I went out on a spending spree and finally got myself a much-needed tripod. Alan Photo did not give me any good advice on a choice of tripods, and the sales guy actually told me once to go back after doing more research on the Internet! I went to Cathay Photo at Peninsula Plaza, knowing that their staff are highly knowledgeable and they have a wide range of tripods on display.
When I reached the shop, I looked around and told a friendly sales person that I am not sure which tripod to get. He patiently asked about the current gear that I use, and if I intend to use longer telephotos in the future. He showed me two tripods, one from Manfrotto and a second from SLIK, and explained to me the pros and cons of each. He honestly told me he skipped Giottos because the price may shock me (which was probably an educated guess based on my gear).
In the end I chose the SLIK PRO 714CF II Tripod with a KangRinpoche ballhead. It is light-weight due to the carbon fibre material used, it is relatively shorter than some of the pro tripods I have seen, and the legs extend easily by twisting the catches.
Lovely tripod. As you can see from my previous post on light trails, a tripod is a must-have under low light situations.
July 5th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
Congraz! Now we can go for night shooting in Singapore together!
July 7th, 2009 at 12:52 am
Yes we can!
August 26th, 2009 at 10:20 am
Nice tripod. GOod choice with the ballhead rather than a panning head. A lot of ppl neglect the use of a tripod especially for low light, night & macro shoot:)