This year has been pretty good for photographing osprey. It started in Florida on Blue Cypress Lake, and that was off the hook.
But it has been even better here in Maryland. A friend shared a couple spot of his and that turned in to a good spot I've visited a handful of times, and another spot I think he didn't know about, but that is nearby. It's potentially even better!
So that leads me to the reason for this blog post. Another cool osprey photo!
So here it is.
I've got a 500mm f/4 lens and need a big sturdy tripod. The Gitzo tripods that are amazing are also $1,000-$1295. I have spoken to some friends about alternative and one friend in particular recommend I buy one Feisol.
I got a nice big one from Feisol, and in short it was what I needed, but I ran in to a few issues with it. Over the course of about a year I had some problems and Feisol stood by their product, repaired it more than once, and just this week completely replaced the tripod. Given the issues I had this is what I was hoping for and I am now once again a fully satisfied customer of theirs.
The history of my problems with my tripod date back a year or two. The first thing that happened was one of the legs didn't seem to adjust correctly. It would not stay tightly locked in like the other two legs, so it would droop sort of. I could tighten it, but it would quickly get loose again. To fix this Feisol replaced the entire top metal plate/structure and they reglue the carbon fiber legs to this new top plate.
This worked great at first. Then I started to run in to problems with the legs and the reglue. I was frustrated when things happened again but Feisol stood by their product and took many reasonable steps to make things right. But I had more than one additional issue/incident.
Finally, most recently, Feisol did me a solid. I sent in my tripod with a leg that needed reglueing, and due to the repeat issues, they sent it back to the manufactuer to assess and repair. They had tried to repair it here in the USA and it didn't work. So, they sent it overseas and to my amazement today, I got a brand new tripod in return. It is nearly the same model, but with the additional no-spin leg technology for when the legs are loosened and extended.
I really didn't expect it, but did previously hope for it. A new replacement to my ~$600 tripod came in the mail today.
They did the right thing by me, and it was what I was hoping for. I am sure that the way I use my gear stresses it more than some and maybe more than many - be it on the beach in the blowing sand or over my shoulder and carrying a 500mm and D4 during a hike. Feisol stood by my purchase, and I have to stand by them and say they did their best to stand by their product.
-Jon
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2 comments:
Good story. I have yet to really begin to consider tripods (though I clearly need one, and need to learn how to use it; I find the prospect of investigating & researching such a critical purchase of tech that is completely alien to me to be wholly daunting!), but I need to at some point. This is another bit of knowledge I will sock away and hope I don't forget..
Good story. I have yet to really begin to consider tripods (though I clearly need one, and need to learn how to use it; I find the prospect of investigating & researching such a critical purchase of tech that is completely alien to me to be wholly daunting!), but I need to at some point. This is another bit of knowledge I will sock away and hope I don't forget..
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