3 legs are better than 2 ..or never happy

Someone said diamonds are only lumps of coal that stuck at it. However, however persistent, even diamonds are NOT forever.

This week I replaced my travel tripod. Actually I sort of replaced it about 3 months ago - twice.

The skinny: a long time ago when I switched from Canon to Nikon pro gear a Nikon rep gave me a Nikon 'flying ducks' camera strap and a Nikon branded tripod. The tripod had a bog standard PT head, was a mix of plastic and metal and nothing outstanding - really the sort of thing you'd put a camcorder, not a pro SLR, on. But it was a) free b) a lot smaller and lighter than my Manfrotto 055 with Kirk ballhead. So it became my travel tripod riding in my suitcase everywhere I went. It was a lot, lot better than no tripod when a tripod was required. Until about 4 months ago when it finally gave up the ghost - it was old and all materials give out eventually.

I thought maybe it was time to get a proper travel tripod. Which means time to get a Gitzo, because everyone knows Gitzos are the very best travel tripods. However, Gitzos are very expensive - some would say priced appropriately - but IMVAO overpriced in comparison to the competition.

So I bought a Benro - which is a sort of Chinese clone of an older Gitzo range with some added features. It was good value for money BUT the one shipped did not have the features advertised on the website. It seems Benro update products without updating their names. Unfortunately the missing features were the clinchers - so it went back to the supplier. The same supplier who was unaware of the difference and not expecting any new stock for a while.

With a vacation looming I had to act quickly so I bid a ridiculously low price for a brand new and similar Giotto tripod on eBay. I won. The tripod arrived and had all the features I was looking for. It is light in comparison to the Manfrotto yet nearly as tall and can take the full weight of a pro digital SLR, flash and 18-200 zoom.. and the Kirk BH-1 ballhead. It folds smaller than the Nikon it replaced.

Wonderful! Except the night I attached my ballhead it tore the mounting thread right off the top plate. The problem was in order to accommodate both large (3/8) and small (1/4) whitworth tripod threads Giotto designed a cunning spring loaded scheme where the larger thread forms a sheath around the smaller. Not actually a clever thing to do. I managed to get the broken thread out of the ballhead (phew!) and attached to the tripod using a tripod bush adapter from my field fix kit. So everything okay ...ish.

I took the tripod on vacation and it performed flawlessly. At one point it was even stood in the foam on the edge of the sea as I took some shots of a distant town over the frothy ocean. It was everything I needed from a travel tripod and it had liberated the Kirk head from spending too long under the stairs.

Whilst I was away Giotto replied to my email complaining of the flaw in an otherwise near perfect tripod. They gave me the details of their UK distributor, Daymen. This week Daymen came through by replacing the centre column of the tripod with one that has a solid 3/8 thread. I am a very happy bunny. Top marks to Giotto for answering emails from half way round the world. Top marks for Daymen for standing by their products.

Yesterday my Crumpler photo/laptop finally reached its last legs after 3 years sterling service (it has gone everywhere I have been). Anyone got any recommendations for a replacement?