carrying a tripod: why couldnt they be lighter?
 

hi,
I will be soon walking around in south asia with all my gear. I always liked to travel light and would like to keep it that way. this time i was thinking of making a doc so i will be carrying my canon xh A1, wideangle, filters, ntg2 & 3, sennheisers 100's, R44 and boompole in a portabrace BK 1N. nice and compact, can always move around with the gear on my back, never have to leave it unintended in a hotel or whatsoever. but what with my libec LS 55 tripod? thats another story...should i take it anyway? or should i go for a Multirig pro and a cheap tripod? i worked before with miller and sachtler...dont know these cheap tripods but i am sure i can forget a nice pan with them. budgetwise i can not afford alot..
so does anybody has experience or advice?
thanks

Perhaps a monopod? much smaller and lighter, around 4 or 5 lbs. I have the Bogen 561B (very sweet) but it supports up to 8.8 lbs and my EX3 was too much for it.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/private-c...nopod-new.html

I have been trying out a monopod, but the results are really not much better than shoulder mount (jvc gy-hd100) I feel your frustration with having to lug all that gear around, but lets face it, if you want those rock solid shots you need a good solid tripod. Always can improvise in the field ie. resting it on something etc. but still no comparison to a tripod. Jason

I like the Velbon Videomate 608, it's pretty decent, light and easy to carry (lugged it around Wellington for a month) but the downside is that it's light, which means you shouldn't put a whole lot of expensive weight on it. I've been using the HV20, myself.

I guess "light" and "stable" are mutually exclusive, but try carbon fiber legs.

If I were you, I'd put your Libec head on a cheapo carbon fiber stick from Ebay (like the Benro or the Manfrotto clones, which are actually not bad).

I think carbon legs are your best choice for stability yet light weight!