impressions are that:
1) it's a huge step up from my cheap tripod.
2) everything is very nicely built and put together.
3) with my A1ii and 300 gm on there it's about 63.5" without the center column extended and with other lenses that don't have a separate tripod foot it's about 62". This isn't completely eye level and requires me to bend ever so slightly to get my eye through the viewfinder. I can't tell if this will be a big deal or not.
4) it is definitely large (about 30 inches when collapsed completely), it fits on both my hiking backpacks, both a shimoda action x 40 and an osprey kestrel 38 without too much fuss but it's large, not subtle and throws the backpack weight off a bit.
5) The ball head is nice (and heavy). I like how it has a tension knob for when the ball is released, can have it quite loose or quit taught for framing and tracking. I don't think it's the perfect wildlife ball head though of course.
6) It seems very stable even with the center column extended, I did some tests today when it was pretty windy and it seemed fine at max height with the 300mm and 1.4x teleconverter on top. Granted I don't know how it would fair with a 30 second exposure, although I would be doing that with a wide angle most likely.
So I guess the $700 question is whether I will keep it or not and whether it's the best tripod for me? If I return it I will probably go for the FLM CP30 L II or 34 L II and the flex shooter pro or mini. Another option is to sell the ball head, keep the legs, and get the flex shooter ball head. The other option is to keep it and get a smaller tripod for hiking although I would prefer to have one tripod for everything if possible.
My question is why are the Gitzo GT3532 tripod legs alone $1400 when not on sale, versus the FLM which are $500 or $700? With the FLM I get more height, lower weight, similar load capacity, don't have to use a center column, etc. I really am no tripod expert so what makes this a better buy than an FLM? Why are the legs alone 2-3x more expensive? Also I wonder what the resale value is if I decide not to return it and a couple years from now want to sell it? If I was basically guaranteed to get my money back that would change things for me vs losing hundreds on a sale.
