Gitzo GIGT0545T Traveler Series 0 Carbon Fiber Tripod

I should have bought this one before buying 5 others, over the last 5 years. The others are light, but the twist-lock-legs are always releasing on other brands! NOT this one! The lock legs are solid, finally! Super small, light, and sits like a rock. Truly highly recommended. After 50 years in photography (scenic travel photography) this is it ! I added the tension controled ball head. I use it for bigger DSLR and heavy 1.4 primes. No zooms. (Don't know how it would handle those huge 70-210mm f/4 monsters. )

These legs are small, strong and stable! It will be a pleasure to carry these legs pared with the RRS BH-30 ballhead!

I wanted a light tripod because I have a sturdy aluminum one I don't use often - too heavy. But, I was using a 500mm f/4 Nikon lens on the tripod that weights 6.6 lbs, before the camera! I mounted an arca-swiss Z1+ on this tripod, and set it up on the beach. I extended the legs all the way, but left the center mount all the way down. The tripod supports about 40 lbs if I remember correctly, and the arca-swiss about 130 lbs. So, yes it appeared to be overkill. However, even in the sand the tripod vibrated enough that the image through the 500mm lens (and later with a 1.4 extender, 700mm lens) shook. But, shooting lighthouse images and pelicans with 1/1000 and 1/2000 of a second were crip with no shake. My only conclusion was that the shake was minimal enough that the long lens photography worked great. I am very confident that shorter lenses, like 135mm, 50mm, 21mm for landscape or portrait photography would come out equally as sharp with much slower shutter speeds. The tips on the legs are rubber and the sand washed off easily. One handed operation with the heavy 500mm lens mounted was also easy. Twist, pull, twist to tighten. I love this tripod and it is easy to carry around because it is so light and well sturdy enough for my heavy lens.

I am using this tripod as a travel tripod. It fits nicely in my carry on. I use it with my Sony A7RII system.. Perfect match. I ended up with a Sirui G-10X ball head. This is a light but solid head. Now when folding up the tripod-- it gets close to closing all the way but not quite all the way. The new Gitzo head might be better in this regard but it weighs almost twice as much and costs 3x as much. I can always remove the head if needed in my carry on. Overall a great product

I wanted a small tripod to hold a small mirrorless DSLR, fit into a carry-on bag for planes and make minimal fuss on location. Looked online, picked a Manfrotto and then went to the store on Ninth Avenue to have a look. The Gitzo display was one aisle down from Manfrotto. Comparing the two, even at twice the price, Gitzo blew Manfrotto out of the water on engineering and usability.