Slik Pro 330 DX

I bought the Quantaray version of this tripod because it is the same tripod with a different name. It was made by silk and after checking out the silks I am pretty d*mn sure it came off the same assembly line as the 330 DX. That aside, mine is a Quantaray, by silk QSX 33oo. It is a pretty sturdy little thing, good for use with smaller cameras. I bought mine for use with a Minolta DiMage 7i and with that camera it was an excellent imaging tool. The other commenter below stated that the leg locks are plastic, and this is true, but i have been using mine for nearly two years and I have never had a problem. You may find that this tripod is lacking when considering a full sized DSLR with a meduim to larger lens. It get a bit wobbely with too much wieght and it is not a terribly tall thing so if you are a terribly tall thing I would not recomend it for general use. Where it really shine, and the only reason I use it anymore, is for macro work. It's three independant legs can adujst in just about any configuration you can imagen. It can also get you pretty close to the ground though the center neck keeps it from getting down to far. I am thinking about having that part cut in half.

Great for macro Sturdy for smaller light wieght SLR's and compact cameras The head is the best I have ever seen on a tripod of this type, I will never use any other kind from now on I just love it so much! Pretty good build quality gearless neck Independent legs

Not really made for larger DSLR's, thought it can handle one with a lighter lens. Pretty dang short neck is so long it inhibits macro very close to the ground, recomend cutting in half for ground macro work.

Quantaray QSX 8ooI

Ritz is great

I recently bought this tripod online. When I received it, I was dismayed to find that the lege locks are plastic, so I wonder about the long term durability. Fortunately the head is all metal and the whole tripod seems to be pretty well made. I bought this as a hiking tripod to be used with my Canon G3. I wanted something as lightweight as possible while still being stable. This is MUCH more stable than the Slik sprint series and only costs $10 more and weighs less than 1 pound more. It is, of course , not as tough or stable as the Bogen 3001, which I looked at as well. But I decided that, at around 5 lbs with a decent head, I would probably leave the bogen home more often than not and that would defeat the entire purpose. This tripod is a very good value and meets almost all of my expectations, the exception being the plastic leg locks, this being the reason for the 4 star rating. Only time will tell whether these will hold up.

light weight, price, removable head, almost all metal construction.

plastic leg clamps

Bogen 3001, larger bogen (for video) cheapies

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