Brand new Gitzo 1541T column won't tighten down

[Timothy Carlson]

Just opened my brand new Gitzo GT1541 Traveler
out of the box from B&H. Eager to join it with
brand new Markins Q3T ball head and my D700.
Big investment, high hopes.

After an hour or two staring at the skimpy Gitzo
instructions, I reversed the legs, removed the
center column and placed it properly on top,
and tried to cinch down the column with
the central twist lock.

Every single time, the column simply slides down.
I had no luck in establishing a firm grip on it with
the twist lock. (Is that the right term)

I called B&H and second time around found someone
who uses Gitzos and described my problem. He told me:
"You've done everything I could think of. Usually
it's quite simple. When you turn that twist lock all the way,
it should stay in place."

Throughout the afternoon, I called Bogen tech support
and no one answered, no one called back.

I was hoping someone would tell me: "Oh you forgot
to do this little thing or adjust that whatchamacallit."

I would happily wear a hat which said "I am a Gitzo idiot,"
if someone could tell me what to do so I won't have to
go through the trouble of sending it back. By the way, B&H
took a day longer than promised (Friday) and I had to wait
until today, Monday to wrestle with this issue.

With a bill for roughly $875 for the Gitzo Traveler and the
Markins Q3 and D700 plate, I started to focus on a recent trip
to San Francisco. A trip that awakened a desire to explore what a
tripod can do in urban and wilderness environments,. On that trip,
I brought a 10-year-old $29.95 aluminum Promaster 6000 tripod
and took what seemed to me to be a very nice post-sunset
25-second exposure shot of the Golden Gate Bridge
from the Marin headlands with city lights sparkling and streaming
white headlights and red tailights and sharply defined bridgework.

Today, while I was trying out my super cool carbon fiber,
strong-but-spidery legged Gitzo with its dysfunctional
central column twist lock, I wondered if the theoretical ability
of the Gitzo to hold tight for vertical shots was worth the
$845 difference? I thought specs: The Promaster is 45 inches high without
extending the central column, 52 inches with it fully extended. It is
20 inches long when folded up for travel. It weighs 2.6 pounds. For
$845 more, I get 4-5 inches shorter all wrapped up, the same height
with and without the fully extended center column, and just half a pound
less weight.

I can't believe they sent me the wrong size center column/ or a defective twist lock.
And in particular that Bogen tech support could not be bothered to call me
back all afternoon.

Please help.

[Timothy Carlson]

The resolution:

While B&H couldn't help and Bogen wouldn't bother, Steve at Markins, who owns a Gitzo 1541 Traveler,
guessed that it was missing the bushing - a brown cylindrical item that looks a little like thin cardboard
which fits inside the harness through which the center post slides.

When I opened it the Gitzo packing, I had removed it, thinking it was part of the protection
during mailing.

I slipped it in and everything worked nicely.

Now the temperatures are below freezing, so I am waiting for better weather to try it outdoors.

Yes I am a Gitzo idiot.

[Robert Amoruso]

Timothy,

The first thing you should do is get a return authorization from B&H and return it for either a replacement or a refund if you cannot get it to work.

If you get a refund, what other tripod should you buy? I would not hazard a recommendation. I use a Gitzo G2228 Explorer purchased about 3 years ago for my landscape photography. Never had a problem with it, center column works fine and its great for macro. However, I rarely extend the column as the higher you place the camera from the tripod leg support, the more unstable it gets. This link to a review on your tripod does not seem to mention any issue like you are having http://photography-on-the.net/forum/...d.php?t=538298.

[Robert Amoruso]

Good that you got it resolved.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Timothy

If send you current tripod back and order a new one keep in mind the center column. It is there but I do not feel is a good idea to count of its height. When extending it is just not stable. Make sure and get a big enough tripod to do the job, sometimes a light one that packs easily is not the best choice !!! Pleas do let us know how this ends !!!

[Timothy Carlson]

Hi Timothy

If send you current tripod back and order a new one keep in mind the center column. It is there but I do not feel is a good idea to count of its height. When extending it is just not stable. Make sure and get a big enough tripod to do the job, sometimes a light one that packs easily is not the best choice !!! Pleas do let us know how this ends !!!

Dear Alfred:

Thank you for your kind note.

Looking back, it seems the point of my first post is that determination and a $29.99 tripod can do as good a job as the rarest piece of expensive fine tuned machinery. Almost.

The point of my second post is that initiative to solve a problem often depends on people you've met rather than tech support. And that impatiently tearing something out of the box often leads to bigger problems.

Because I felt desperate abnd immediately ordered another tripod and got a RMA from B&H before I discovered what a bushing was for, I now have both the Gitzo 1541T and the GT 1541 in hand and have to return one of them soon. They pose an interesting choice.

I already own a truck-like bigger tripod that can hold long lenses steady in a monsoon. What I have come to covet and now own is a lightweight traveling tripod that I am willing to take anywhere and which can get sharp 25-second exposures with lenses I take on the road. Since I do not seek to photograph rare birds with 600mm lenses in the bush, I was looking for something which would enable me to shoot urban and some rural places in a mixture of artificial and natural light - and render them sharp as a tack. With a tripod that I can hook to my camera bag all day and all night and not feel overly burdened.

Both 1541s fit the bill. They both fit (just barely) into a student-size hiking backpack. I just got the Markins plates for the D700 and for the 70-200MM F2.8 VR lens and the whole tripod and ball head and plates ensemble weighs about 4 to 4.5 pounds.

I've carried both around with me. I really like the GT 1541 because it is almost a foot taller - both without the center column and with it. I really like the 1541 T because it's slightly less weight and seems to set up and work a little more quickly. I am afraid the GT 1541's extra height comes at the expense of pencil skinny, seemingly fragile fourth extension legs. I like the feel of the 1541T and its better fit hooked on my camera bag, but I am worried that many shots I am attracted to would benefit from a higher vantage point.

One thing you serious birders have warned me about I think does not apply. I already have a sturdy cheaper tripod for big long lenses. I am not often fighting high winds or snowdrifts to get shots, so even the 1541T works like a charm in most situations I might encounter - such as a time exposure at the finish line of the Hawaiian Ironman, or a time exposure setup shot of off-road motorcyles or mountain bikes racing through the Baja at night. I even found good results using the center column fully extended with the 70-200. Most of what I anticipate shooting will be done with the wide angle lenses anyway.

But if I weren't somewhat of an equipment geek, I'd stick with my old Promaster. I've looked at that Golden Gate bridge shot and I doubt that even a Markins ball head and a Gitzo would have gotten it perceptibly sharper. My only excuse for this extrvagance is that I am apro and it's a tax writeoff - and that the Promaster would never stick a vertical with the somewhat heavy D700 and the 24-70mm.

What makes me happy is that after a lifetime looking for decisive moment on the streets, I am looking at the world in a new way as the tripod leads me think about stopping/elongating time more in the flow of existence. Also, the act of stopping and setting up tempts me to think more like Walker Evans and my D700 tempts me to think with sharper edges and look for more luminous tones.

PS

A I grew up in Daytona Beach but never went to the Alligator Farm. But recently my dear friend Jeffery Kahn went and came back with extraordinary photographs of beautiful, rare and striking birds and other beasts.
I can see your fascination with the place and plan to go soon even without a special invitation.


Timothy Carlson

[Timothy Carlson]

PS

May I, can I, how would I post a photo seeking comment?

Timothy Carlson