Why I would (almost) always choose the carbon fibre version…
When DSLR photography was still very much a hobby to me, I liked capturing natural and urban landscapes with long exposures. For that reason, having a stable and lightweight tripod was important for me. Since turning professional however, my personal photography is limited to a nice little point-and-shoot (that doesn’t remind me of work!) without a tripod. When therefore my trusty carbon fibre tripod got stolen, it simply wasn’t something I rushed to replace; primarily shooting events, I can easily get good location shots using a smaller aluminum tripod, which, as far a travelling is concerned, I’m mainly only traveling with around Paris. However, when taking on a recent product photography assignment which predominantly required macro photography, I had to revisit my tripod research...
Initially I looked at (heavy) studio tripods, but finally decided that it would be wiser to take advantage of the opportunity (and the investment) to get something more versatile: a sturdy tripod that I could use both at my studio and on location. Having decided on a model, I looked at both the Aluminium and the Caron versions. First, I’ll quickly summarise the obvious / talked about advantages of each material:
Advantages of Aluminium
Heavier (more weight equals more stability)
Cheaper
Advantages of Carbon
Lighter (usually around 20%)
More durable (including less prone to surface scratches)
More weather resistant
Better for absorbing surface shaking
Heat-absorbing (not cold on your hands when using outdoors in colder months)
As a professional, getting choosing a Carbon fibre model was essentially a no-brainer; typically you’ll pay 30% more for a 20% lighter, stronger product. However, as the specific model I’d chosen was exceptionally 50% more expensive and only around 15% lighter, I (finally) decided on the aluminium; whilst I’m prepared to pay through the nose for camera gear, this is one case, where the advantages of doing so were simply too minimal. Also, I figured that the extra weight would benefit me more for something I was perhaps predominantly going to use in a studio.
Long story short: the tripod arrived and no sooner was it unboxed than it was returned to be replaced by the carbon fibre. The reasons:
Once you are used to handling carbon fibre, aluminium simply looks and feels cheap - really cheap. Will that in itself effect the photographs that I take? Not in the slightest, but Joy of Use is always an overlooked factor. It’s mainly for that reason that I use Canon equipment; I simply did not enjoy handling Nikon cameras.
300g less weight will make a small but noticeable difference if when walking for any amount of time; 300g more weight will add no stability to a 5KG+ camera and lens setup; and you only really realise this when you’ve got the tripod in your hands.
You can spend hours searching online for opinions and reviews on the subject of carbon vs aluminium, but you’ll only ever find the results I summarised above; no article or review can convey how a product will “feel” in your hands. I would advise anyone in the market for a new tripod to go to a local camera dealer and handle both versions of any given model. Unless budget is really an issue for you, I think it will be an easy choice.