Carbon fibre sticks worth it?

L

lacuna

Well-known member
I'm about to buy a Vinten Vision 3 system and I'm wondering whether the extra $$$ for a carbon fibre tripod is worth the investment. They're about 20% lighter, but that's not a big issue for me.

Besides weight, do carbon sticks provide other benefits over alloys?

Thanks.
 
CF is more durable than aluminum on the whole, plus they are easier to handle in cold weather. Depends if it's significantly more $$ as to whether or not I'd go for the upgrade. In my case, the tripod I wanted was only in stock with aluminum legs at the time (even the U.S. distributor was out of reserves!) and so I bought what was available, which ended up being a good thing. Turns out the CF legs were another $1000! Ouch!

There isn't any question of 'are they better' but more like 'are they worth it?' For me, not really.
 
Depends whether they're going to be used day in, day out. If so, they'll probably earn you back the extra investment over time and you'll actually notice the added ease of use if they're in your hands all the time. Congratulations anyway on choosing the Vinten. I have the Vision 3 (with aluminium legs) and it says something about this tripod that I think I'd be more upset to lose it any other bit of kit I've got. A great investment and makes shooting a dream.

Michael
 
Thanks guys, useful comments. I think the aluminium sticks will do the job for me.

Yes Michael I've heard nothing but praise for the Vinten Vision 3. I'll be purchasing one online so I'm largely going on reviews (there's a very positive one on DV.com) and what users have to say, and I just can't find anyone who has a bad word to say about the Vision 3.

I have a Vinten Pro-5 at the moment. This is a re-badged Manfrotto 501 (the sticks even say Manfrotto under the Vinten labels). I'm going to canabalise it and pop the head on a monopod).
 
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