For some reason, years ago - well, decades ago - I bought a Gitzo Weekender
tripod, whose height is only 101cm/40" without centre column extended and a
whopping 120cm/47-1/2" fully extended. I'm not sure I was ever that
comfortable stooping to use it, but I certainly am not now. It's also not
exactly light. I'm now looking for the Tripod For The Rest Of My Life
(TFTROML).
On the subject of one criterion: almost all advice I've found on tripod
height says buy one which puts the viewfinder comfortably at eye level with
the column not extended, which sounds quite sensible, especially for the
arthritic. Until I do the arithmetic on specific tripods suggested. I'm
probably average height for my generation, 170cm/5'7", with eyes at about
162cm/5'4". [Adopting a "wide stance" :-) can reduce that uncomfortably by
about 5cm/2"]. I subtract 8cm/3" for E-3 viewfinder-to-base, 7cm/3" for the
smallest of ballheads I'm likely to use, and we're at 147cm/4'10"(58"). More
height is needed if the camera's tilted on its side.
Now I look at column-not-extended heights for a variety of
frequently-mentioned tripods [including in the list archives], and I find
many that fall short by noticeable amounts: 190XPROB=122cm, 055MF3=134.5cm,
3021PRO=135cm, GT1530-134, GT2530EX=141cm. There are some that seem fine,
like several of the Gitzos: G1340=153cm, G1320=158cm.
I'm missing something here. Is the eye height guideline not realistic, or am
I looking at the wrong list of tripods, or is centre column extension not
really the issue it's made out to be, or...?
Michael
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