I don’t know why, but I just felt like getting a new tripod. At first I settled on the Manfrotto 055CXPr03, carbon fiber, tall enough for me, flip locks and had that really cool horizontal centre column. Upon consultation with a fellow photographer, he suggested a Gitzo GT3530 or something like that. I thought about plunging down some of my hard earned cash for one, but then came across the Gitzo GT2531EX, it was like the Manfrotto crossed with the Gitzo. At first the lack of flip-locks concerned me, but having had a look at it in the flesh, it didn’t seem so bad.
Anyway, in the end I decided on the Gitzo Explorer. It’s rather smart. The box it comes in is pretty neat and the legs themselves are in a bag, a bit like those you get for posh shoes. There’s even a little LCD cleaner with the Gitzo logo on. It’s easily the most flexible tripod I’ve come across. There are no set angles for the legs and they’re pretty robust when locked down. The moveable centre column does what it’s suppose to do and does it rather well, there’s even a little retractable hook at the end for you to hang a counterweight for additional stability. I’ve mounted my Manfrotto 486RC2 ball head since its the only ball head I have and the whole package from first glance seems fairly easy to deploy.
Of course, you can’t really give a true impression until you’ve actually used it out in the field. I guess there’ll be a part 2 coming up soon.
Tags: gitzo, photography kit, tripod, tripod legs
Very neat!
I’m jealous
Very nice tripod
Ha ha exactly my dilema, hence how I came across this page I guess.
I too was looking at the MF 055CXPRO3 until I saw this Gitzo.
I think I might go with the Gitzo now. The only thing that was putting me off was the twist leg locks as I liked the idea of Manfrotto’s flip locks.
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