Yes, I know these cheesy post titles are what kill my Google Pagerank… but Review of the Giotto GB 1140 tripod just doesn’t cut it.

So it got here, bright and early. I can confirm it weighs 1,520g, is 18″ long folded (17″ if you remove the center column, no tools or patience or skill needed), stands tall enough with my ball head that I barely need to stoop, and with the pano gear, the viewfinder is exactly at eye level (I’m 6’4″).

It not only fits inside my carryon suitcase, it fits in my backpack. It comes with it’s own bag, and a shoulder strap to carry it without the bag, a little toolcase.

It’s a little slower to set up than my larger one (four leg segments to unlock, extend and lock instead of three so 9 ops instead of 6) but it all flows smoothly.

It’s sturdy, but at full extension with ballhead, pan gear and camera on top, it takes a while to damp down oscillations. I suspect it would sway in wind easily. That said, I usually use tripods in much squatter, stabler and sturdier configurations with which I anticipate little trouble… and I always use the cable release.

This is quality gear, at an incredible price.

NB: For new readers, obsession with photographic gear and long IM discussions with my brother on same are a long established tradition on Ban Sidhe.

It weighs 2.5 lbs (yes, that’s right, barely over a kilo), extends to 1m60 with the ballhead on top, just enough that I can see thru the finder without undue stooping, and it packs down to less than a foot and a half, i.e. it fits easily inside a carry-on bag.

The old one is heavier, barely taller and does not fit inside the suitcase. It’s great for heavy duty work and is quicker to set up and more versatile… but with this baby, you can expect many more panoramics and 3D pictures from trips now. After all, better the one you actually use than the ubergear you never carry around.

Oh, the price?

$89… and it’s a Giotto!

Shed some light on my lens buying priorities, too. I’m gonna go with lighter, cheaper, more versatile rather than expensive, perfect and too heavy to use.

Talking about 3D made me think of 3D photographs. Googled it, looked around, and then took two pictures of the wildlife in our living room.

Here are the results, in various formats depending on how much gear you have at your end:

Anaglyphs:

Look familiar? Yup, you need to get your offspring or younger sibling or local geek to lend you those red/blue glasses for a minute.

Cross-Eyed:

Don’t got none? Get up close and personal with the monitor and go cross-eyed… The middle bear will be in 3D.

Please send a picture of yourself kissing the screen.

Interlaced:

If, like this sad geek, you bought shutter glasses and can see 3D images that way, here is an interlaced version. You need the raw bitmap, which you can see by clicking on the jpeg below. If you don’t have the gear, save yourself an 800kB download, it looks the same to the naked eye.

Lazy Eyes:

Too lazy to kiss the screen but too cheap to buy special glasses?

No problem! This animated GIF will drive you nuts, but it will give that all important impression of depth.

GAHHHH! MY EYES! MY EYES!!!!!

It’s been too quiet, too long. Couldn’t last.

September will include trips to Miami, Paris, Dubai, Milan, and Rhode Island. All of them back to back with perhaps one night at home before the last one, starting Friday 1st and coming to a rest on Thursday 21st.

Life was simpler on the farm.

So it’s been a year. I was pissed off, even outraged a year ago… also hadn’t been in the country for that long, or exposed to cable news for hours a day. I’m still keely aware of the rich irony of the Department of Homeland Security falling flat on its face in NoLa, or of the racial dimensions of the disaster, but I can’t capture that holy anger any more.

Oh, why the water fountain? I took that picture of Chloe in the French Quarter, years ago.

I kinda like it, noise and flare and all.