Gitzo Basalt Tripods?


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Hi.

Just when I thought Carbon fibre is the lightest alloy the tripod manufacturers can come up with ... until stumbled upon this @ Gitzo.

Your views?
looking at this, CF still seems lighter. tougher? i :dunno:
basalt have the same lightness as their "Soulid 238"
 

To my understanding the Gitzo Basalt range sits between the cheaper aluminium and Carbon Fiber models. The material is a composite of ground basalt. It is pretty hard, weighs a little lighter than the aluminium models but heavier than the CF models. Being a composite matrix, it is quite similar to the Manfrotto Magfiber and other cheaper CF tripods where there is a lot of resin used (which adds weight). I've tried a friend's Basalt tripod and it is very similar to CF in terms of vibration dampening. However it doesn't have the G-Locks, which means the load capacity isn't as much as a similar Gitzo CF model. All Gitzo tripods are sturdy workhorses but I would advise spending a little more to get the CF models as there is the noticeable weight advantage and the G-Locks.
 

To my understanding the Gitzo Basalt range sits between the cheaper aluminium and Carbon Fiber models. The material is a composite of ground basalt. It is pretty hard, weighs a little lighter than the aluminium models but heavier than the CF models. Being a composite matrix, it is quite similar to the Manfrotto Magfiber and other cheaper CF tripods where there is a lot of resin used (which adds weight). I've tried a friend's Basalt tripod and it is very similar to CF in terms of vibration dampening. However it doesn't have the G-Locks, which means the load capacity isn't as much as a similar Gitzo CF model. All Gitzo tripods are sturdy workhorses but I would advise spending a little more to get the CF models as there is the noticeable weight advantage and the G-Locks.

Thanks a lot. May I know which CF model would you recommend for travel?
 

http://www.giottos.com/News/Leica_P31.jpg

from their test, manfortto 055prob and 055mf3 seems to perform better than gitzo g1198 basalt. which comes as a surprise. i have the 055pro, if anyone with 055mf3 or g1198 is willing, may be we can get together to do a test ourselves?

more of the test can be found here, look at the report german where more tripods had been tested.

http://www.giottos.com/News-MT-awards.htm
 

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To my understanding the Gitzo Basalt range sits between the cheaper aluminium and Carbon Fiber models. The material is a composite of ground basalt. It is pretty hard, weighs a little lighter than the aluminium models but heavier than the CF models. Being a composite matrix, it is quite similar to the Manfrotto Magfiber and other cheaper CF tripods where there is a lot of resin used (which adds weight). I've tried a friend's Basalt tripod and it is very similar to CF in terms of vibration dampening. However it doesn't have the G-Locks, which means the load capacity isn't as much as a similar Gitzo CF model. All Gitzo tripods are sturdy workhorses but I would advise spending a little more to get the CF models as there is the noticeable weight advantage and the G-Locks.

Basalt have G-Locks model too. Look at the explorer series GT2932EX.
 

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http://www.giottos.com/News/Leica_P31.jpg

from their test, manfortto 055prob and 055mf3 seems to perform better than gitzo g1198 basalt. which comes as a surprise. i have the 055pro, if anyone with 055mf3 or g1198 is willing, may be we can get together to do a test ourselves?

more of the test can be found here, look at the report german where more tripods had been tested.

http://www.giottos.com/News-MT-awards.htm
not surprise once you look at the weight of the tripod, its barely 1/2 the weight of the 055prob. light tripod are easily shaken or have lower resisitance to vibration, that is also why some tripod have weight hook at the centre column
 

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not surprise once you look at the weight of the tripod, its barely 1/2 the weight of the 055prob

thats why in the writeup, they recommend you to hang you bag below. but too often, i have seen people hanging (dangling) their bag on tripod, the bag is moving like pandolum creating more vibration to the tripod. so let the bag touch the ground but not fully rested on the ground.
 

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