Ever hear of the tripod manufacturer "Fancier"? As good as manfrotto, half the price.

Ninja_scrotum

They seem to make some fairly solid tripods, including carbon fiber models for fairly low prices compared to manfrotto etc.

Here's a few links to the "fancier" tripods on ebay...

http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130113536261&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ebay.ie%3A80%2Fsearch%2Fsearch.dll%3Ffrom%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dm37%26satitle%3D130113536261%2509%26fvi%3D1

http://cgi.ebay.ie/PRO-FANCIER-TRIPOD-FOR-Canon-EOS-40D-30D-20D-5D-450D_W0QQitemZ220237492238QQihZ012QQcategoryZ3325QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD2VQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em122




What do you think?


By the way I'm a n00b so these may actually be the worst pieces o' **** ever. If you think that they seem good, I'll buy one....

I know ye recommend 200euro tripods the whole time, but I just cant justify myself parting with that much money for a few metal sticks that hold a camera steady.... yaknow what I mean?

Fenster

I have a Fancier but I don't think it's build quality is all that great.

Thirdfox

I recommed 5 euro tripods... until you know exactly what you need.

My 5 euro tripod has served me well for over a year, I've only just recently replaced it was a 10x more expensive 2nd hand SLIK 330dx pro-b tripod. Is it 10x better? Well, maybe 4-5x

It's way above what I require for my little D40 right now though (at least I will be able to mount a 70-200 f2.8 on it if I ever need to).

I do not ever suggest to people to get the expensive item because they can afford it. (I can't afford it anyway) but I find the cheap stuff can be highly effective too. Tripods especially can be had for a lot cheaper second hand (it's a bloody tripod, who's going to care that it doesn't look the best?)

edit: I realise I sound akin to Ken Rockwell here (down with RAW unless you need it too!) but it is what I personally believe in too - L lenses are great and all but a reversing ring can give you macro pictures too

majiktripp

Just looked at the ebay links there, have to say I was impressed, nice looking tripods for the asking price.
Plus you have the bragging rights of saying I've a "fancier" tripod than yours to your friends....
.
.
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I'll get my coat.

mathias

Well for me its more of a peace of mind thing , I have a 5D and various pieces of L glass , and I dont want those tipping forward onto the stony ground because I got cheap with the tripod.

I got a manfrotto 190Xprob , its sturdy and feels safe with thousands of euros worth of gear sitting on it. I wouldnt trust a 5 euro tripod with that gear.

Calina

Well I have a 30E tripod from Argos and I'm surprisingly pleased with it. I don't actually lug it around rocks and stuff but in terms of the stuff I bought it for, it's serving my needs very, very well.

majiktripp

mathias wrote: »

I got a manfrotto 190Xprob , its sturdy and feels safe with thousands of euros worth of gear sitting on it. I wouldnt trust a 5 euro tripod with that gear.

I've the same tripod, great piece of kit, cost a bit (not as much as you could spend on carbon fibre tripods etc, but still a fair bit) but I'm very happy with it. Can't bring it to New Zealand though too bulky even in a Manfrotto bag I carry case I bought for it. Sigh...I'll have to buy a cheapo one when I get there.

JMcL

Thirdfox wrote: »

I recommed 5 euro tripods... until you know exactly what you need.

My 5 euro tripod has served me well for over a year, I've only just recently replaced it was a 10x more expensive 2nd hand SLIK 330dx pro-b tripod. Is it 10x better? Well, maybe 4-5x

It's way above what I require for my little D40 right now though (at least I will be able to mount a 70-200 f2.8 on it if I ever need to).

I do not ever suggest to people to get the expensive item because they can afford it. (I can't afford it anyway) but I find the cheap stuff can be highly effective too. Tripods especially can be had for a lot cheaper second hand (it's a bloody tripod, who's going to care that it doesn't look the best?)

edit: I realise I sound akin to Ken Rockwell here (down with RAW unless you need it too!) but it is what I personally believe in too - L lenses are great and all but a reversing ring can give you macro pictures too

From experience, I'd go somewhat along the lines of this article by Thom Hogan. I'm on tripod #3 at this stage, the previous 2 having shown their weaknesses over time, and hopefully the last for quite some time.

That said, the best tripod you can have is the one you have with you, so anything's better than nothing. As to Fancier tripods, I'm not familiar with them, but I'd suggest doing a trawl of Fred Miranda, DP Review, Photo.net etc and see what the opinions are there. It can be difficult coming to a conclusion as you have to wade through all the Gitzo evangelists. Yes, Gitzo are truly beautiful pieces of engineering, but only for those with very deep pockets, or who can justify it professionally.

I bought a Feisol and would recommend them a lot. They're very well put together, sturdy, and not too expensive. Benro have a mixed reputation. They're Gitzo copies clones, but seem to have been a bit of a lottery quality wise, though they seemed to be improving when I was looking after Christmas. They're the 'pod of choice with professionals in Asia apparently

Duchovny

This tripods look nice...

I had before a slik tripod a cheap one, and was crap, not stable and all plastic.

I decided to buy a decent one, and i spend about 150€ in my slik tripod, very stable nice head a bit heavy, but always depends what you take photos too.
I take a lot of photos near the sea with rocks and stuff so i needed something heavy and very steady, in Ireland you have very often a lot of wind so i think a good tripod is always a good addition depending of what kind of photos you take

Ninja_scrotum

mathias wrote: »

Well for me its more of a peace of mind thing , I have a 5D and various pieces of L glass , and I dont want those tipping forward onto the stony ground because I got cheap with the tripod.

I got a manfrotto 190Xprob , its sturdy and feels safe with thousands of euros worth of gear sitting on it. I wouldnt trust a 5 euro tripod with that gear.

I see what you mean. I'd like to have a tripod that I could throw over my shoulder and walk around without having to worry about the camera falling off especially if I need to hopskip over streams and rocks etc.

I might chance getting one of those pods though. Feedback from buyers are saying that the quality is great and much better than expected, and a few people online are saying that these are manfrotto without the logo or price....

MooseJam

just wait till the mars men fire the pilots into those tripods, you won't find them so great when you are running for your lives

Ninja_scrotum

hmmm....