I don’t know why, but always when I order stuff, it all comes on the same day. It’s never like every day something, it’s all the same day :) But it’s always fun to get some new toys to play with, isn’t it :)
So today my new tripod and ball head arrived, with few more smaller things I needed to go with it. Since I’m switching from a Manfrotto attachment to a more traditional Arca Swiss attachment, I also had to get few extra plates and more :)
I plan to add reviews of everything over time (I need to try it out in work conditions first), but for now, here are some of the photo from the unboxing, and also an unboxing video. Some people tend to find unboxing videos worthless, but I disagree. Sometime it’s very hard to find out what everything is in the package, and a good unboxing video is a great help there. Like here, I needed a second quick release plate, and I could not find anywhere if there is one bundled with the ball head or isn’t.
This pile will be a nice replacement for my already very old Manfrotto 190XproB with the 496rc2 Compact Ball Head, which I used for the last 6-7 year. It still works nicely, only has to be tightened quite often, and has quite a few scrapes all over it :) So what all I got now? The new tripod is the Gitzo GT2542 4 section carbon tripod, from the Mountaineer series. To go with it, I got the Sunwayfoto XB-44 ball head with a replacemetn Sunwayfoto DLC-50 Knob/Lever Combo Clamp, a DPG-39 Universal Quick-Release Plate, DPL-01 Universal L-type Quick-Release Plate and the DMP-200L Multi-Purpose Rail Nodal Slide, all from Sunwayphoto. I hope I haven’t forgot anything while ordering it :)
So await reviews of all of this (together with the Sony a7R and the Metabones adapter) in the next weeks.
Congrats on the new purchases!
I’ve got the same tripod, but the smaller model – GT1542T. I am very happy with it, in spite of the steep price. I like how light it is and the option to remove the centre column to make it even lighter.
I’ve also purchased Gitzo ball head with it – GH2781TQR. I had some problems with it though. I didn’t do my research and found that Gitzo’s ball heads are not Arca-Swiss compatible and it is very hard to find a compatible clamp or adapter. I loved its quality and usage (especially when shooting vertical), so I dug up a little more and found a solution. First I found that this company Sunwayfoto makes some quick release plates and clamps for Gitzo tripods, but they didn’t respond to me when I contacted them with specific questions.
I was lucky to find another solution – an adapter plate (the model is iShoot 5160, costed me 12 GBP) which inserts into the ball head plate compartment and allows the usage of Arca-Swiss compatible accessories. And it does it pretty well. I also went ahead and bought a universal L plate (4.40 GBP).
Sorry for the long post, just wanted to share my thoughts. :)
I am now on the lookout for a video pan head and I will have to do a massive research, because I don’t have any experience with these… But if someone has suggestions, please leave a comment.
Thank you :) It really is a beautiful tripod. I think I will be happy with it. For the head, I also looked at Gitzo ball heads first, but the design really didn’t impress me. So I started looking elsewhere, and while I was thinking about a RRS head, the price was just too much. And Sunwayfoto seem to fit right under it. I looked at all the reviews I could find and all were very positive, they even compared the quality to RSS. So I’m quite curious how it goes :)
And I hope you find a good pan head. Can’t give any tips, as I never had use for one :)
Is this set from sunwayphoto sufficient for shooting one row panoramas? I want to buy some pano gear this year and at the first glance this seems to me to be more simple solution than buying pano head like NN4.
It is sufficient, but not the best solution. For one row panos, you just need a nodal slider and a rotator. Here I can rotate on the ball head base, but a better solution would be a dedicated rotator, or at least this http://www.sunwayfoto.com/e_goodsmulu.aspx?cid=38 pano clamp, that allows rotation on top of the ball head. So this setup is more than enough if I just wan to do 2-3 tile panoramas, for bigger ones, I would get one of those.
You will not be disappointed with this brand – I have had the XB-52DL ball head for four
months now and it still operates smoothly and you are not in doubt that this
brand is all about quality.
I use it along with the Sunwayfoto L plate for my Canon 6D… it is just awesome! :-)
I’m looking forward to read / see your further review on all the new stuff you have acquired.
I hope so :) Actually I’m surprised how small the XB-44 is, maybe I should have gone with the 52. But still it looks to work very nicely, so I think I will be happy with it :)