Tripod

I bought my tripod a couple years ago.  It is a Giottos GB4180 tripod with a Really Right Stuff BH-55 ballhead.  The legs were something like $120 and the ballhead with the panning clamp is $575.  So I have a good chunck of change in my tripod.  The legs are aluminum.  The overall length of the tripod when closed down is about 32" so it's not a compact tripod by any means.  Extends to about 66".  My bathroom scale tells me that this combo weighs about 9 pounds.  The tripod came with a nice storage bag which is too bulky to hike with.  It also came with a sling style carrying strap for the tripod which does make hiking longer distances easier.  Most of my pictures involve hiking around a bit, walking through street. Carrying this big thing is a bit of a hassle. In the Winter, the aluminum gets very cold, too cold to carry with bare hands.

For reference, I'm about 5'10.  In the picture below I have the legs fully extended.  With a camera on top, I can't see through the viewfinder without getting up on tip toes.  At first it was nice to take pictures from tripod without having to hunch over.  Over time, I've found most of the pictures I like are made with the tripod very close to the subject or to the ground so a tripod that exteneded to this height was unneccessary.

I will probably sell this tripod and ballhead. I bought this combo after reading a tripod article by Thom Hogan on the Really Right Stuff website. I thought this would be "the one" tripod.  I don't think I agree with his conclusions.  I think any tripod is better than no tripod and the tripod you're willing to carry around will be used more than a very nice tripod that you find a hassle to carry.  After much use, I realize that it doesn't really fit my needs.  I want something shorter, lighter, easier to carry.