----- Original Message ----- From: "Rob Studdert"
Subject: Re: good low angle tripod
I bought a rather basic Feisol panning base and wasn't overly enamoured with their engineering or QC. I had to modify it as the internal screws were too long and were scraping on the base and even after that was remedied it wasn't very stable and exhibited variable friction as it was rotated through 360 degrees. Their leg sets look OK.
I compared my Tournament to a friend's Gitzo, and it came off pretty favourably, especially considering the Feisol is about half the price. The Gitzo's leg locks might be a little smoother, we had trouble deciding, and his Gitzo has a crank elevator, the Feisol is a manual lift. OTOH, I don't have to have the center column in place with the Feisol, he is stuck with is with his Gitzo, which gives the Feisol a couple of hundred gram weight advantage since it is tall enough that I don't need the colum in most of the time. He liked the Feisol head quite a bit as well, he thought it quite comparable to the Markins that he is using. Not quite as smooth, but not all that far off, still very good indeed, and just under half the price of his Markins. I have not really been a big fan of ball heads, I've always used pan/tilt heads up till now, so I honestly wouldn't know an OK one from a good one (though I did have a craptacular Manfrotto ball head a number of years ago that soured me on them for a couple of decades). Both of the tripods and heads I've bought from Feisol came in with no defects and seem to do exactly what they are designed to do. Admitedly I haven't tried their leveling or panning base, I suspect that if they got complaints, they'd be re-enginerring them. The yoke on the Feisol does look a little bit frail at the leg attachment points, and the tension adjust on the leg to yoke is a bit crude, but overall it looks to be a decent tripod and head combination.
William Robb
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