Sirui or Gitzo?
- Thread starter devilry
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last time gitzo may be king, but these days there are viable alternatives, a sirui or any other brands can be cheaper, but that does not mean they are not good enough in terms of usage, or that their tripods will spread eagle and fall flat onto the ground with your gears on it. :bsmilie:
I still use my old gitzo once in a while, but the sirui 1205x is cheap and hard to beat, especially when it comes to travelling, more importantly is that it works and my gitzo don't make the photos any sharper ..... :bsmilie:
I still use my old gitzo once in a while, but the sirui 1205x is cheap and hard to beat, especially when it comes to travelling, more importantly is that it works and my gitzo don't make the photos any sharper ..... :bsmilie:
betta01
New Member
Personally I feel that unless you are really passionate for photography, there is not point spending a lot of $$$ on tripods because:
1. The tripod may end up being a white eleplant because after all its an additional weight and equipment to carry after all
2. For newbies the tripod itself may outlast your passion for photography, so no point spending so much $$$ now
A Sirui with a G20 ballhead is what I am using, its good enough for me.
1. The tripod may end up being a white eleplant because after all its an additional weight and equipment to carry after all
2. For newbies the tripod itself may outlast your passion for photography, so no point spending so much $$$ now
A Sirui with a G20 ballhead is what I am using, its good enough for me.
loozhengyuan
Member
According to top-professional photographers , they recommend Gitzo tripods as their first piority . But just as what geraldkhoo said , maybe buying a Sirui tripod is better .
they also spend hundreds of dollars on their ballheads, and anyway spending like them does not mean one's photos are going to be as good as theirs or even close ..... :nono:
loozhengyuan
Member
Yes , like what many of us emphasised . Its not the camera that produce good pictures , but the person behind it .
Halfmoon
Senior Member
I went for a sirui R2204 model with G20 ball head....
Cost and budget was a consideration for me....
A Sirui CF tripod is cheaper than the Manfrotto's alu tripod alone... and I see no value as I seldom bring tripod out, but my older slik was just too lightweight for my 400D set up and so, I upgraded... if it is not for the price, material, lighter weight and also, I wanted to try ND, so hence, I got the tripod....
No regret on the price, and it is pretty steady and solid for me so far....
If you have the budget, you can get the Gitzo but if you are in a dilemma, maybe just go for the cheaper one, and just as good..... For me, I rather invest more on lens than tripod...
Cost and budget was a consideration for me....
A Sirui CF tripod is cheaper than the Manfrotto's alu tripod alone... and I see no value as I seldom bring tripod out, but my older slik was just too lightweight for my 400D set up and so, I upgraded... if it is not for the price, material, lighter weight and also, I wanted to try ND, so hence, I got the tripod....
No regret on the price, and it is pretty steady and solid for me so far....
If you have the budget, you can get the Gitzo but if you are in a dilemma, maybe just go for the cheaper one, and just as good..... For me, I rather invest more on lens than tripod...
Canonized
Member
I just found this thread.
To Threadstarter - there is another discussion on this topic that followed at length from my short review of the Sirui (which also includes my follow up report on its usage in my travels).
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=686089
I would strongly suggest that you conduct the tests -
(a) Ball head Test - Test your combo lens and camera with the tripod and head in the shop for at least 20mins to make sure it can do the job. Put the camera and lens (you expect to use) on the head and tripod and shoot at f22 with a polariser and shoot at an object at least 15 feet away at ISO100. The long exposure will show up whether the whole set up is stable and whether there was creep OR Tripod wobble.
(b) Tripod leg stability Test -Open out the tripod legs to its maximum extension and press down on the top of the tripod with your left hand and at the same time, use your right hand to hold the middle of one leg and try to move it back and forth. Even though the tripod may be carbon fibre (one of the most rigid materials), poor quality tripods tend to have a lot more movement which is amplified by the poor construction of the joints. Clearly such movement is impossible to erradicate completely but the better made tripods control this problem far better. The SIRUI was a complete surprise in how rigid it was - always remembering that its a small travel tripod, the volume of movement is the key.
Gitzo is a great brand but the super light travel tripod is a compromise. All light tripods need to be a compromise.
I had wanted the Gitzo myself but went with the Sirui in the end for very practical reasons.
1. If I find myself not carrying a tripod around, then my investment cost is much lesser.
2. It has to be light and small enough to be actually carried around without being a pain. A major problem is that if its too big it will not be carried or used. If its too small it will not be stable.
3. It has to be able to do the work I want it to do - shooting landscape with long exposure. Stable enough to execute this with the gear I travel with.
4. Be actually used, abused in really tough conditions like desert, rain, rock mud and water conditions. (I would have a lot of difficulty in using a $1k tripod in such conditions). BTW being in Arizona a lot of fine dust got into my tripod and it got gritty. I managed to remove it all later when I cleaned it up. But I also felt glad that it was not a Gitzo that had to suffer that kind of conditions.
Good luck on your hunt for your perfect tripod system.
Cheers
To Threadstarter - there is another discussion on this topic that followed at length from my short review of the Sirui (which also includes my follow up report on its usage in my travels).
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=686089
I would strongly suggest that you conduct the tests -
(a) Ball head Test - Test your combo lens and camera with the tripod and head in the shop for at least 20mins to make sure it can do the job. Put the camera and lens (you expect to use) on the head and tripod and shoot at f22 with a polariser and shoot at an object at least 15 feet away at ISO100. The long exposure will show up whether the whole set up is stable and whether there was creep OR Tripod wobble.
(b) Tripod leg stability Test -Open out the tripod legs to its maximum extension and press down on the top of the tripod with your left hand and at the same time, use your right hand to hold the middle of one leg and try to move it back and forth. Even though the tripod may be carbon fibre (one of the most rigid materials), poor quality tripods tend to have a lot more movement which is amplified by the poor construction of the joints. Clearly such movement is impossible to erradicate completely but the better made tripods control this problem far better. The SIRUI was a complete surprise in how rigid it was - always remembering that its a small travel tripod, the volume of movement is the key.
Gitzo is a great brand but the super light travel tripod is a compromise. All light tripods need to be a compromise.
I had wanted the Gitzo myself but went with the Sirui in the end for very practical reasons.
1. If I find myself not carrying a tripod around, then my investment cost is much lesser.
2. It has to be light and small enough to be actually carried around without being a pain. A major problem is that if its too big it will not be carried or used. If its too small it will not be stable.
3. It has to be able to do the work I want it to do - shooting landscape with long exposure. Stable enough to execute this with the gear I travel with.
4. Be actually used, abused in really tough conditions like desert, rain, rock mud and water conditions. (I would have a lot of difficulty in using a $1k tripod in such conditions). BTW being in Arizona a lot of fine dust got into my tripod and it got gritty. I managed to remove it all later when I cleaned it up. But I also felt glad that it was not a Gitzo that had to suffer that kind of conditions.
Good luck on your hunt for your perfect tripod system.
Cheers
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hihi, my concern is more on the height.. for 1.7m, would it be more advisable to get a T1204x or T2204x? thks!
I am 1.78m tall, and have no problems whatsoever with the T-1004x, my travel tripod.
But a lot depends on your shooting preference. I do not like to have the camera at my eye level when I am standing straight up. That will make it troublesome to look at my top LCD, as well as the distance scale of my mounted lens. And I personally find it more comfortable to have viewfinder at my chin level when standing straight up, simply because I lean forward and slightly down when I compose. And one more thing, My eye is seldom stuck on the viewfinder. Once composed, and focus and settings are set up... all I do is fire off using my remote shutter. When i shoot I spend less than 10% of the time looking through the viewfinder. Sometimes even much much less.
And a note about why I selected Sirui, I tested both the T-1004x and the T-1204x with the 2 finger tap test, I found the aluminium one to be more stable, and absorbs vibrations better. I am very happy to spend that slightly-over-$100 for the tripod. Worth many times over that amount for me. Especially when I travel.
If I am buying a variable angle center column tripod, I would go for Gitzo Explorer. But for travel tripod, Sirui is the one.
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macaroni
Senior Member
Can make a trip down to TK photo to personally test it out.
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