Giottos MTL8371B Professional Carbon Fiber Tripod Legs

Comments about Giottos MTL8371B Professional Carbon Fiber Tripod Legs:

This tripod is rock solid no movement, allowing you to take photo's at any angle without any movement.

Comments about Giottos MTL8371B Professional Carbon Fiber Tripod Legs:

Bought this tripod to have a solid and stable platform for 200-400 mm telephoto and it didn't disappoint. Flip locks work great, foam leg covers come with the tripod and it's relatively lightweight for the load it supports. Two cautions: this model does not have spiked feet underneath the rubber feet caps (despite what the product listing says) and with 3 leg sections the folded length pushes 30 inches - this makes it tough to fit in traditional luggage. Overall, I love the product and the value.

Comments about Giottos MTL8371B Professional Carbon Fiber Tripod Legs:

After extensive research between Gitzo, Manfrotto, and the Giotto brands, I settled onto the Giotto brand figuring it was the best value for the buck. I have only used it a couple of days, and is a decent product: seems to be stable, and well constructed. However, be aware of the following:

1. Has only a 5 year warranty.
2. This particular model, the MTL series with the lever locks, do not come with a tripod bag and tripod strap. I read the reviews on the MT series (with the rotating locks) and thought that all the MT series, including the MTL series, included the bag and strap but I was wrong. This was confirmed with the Giottos distributor. You have to pay extra, even though this is about the top of the line series made by Giottos, and their lower tier products, in the MT series, do include them. Go figure that.
3. There have been reports that the screw that holds the camera onto the head of the tripod will shear off, so don't hold the tripod with the camera attached to the tripod.
4. The center column doesn't have the anti-slip feature of the two way head series to prevent the column from pulling loose. If a certain lock is not tightened well, you risk the column slipping off with your camera attached.
5. Even though you can use the built in head, when you rotate the knobs to lock the head down, the head will shift somewhat and alter the position of your camera; lock the built in head in place and use a ballhead to position your camera instead.
6. A nice short column is included which allows you to get those low to the ground shots with the legs splayed out.
7. I still can't figure out, in some of the advertisement in the magazines, where that little piston like device next to the column comes into play. It looks like it is used to adjust the angle of the ballhead or at least support it at awkward, low level positions. It is not part of the included tripod.