3 thoughts on “Feisol CT-3442 Review Posted

  1. I’m very curious to know how the
    CT-3342 (3-segment legs) would perform.

    Another interesting thing to try
    might be adjusting how tight the
    setscrews around the systematic plate
    are, and seeing if that affects the
    yaw stiffness of the tripod.

    1. I am curious as well. I would expect the 3 leg segment version to perform better, but at the moment I can’t really guess how much. I made sure the setscrews were tight before testing the tripod, but didn’t try to vary the tightness. I did see someone suggest widening the leg angle by either filing down the leg angle stop, or adding a spacer to the one above it. Unfortunately I have already sold this tripod, but will certainly do those tests when I get a chance to test the 3 segment version.

  2. I have had excellent results from the
    Feisol CT-3442 tripod, but agree with
    the review’s impression that the
    tripod at the 20 degree leg angle is
    somewhat “tippy” under windy
    conditions. Yes, fishing out the
    screw-in hook, installing it, and
    hanging a carabiner’ed 750 ml or 1 L
    water bottle or two off the hook
    helps stability at the narrowest leg
    angle. It seems a bit much to expect
    to have the tripod at 20 degree leg
    angle support kit that weighs
    significantly more than it does and
    has its center of gravity
    considerably off-axis. This is not a
    tripod for supertelephoto use, either
    (well, duh!). It does make an
    excellent landscape / macro tripod
    that suitable for long distance /
    significant elevation hiking, and is
    perfectly capable of the 10 to 30
    second long landscape
    astrophotography exposures I do. The
    ability to use without a center
    column is helpful for ground level
    macro, and if necessary one can splay
    the unlocked legs on the ground (I
    photograph mushrooms), though a
    “ground pod” or table-top pod would
    also be useful in those
    circumstances. There is an optional
    short center column and long center
    column kit, but I haven’t used it. So
    this is a good everyday tripod for my
    uses, paired with a small ballhead,
    Arca-Swiss p0 (legs fold around head
    for compact-ish carriage in the
    provided bag). The tripod you always
    carry is a lot better than the beefy
    tripod that you are tempted to leave
    behind. I happen to have the CT-3472,
    Arca-Swiss Z1, and a Custom Brackets
    side-mount gimbal (like the Wimberley
    Sidekick, it attaches to ball head)
    if I need to use the 400 mm f/5.6,
    but frankly, most of the time it is
    overkill for short macro and landscape.

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