My "heavy lifting" tripod is a set of Feisol CT3442 Tournament legs (rated for 26 lbs) fitted with an Acratech Ultimate Ball Head (also rated for 26 lbs). This is a very light, very strong tripod that packs down tight yet can stand up to 72 inches tall with the optional column. Used without the column, it is tall enough to work with at very near eye-level elevation. It's the best set of legs you can buy at $300 or so, IMO. I've always done business direct with their HQ in Taiwan, http://www.feisol.com/, and have had nothing but excellent, prompt service.
The Acratech Ultimate Ball Head is very sturdy, but for ultra-long lenses like 500mm etc on APS-C format, you're probably going to want something more like a gimbal head or the Acratech GP series. The nice thing about the Feisol/Acratech is that it packs down into a 19x5 inch package that weighs only 5 lbs. Easy to carry, easy to travel with. The tripod you can carry easily is the one that gets used ... :-) -- Godfrey godfreydigiorgi.posterous.com -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
