Tripod Weight Capacity Question

[colnago1331]

Since I do some traveling for work, I get an ample number of opportunities to shoot outside of my home area. At the moment I have a rather large, sturdy, Giottos carbon fiber tripod, and it has served me well. But it's a pain to travel with . . . a BIG pain. So now I'm looking at travel tripods for those short, three- or four-day work trips. I've got it narrowed down to the Manfrotto BeFree or the MeFoto Roadtrip, but the difference in weight capacity ratings is significant. According to Manfrotto, the BeFree has a limit of ~8.8 lbs; the Roadtrip, however, has a limit of over 17 lbs. My question is this - are the ratings based on just the included ball head? Or just the legs? Or are they based on the specific ball head/leg combination?

Any insight anyone could provide would be awesome.

Thanks.

ETA:
My gut is to go with the Roadtrip, which is $189.00. But my local Costco has the BeFree for $139.00 (vs. $199.00 retail). The BeFree also has a $30 mail-in-rebate, though I don't know if that applies to a Costco purchase.

 

[Scatterbrained]

In general if the weight rating is listed with the tripod I would assume it's for the tripod legs. If I were you I'd go at least with the Roadtrip.

 

[tirediron]

These seem to be from Manfrotto's new line and ship with a head included. I would assume that the weight listing is for the weakest component whether that's legs or head. Personally, I would look at a nice set of 055 carbon legs instead.

 

[tecboy]

Why your Giottos tripod is a pain? Is it too big and too heavy?

 

[colnago1331]

It's too big for the short work trips I have. It's fine for local shots and even road trips where I have a car to put things in. But it's not particularly airplane friendly.

 

[Scatterbrained]

If you already have a decent head you can look at the Sirui traveler series. I've been planning on picking up the 2205 here soon. TX Series ǀ Sirui

 

[dannylightning]

the sunpak 423 ultra pro carbon legs/head combo I got said it was rated for 17 lbs or 17.5 or something like that..

when I got it the instruction sheet said the head was rated at 3.75 lbs and the legs were rated at 17 lbs

I bought a Sirui head to put on it and I am quite happy. With the store points I had saved up I only paid 40 bucks for the tripod and I was not expecting to like the head that came on it but I did expect it to be rated for more than 3.75 lbs.

 

[bratkinson]

I guess I have to ask...why take a tripod at all? Especially if you are flying. Low light? Use higher ISO speeds and your fast lenses to keep shutter speeds fast enough to freeze any movement.

30+ years ago, when I was on the road a couple of times per month, I'd take one of my two camera bodies and my favorite lens...a Canon FD 35-70 f2.8-3.5 and a couple of rolls of 'fast' (back then) ASA 200 film.

I also learned early-on in my travels that if I couldn't carry it on board, it didn't go...or it got shipped UPS. Nothing worse than having to wait and wait for luggage, especially if it ended up in some city 1000 miles away...as in...been there, done that. I limited my luggage to 1 large garment bag (2 suits, 5 shirts, 3 ties, underwear, bathroom stuff) and a 'thick' briefcase I could put my camera, lens, paperwork, and even small reels of computer tape in!

 

[colnago1331]

I guess I have to ask...why take a tripod at all? Especially if you are flying. Low light? Use higher ISO speeds and your fast lenses to keep shutter speeds fast enough to freeze any movement.

I'm ostensibly a landscape photographer so, among other things, I like to do long exposures - whether it's to blur the flow of water or the movement of clouds. Otherwise you're right - I'd have no need for a tripod. And I don't pack the tripod away in my suitcase . . . it attaches to my carry-on backpack. But, again, my primary Giottos carbon fiber tripod is rather large, so it's not the easiest to haul around.

 

[colnago1331]

These seem to be from Manfrotto's new line and ship with a head included. I would assume that the weight listing is for the weakest component whether that's legs or head. Personally, I would look at a nice set of 055 carbon legs instead.

I looked at the 055 series before I bought my Giottos. They have about the same specs. I need something smaller and more portable for quick airplane trips.

 

[KmH]

I agree with John that for tripods that include a head the tripod maker shows a rating for the weakest part of the tripod/head.

Travel tripods usually have 4 or more leg sections so they can collapse to a smaller size.
The bottom leg sections have to be smaller, and the smaller the bottom leg section is the less weight the tripod can handle.
This become critical when you need to add weight to a tripod to stabilize it in wind, or when you have a awkward set up.

Everything else being equal, the fewer leg sections a tripod has, the more stable it is, and the more weight it can handle.

 

[bratkinson]

If I was travelling and needed long-exposures for waterfalls, etc, I'd consider some kind of pillow-thing to use as a substitute. Put the pillow(s) on a rock and the camera on them. OK, a 6' tall pillow-thing doesn't exist, but how about a roll-up pillow or two like the ones I bought from Amazon 7 months ago and they work quite well?
Amazon.com : Thermarest Compressible Pillow : Camping Pillows : Sports & Outdoors
I used them on 1 long and 2 short vacations and they work great and compress well for travel. And they do not seem to attract lint, either.

For what it's worth, I've put my camera atop trash cans, cars, snowmobile seats, and just about anything else that doesn't move when I needed longer exposures. I can recall only once taking a tripod on a business trip, and that was a 4 month project in Los Angeles. That time I had 2 large, checked suitcases, too...and it was free!

 

[JoeW]

First, I absolutely get the OP's dilemma. I used to travel a LOT. I'd average about 20-25 roundtrip airplane flights per year. On every single one of them, I only flew carry-on bags. And on every single one of them, I flew with a tripod.

Second, I wish I could give you an absolute answer about the tripod weights and how accurate they are. But here's my personal take--a tripod weight means very little. If you put your tripod on some ground that's a bit wet or maybe has sand. Or it's a really windy day. Or you're tall and lazy so you have the legs extended to the max, the center column extended to the max and then you plop a 400mm bazooka of a zoom on it and extend the exposure to 20 seconds while using your hand to set the trigger, well, on either of the tripods you mentioned, you're going to get movement.

I bought the Manfrotto (over the MeFoto) but I suspect part of that was that I have a history of going with Manfrotto and my last traveling tripod was a Manfrotto I was very happy with that developed legs (i.e.: an observer stole it while I stepped away at Great Falls to get a bit closer to the water). But when I looked at the MeFoto and the BeFree, my assumption was that for long exposures I wasn't going to extend the center column, that I'd treat it almost as a mini-tripod (try to avoid extending the legs all the way, etc.).

This doesn't look at exactly the same models you're considering but here's a review of a set of travel tripods that I hope you'll find useful: Best Travel Tripod 2014, 8 Portable Lightweight Tripods Under $200

 

[colnago1331]

So I went down to one of my local b&m camera shops and looked at both the RoadTrip and the BeFree side by side. Then, looking around, I found what I thought was a great compromise - the Benro iTrip 25 (IT25). Size-wise it's generally the same as the RoadTrip and the BeFree. It falls in the middle of those two as far as capacity (13.2 lbs.). Like the BeFree it has flip lock legs (which I prefer), and like the RoadTrip it can be converted to a monopod pretty easily. And it was less expensive than both of the others.

iTrip Travel Tripod Kits, Single Legs - BenroIT25