Giottos is the tripod I bought that steered me towards buying another tripod.
Feisol and Induro are two very distinct companies. I don't know which other brands are made by Induro, but my personal experience with my Induro label tripod is one of total satisfaction. Maybe they sell a cheaper-grade of tripod to off-brand labels, which would be why people are dissatisfied with those products- they're built to a price, not to a standard. Is the finish on my Induro as sexy as a Gitzo? No, but it is equally as functional, and at half the price I'll give up the sexy.
Just a word on Sigma lenses - they make lenses under contract for some of the major brands, like (ahem) Nikon. I've seen plenty of sports and wildlife photographers who rely on Sigma lenses for a living - their big fast glass is as good as Canon's L or Nikon's fast primes. And it costs less.
As to repairs on my Induro, I have little worry that it will fail under warranty. And because I bought it from a local retailer, I can walk in to their shop and if it has to go back to Taiwan, they'll handle it and make sure I'm not stranded while it's off being serviced. I agree that the Amvona/Dynatran/Adorama discount tripods are cheap knock-offs and aren't worth the price. But before you go bashing a product you haven't tried, take a good look at an Induro 8x carbon fiber legset. They don't have the glossy finish of the Gitzo, but they have the same anti-rotation legs, the anti-rotation center column, the same high-quality carbon fiber tubes, the interchangeable spiked and padded feet. And they're 30-50% cheaper. An Induro CT-314 is NOT the same thing as an Amvona. Neither is a Feisol. They're in a totally different league.
If you're buying a Feisol tripod, talk to Kerry Thallmann, the US importer for Feisol (www.reallybigcameras.com). He's a contributor here and on Large Format Info. For a lot of warranty service, he can probably support you without having to ship it to Taiwan and back. If it's major (a leg tube breaking, for example), it probably would have to go back, but still ask.
Short version of my purchase experience - I did my research online before ever talking to a salesman. I then went in the store and played with it without the assistance of a salesman. Nobody pitched me on it. The Manfrotto carbon fiber tripods were too skinny and not rigid enough for my use - I need to be able to put large format cameras on top. I can do that with my Induro, I couldn't do that with a Manfrotto. The Manfrotto carbon fiber tripods have that turn-the-column-sideways feature that makes the center column wiggly by comparison to a column which isn't reversible. Oh, by the way, the warranty on the Manfrotto you opted to buy instead of the Gitzo is the same as the Induro - 5 years. And do you require other people to make your decisions for you? That's the implication of "not universally loved".
You're also missing my point about Sigma lenses. You're arguing they're cheap and not as good as major brand lenses. With some of them that may be true, but there is also variation between major brand lenses as to which particular focal length from Canon vs Nikon vs Pentax is better. And, as I pointed out, some of the lenses with the Nikon label (I know this to be true for Nikon, who is the smallest of the big name camera manufacturers and doesn't have the capacity of the others - it may be true of Canon or Pentax as well, or even Konica/Minolta) are actually made under contract by Sigma. So saying that a Sigma is inherently inferior to a Nikon/Canon/Pentax/Minolta is false. In some cases, they actually ARE Sigmas. They just change the barrel design from the Sigma house-label lens so it looks like a Nikon/Canon/Pentax/Minolta.
This is the link for Calumet tripods.
http://www.calumetphoto.com/eng/bro...s-accessories/camera-tripods/_/brands/calumet
Ancient Thread Revival -
Tomorrow i'll be picking up the Feisol CT-3342 carbon fiber tripod and Manfrotto 498rc2 ballhead i ordered so looonnnnggggg ago - I can hardly wait!!!!
I'll probably do a bit of a eval/review of it in a new thread, but not sure where to post it.... The "Miscellaneous" thread perhaps?
Anyone else here use a Feisol carbon fiber tripod? What are your thoughts/opinions of it?
Thanks again everyone for all the help!
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