Light Cell ? - DPChallenge Forums

Sigma 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS for Canon

03/19/2006 09:10:38 AM · #26

Dynatran is the name of the tripod.

It seems that it's only sold on Ebay through a company called amvona.com.

The company is mediocre, but the quality for the price is excellent.

I readthis thread on steve's digicams and the users there were better than 50/50 for their experiences dealing with amvona.

They mention the negative feedback and problems, but I suspect that these are indeed fairly rare. Even the BBB report only has 1 unresolved case.

In the world of business, sometimes things happen and you don't get a perfect rating.

They apparently do take a little while to ship and they charge a lot for shipping, but you could probably get a really nice tripod for cheap.

It will be heavy, but you get what you pay for.

They have a carbon model, which might be a good way to go. The price is still excellent. (read the WHOLE thread, both pages)

I prefer ball-heads for my tripods.

If it were me, I'd run into the local 2nd hand shops and look around for a set of pro-grade legs and choose my head.

Actually, that's what I did.

You can read about it in the DPC forum thread called "Pano equipment that won't break the bank" in the hardware section.

I like the Giottos ballheads for their weight and price.

The 1001 will cover you for strength with a big DSLR and lenses, but if you don't plan to go DSLR, the 1002 should be sufficient.

I am currently in communication with them over a slight disparity regarding the strength of the 1002.

The 1001 uses a 3-knob system. 1 for the rotation, 1 for the ballhead and 1 for friction control.

I was confused by that system when I played with it. The peice of paper that passes for a manual wasn't terribly helpful either.

If it comes to it, I may end up with that ball-head and simply learn how to use the friction control. I can see that it might come in handy if I ever wanted to use my tripod for camera stabilization when taking action shots.

ElGordo

Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi

03/19/2006 10:55:08 AM · #27

I bought the Dynatran monopod from Amvona with the handgrip ballhead mount. Price was considerably lower than the competition and quality is excellent. However, it weighs over 4 pounds, extra heavy duty! I do not recommend this monopod for backpacking because of it's size and weight, but it works very well.

03/19/2006 04:32:22 PM · #28

Thanks for these infos :), so if I get it right, you can by legs and ball head for them separetly?

03/19/2006 10:30:20 PM · #29

You can buy a tripod without a head from most brands in a brick and mortar store.

I think buying online can be more difficult.

I am a patient person, so I buy stuff by simply saving until I have enough for what I want, so I'm not afraid of expensive tripods.

On the other hand, I also don't like to spend money foolishly, so I am always looking for good deals.

I would just call around town to see if there are any places that have tripods for sale and check out the higher end ones to see what you are looking for.

The price difference between low-end and high-end doesn't necessarily have to be very huge. You might find that spending an extra 20 dollars can get you MUCH nicer equipment.

My tripod is fairly heavy, but it doesn't bother me much.

There are 3 main parts to a tripod... this isn't the official description with the official words, but just based on my hands-on viewing.

Legs
Centerpeice (I don't think this is the official word)
Center Shaft

You can buy legs separately and upgrade them later.

That's not really what I meant in my above post. I just meant that you could probably find a cheap tripod that has a crummy head but decent strong legs. Then you can remove the head and put a nicer head on it.

The only real difference you will see in practical terms will be weight.

I did this and considering that the tripod itself was free, I got a pretty good deal because for just the tripod assembly basic, I spent like 55 dollars US. I ended up with a really nice ball-head and a QR quick release system that is extremely nice.

I ended up paying a bit more to get a second QR system and some other goodies, but I'd say that I'm doing alright for cost-benefit ratio.

I think that anti-vibration technologies in tripods is really over-rated unless you are shooting beyond 400mm.

The difference you will see between using strong, stiff (and fairly heavy) aluminum legs and strong, stiff (and superlight) carbon fiber or basalt legs at any moderate focal lengths is going to be pretty insignificant for most people's use. It's probably going to be outweighed by camera-shake by mirror-slap anyways.

The Dynatran tripods look like an excellent deal. Might be a bit of a pain to deal with considering that you are in France though. Paypal can be a pig internationally. The legs will be strong enough, and their head will be just fine for your uses (get a higher-end one and just look around until you find the price you want... they also have lighter, carbon fiber legs).

It's interesting that they are spoken of as being rip-offs of Manfrotto tripods, yet are often priced 1/10-1/6th of the price, particularly in the higher-end segment.

Message edited by author 2006-03-19 22:32:59.

03/20/2006 07:09:35 PM · #30

I see. So So what matters should the legs (and the head?) of the tripod be in do be good with a dSLR and that would fit my F700 and the old one (lol)?

Best regards :)

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro

03/20/2006 11:08:53 PM · #31

Tripod mount screws are pretty much universally 1/4" thread screws.

It's the same on basically all P&S cameras, compact film cameras, Film SLR's, DSLR's, and even a lot of Medium format cameras too.

I have nothing to back it up, but it's possible that some medium format and larger cameras use 3/8 screw threads.

This might actually be important to consider as these cameras get quite heavy. On the other hand, yours isn't very large, so you should be OK with the standards screw.

If you do find that the hole is too large for the tripod mount, that probably means that you are using a slightly larger 3/8" thread.

You should be able to find an adaptor screw for this at any moderately well-equipped or better camera equipment store. If not, try to find a tripod specialist store.

Ask the guys if there's a local dealer or distributor that has a little shop somewhere. (There's at least one around Taipei. They don't sell tripods, they just provide information and service. If you want to buy, they send you to a retail outlet. They are exclusively wholesalers) They will have a 1/4 to 3/8 adaptor. They are very inexpensive and I was given one free when I went in.

These are the same threads that are commonly found in standard bolts and nuts, so no need to worry about odd threads not matching up.

Spork99

OM System OM-1

03/20/2006 11:40:22 PM · #32

The screw that threads into your camera is 1/4" - 20 the "20" indicating 20 threads/inch. There's another 1/4" thread that is common out there 1/4"- 28 they are NOT compatible.

Larger tripods/cameras have 3/8" - 16 threaded sockets, so you'll need to have the right mounting stud for those or an adapter to put in the socket.

The stud on top of most legsets that the head screws onto is also a 3/8" - 16, you can mount a camera with a 3/8" socket directly to this stud, but it's not very useful this way.

Some less expensive tripods do not allow for an interchangable head.

03/20/2006 11:52:02 PM · #33

Right you are.

I will say though that as I went through my little tripod adventure, I didn't come across any other thread sizes in the 1/4 inch-20, so I didn't feel a need to go into that detail. I may have been influenced by the country I am in though.

I went to 3 dedicated screw stores, 5 machinists and 6 hardware stores.

After a while, I stopped adding the "-20 thread" part to my request and the people that helped me out didn't seem to have any uncertainties as to what I wanted.

Maybe the -28 thread screws could be found more commonly in other countries. Kinda like Robertson head screws which are quite common in Canada, but pretty much never found anywhere else.

My search was made in the industrial areas of Taipei and Taizhong.

The advantage to buying from a physical store (especially one that carries 2nd hand gear) is that you can often find good tripods for cheap. You can also find out details like whether or not their heads can be removed. There are actually quite a number of differences between the brands (although they all use the same basic standards). The best way is to get hands-on with them.

03/21/2006 07:20:20 PM · #34

I see. Well I'll see what they got here in the shops I know in Paris and let you know when i'll buy one ;).

Thanks a lot for all the time you spent helping me :) !

Best regards

Message edited by author 2006-03-21 19:21:10.