3 Legged Thing launches the heavy-duty ETHAN 4 carbon fibre tripod system

3 Legged Thing has had a busy day. Alongside the Wes and Ridley levelling base tripods, the Bedfordshire company has also launched the ETHAN 4 — a heavy-duty carbon fibre tripod system engineered for demanding environments. Details are on the 3 Legged Thing website. Where a heavy-duty tripod earns its place Most photographers are well served by a travel tripod, right up until the day they are not. Long telephotos for wildlife and sport, large-format work, multi-camera video rigs and anything shot in wind all expose the limits of lightweight legs — and the failure mode is not dramatic collapse but a gradual softness in your images that you cannot quite explain. A heavy-duty system trades portability for the thing that actually matters in those situations: mass and rigidity. Thicker leg tubes resist twisting under an off-centre load, which is exactly what a long lens is, and greater overall weight...