Advise need on purchasing a new tripod

[creativepro]

I have a Nikon D700 camera, two lenses 28-70 mm and a 28-300 mm

I have narrowed down to 2 tripods

Indura Carbon 8X CT 114 tripod
Feisol Travel CT-3441S Rapid 4 -Section Carbon Traveler Tripod

My needs are a light tripod that is easy to set up and fold as small as small as possible. Of course it needs to be sturdy.

Has anybody had any experience with these tripods

[Wayne]

You should be aware that "fold as small as small as possible. Of course it needs to be sturdy" are almost mutually exclusive.

[arthurking83]

Wayne is right ... it's either impossible to do both at the same time.

From what I'm reading, to get the best of these two combinations, the RRS Versa series is apparently one of the best in this respect.
Don't have any actual experience with their tripods, but their other gears is some of the best available too.

Expensive tho.. close to, or over the $1K mark by the time you've got the tripod to your door, and this doesn't include a head to go with it.
So factor in a decent head to go with the legs plus at least one bracket for your camera, and you're well into the $1500-$2000 price bracket.

But you need to be specific about how sturdy you need the tripod to be.

Most of the compact/traveller range from Gitzo, Benro, Manfrotto are all sturdy enough for short focal length, low magnification work, such as landscape/architechtural/general shooting stuff, but once you start using long focal lengths, or higher magnification sturdy starts to take on a new meaning.

...... either way, look to get a carbon fibre model for the lighter weight.

I think the 3441S is aluminimum, whereas the 3441T is carbon fibre ... I think there's about a 1kg(maybe more) difference between the two ... which may not sound like much, but in reality it actually feels like a lot more.