Git of a Gitzo...

I bought a tripod today. Cheapest, crappiest tripod I could find. But you know what, it does the job, so who cares (at least I think it does/will). I get really sick of the premiums slapped on photographic equipment these days. I was only after a small light tripod that would fit in my camera bag for small trips with limited luggage (you know the score, Ryan air, easy jet etc).
As my main tripod is the largest of the Gitzo range and will take a 10/8" camera, or a small elephant, I thought I would check out the smaller models. I have had mine for well over ten years and think its great...... I picked up a small Gitzo (french for do you have an overdraft), it felt good, nice and light, good quality and just the right size. Then I asked the price, and then I laughed out loud at the six hundred squidoos they wanted for a couple of pencil sized poles and a bit of rubber.. Apparently the price hike is all to do with Manfrotto buying the company a few years ago and now the tripods are made using Kryptonite and gold and assembled in a volcano by sexy Brazillian virgins.
And so to cut a long boring story short, I paid ten times less for a tripod of the same size but made of aluminium and weighing half a kilo more.
Who spends six hundred pounds on an Action Man sized tripod.? The same person who spends 10k on a camera thinking it will make them take better pictures.

Watch this space for fussy photographs..