Gitzo GT1542 and Markins Q3T Minitripod Mini review

[Larry Handal]

My dilemma was this: A 3 week trip to Alaska visiting 4 towns, where a lots of carrying a load of equipment meant leaving my Gitzo3540 and Mongoose head at home. Considered taking just a monopod but I knew I would miss a tripod for the panorama shots. Decided on the Gitzo gt1542t because of the 2.2 pounds weight and rated 15.4 pound load capacity. I first paired it with the small giotto ballhead but it was not usable at all with my 500mmf4is. I returned the Giotto and got the Markins Q3t ballhead at almost twice the price but what a drastic improvement. The tripod works like a charm even with my 800mmLIS ! I won't say its as sturdy as my 3540 but with I.S. or VR engaged I found it to be a very good performer. It also doubled as a monopod when needed.
The trip was a success photographically and the fact that my lens could be supported while waiting for bears,whales,river otter and eagles to do their thing made life so much easier than doing without a tripod.
The 500mm with my MarkIV felt very solid if the neck was not extended and I would not hesitate to leave it alone for brief times. The Markins locks down solid with the lens in any position. The Giotto would creep a lots.
I know that lots of you will be a little skeptical but it was a very workable solution for me. Below pix are with the Canon 800mml f5.6

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Good to know that you had a great trip. I am a bit scared to leave the camera and lens unattended on a Gitzo tripod. When I use my Gitzo GT3530 LSV for my Mark IV and 400 f2.8 IS combo, even after properly balancing, I am not confident that it will not flip over. And when I checked the amount of jitters in my video footage, the confidence goes down even more.

At the moment, I am using a Sachtler 100ENG HD 2 CF tripod and OConnor 1030 HDs fluid head. Though it broke my bank and strains my back during trekking, its rock solid. And for filming and photographing creatures in the canopy it is great. A brief review if someone is interested: http://www.indiawilds.com/diary/sachtler-cf-100-eng-hd-2-cf-tripod/


Do you get sharp footage with the centre column elevated?

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Larry Handal]

Quite a tripod you have there!
Not in the same league even remotely. Only resemblance is 3 legs LOL
I tested both my pods and with IS engaged on my 500 and 800s using fast shutter speeds of 1/focal lengths and I could achieve similar results. My pix with the GT3530LS pod fully locked down with IS engaged,self timer and remote trigger showed no advantage over my extra light 3 pound including ballhead gt1542 setup. I do not shoot video so I cannot say what that would result in.
Im sure that that using IS off or marginal shutter speeds would result in a big difference though. There was also a difference in percentage of good shots if the neck was extended so I did avoid as much as I could doing so.
The whole point is that you can achieve pretty good results with a back saving light weight tripod if used with proper techniques and keeping in mind the limitations.