I have a Vinten clone of Manfrotto Legs with my Vision 6. They work okay if a bit ponderous. I need an alternative that I can pack into a large suitcase. Just back from a trip to the Coto Donana in Spain where I took my old Gitzo 1325 legs. This combination would only work on level ground, which useless when out in the field filming birds etc.

I guess I might have to stick Vinten legs of some sort even though the Gitzo has a bog standard 75mm bowl, which is happy with Gitzo/Manfrotto heads as well as one from Libec and my Sachtler DVS 6.


Ron

Hi, Ronald...........

The problem with that Vision 6 head and non Vinten sticks is, as usual, with the Vinten over-sized clamp knob cup and 3 lobed handle.

Sticking with Vinten, the sticks under the Vision Blue systems are darn good, however, they're pretty chunky and not exactly featherweights, not cheap either.

There is one set of sticks from Libec that are decidedly lighter and cheaper and the Libec RS250 heads also have a pretty chunky clamp cup and lobed handle, so may work fine with the Vinten head (no promises, mind).

I think, from memory, the sticks are RT 30B's. When I did my review of the Libec system a couple of years ago, the real down side to those sticks was the badly designed spreader which imparted exceedingly high leg angles, leading to instability.

That may have been fixed, I don't know.

They're nowhere near as rigid as the Vintens (by a country mile) but for travel, may be just the job.

Getting your hands on a set to test in the UK could be quite a challenge, but worth having a bash at.


CS

Thanks Chris. I have since found that my Vinten/Manfrotto legs will fit, just, into my suitcase. And also that their 3776-3's, not cheap, would do the trick If I could afford them.

Will keep my eyes open on Ebay and the like but must stop buying kit at some stage,I've a house full of the stuff, lots never used!


Ron

ps a highly recommended lightweight alternative, albeit very much a (b) cam to my EX3/Nikkors for wildlife is a GH3 with Nikkor adapter although their 100-300 lens is good. This from bods who know their wildlife filming inc. one who makes a living from it. Means a much lighter pod of course.

It is a tad late on this, but I use a vinten vision 6 on gitzo and manfrotto legs. The thread size on the base of the head is standard. I just swapped out the vinten nut handle for a verical handle from an old tripod I had lying about!! I keep the vinten nut in the bag fow the times i want to put the tripod low to the ground.