After many years in photography I have finally come to the conclusion that there isn`t such a thing as the ideal camera support. The heavy duty tripods are great but require the user to be a weight lifter if they venture outside of the studio. The light tripods are superb when out walking or on holiday until a slight breeze blows up and the camera and lens smashes to the ground (luckily the camera was set to self timer and you did actually get the shot as the camera went down:-)
I`ve made my own monopods, tripods and a long series of chest pods. I`ve used the rope fixed to the camera and stood on the other end(about one stop advantage)I`ve tried using a monopod stuck into a pouch on my belt. Yes, like so many photographers before me I`ve tried just about everything to find the compromise and till now haven`t found the one thing that I prefer to walking around and using the camera hand held.
Just recently have discovered just how good some of the older manual focus lens are(in my case Contax)and as they resolve more and more fine detail was forced to look once again at the camera support market to really do justice to them. I use them on Canon cameras, they are manual focus and stop down metering but well worth the effort.

But!!! this week I`ve invested in a Gitzo carbon fibre tripod (basically three legs and a short centre column) I did my homework and picked out a compromise in price and features. There are so many models to choose from that I went to bed one night with a severe case of brain drain. Then I saw an offer on an end of line model, the GT 1530 Series One Mountaineer x6 carbon fibre with free P&P this week only.(the x6 BTW stands for the way in which the fibres are laid in 6 layers but very thin so that they are light but very strong)What a well thought out and produced bit of photographic kit, not the cheapest make but certainly over the equipment I`ve used the best thought out and designed. I would say that it weighs in at around the same as my decent monopod, the legs are fairly thin and fold together feeling a lot like a monopod. With a heavy camera on board it sits on your shoulder just about right when walking. To add a bit more comfort I`ve fitted three short lengths of pipe lagging foam rubber to the top sections of the legs as a cushion on my old shoulders. These tripods cost on average about 1/3rd again as much as the best carbon fibre tripods that the opposition offer and more than three times the cost of the average decent tripod. If I had invested many years ago I would not only have saved myself a lot of money trying out all the different options but would have had the benefit of carrying around something like half the weight needed.
When the postman handed me the parcel I really did think it was an empty box and discovered that there really was a tripod inside, looking at the thin legs I was thinking that at this weight I would make the compromise. I stuck one of my Manfrotto ball heads on the platform and mounted a 1 series Canon camera plus a zoom lens onto it and was blown away by the stability.
Short removable centre column(you can fit the camera directly onto the platform) you can reverse the column for low level work or remove the centre column, drop the legs out and get down to ground level. At the base of the column is a small sprung loaded hook for hanging your camera bag on to either give extra stability or keep your gear out of the mud. The twist locks on the legs work superbly and the centre column is grooved to prevent revolving when not wanted. The main stud through the centre can be reversed for either 1/4" or 3/8" fittings.
I`m 5` 10 1/2" tall and with a one series camera on a standard ball head the camera viewfinder comes directly in line with my eye with the column at it`s lowest position.

So! I just might have found the final compromise to portability and support, you pays your money and you makes your choice. I`m looking forward to a long relationship with this little beauty. We shall see!