New Tripod from Bogen/Manfrotto

[rogueish]

First time I've seen basalt described as a "lightweight rock". That's somewhat contrary to everything I've learned through far too many years of geology studies...

It's only light when someone else gets to lift it, just like furniture.

[jim kirk jr.]

New news-They are now being sold by B&H (under Gitzo,not Manfrotto-although Bogen is the distributor company).B&H has no images,specs,or details listed with them.

only the prices(the lowest being around $270.00 U.S.-for one that can hold about 4.5 lbs) and that they are special order.
They are refferred to as "sport Basalt tripods","reporter",etc.

[Flotsam]

Magfiber and Neotec tripods recently introduced a new tripod is coming out
this year.One made of volcanic Basalt rock.supposed to be 20% lighter than aluminum,stronger due to what it's made of and totally waterproof(including
the hardware).
Jim

Even more exciting news!
It turns out that this tripod has been designed specifically in conjunction with the long awaited re-release of the Hasselrock 1000000BC (better known as that Flintstone camera with the bird inside that chisels the picture into a little stone tablet with his beak).

[Tom Hoskinson]

Basalt consists of about 48-52% silica (SiO2). Other major elements in varying proportion include titanium (TiO2), aluminum (A2O3), iron (FeO or Fe2O3), manganese (MnO), magnesium (MgO), calcium (CaO), sodium (Na2O), potassium (K2O, and phosphorous (P2O5).

http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/Products/P...cks.html#oxide

Gitzo pulverises basalt, melts it and adds some pixie dust, then spins it into fibers. The result is a glass/metal composite fiber that is woven and laminated with epoxy into a tube structure. Then Gitzo PR takes over...

[Ole]

Still, basalt is considerably heavier than e.g. granite...

[johnnywalker]

Probably includes a lot of air, most of it hot.

[jim kirk jr.]

Basalt consists of about 48-52% silica (SiO2). Other major elements in varying proportion include titanium (TiO2), aluminum (A2O3), iron (FeO or Fe2O3), manganese (MnO), magnesium (MgO), calcium (CaO), sodium (Na2O), potassium (K2O, and phosphorous (P2O5).

http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/Products/P...cks.html#oxide

Gitzo pulverises basalt, melts it and adds some pixie dust, then spins it into fibers. The result is a glass/metal composite fiber that is woven and laminated with epoxy into a tube structure. Then Gitzo PR takes over...

This being stated(the makeup of basalt)I have a question.
First I have two tripods(one aluminum,one carbon fiber).From what I understand(I may be wrong)wood tripods allow less vibrations to reach the tripod head than the above.How would in comparison a tripod with all those
elements(of basalt) compare in this regard-worse,better or about the same?
The ones listed at B&H are pricey for the load capacity-would it be any real
improvement from a scientific viewpoint.

[Ole]

This being stated(the makeup of basalt)I have a question.
First I have two tripods(one aluminum,one carbon fiber).From what I understand(I may be wrong)wood tripods allow less vibrations to reach the tripod head than the above.How would in comparison a tripod with all those
elements(of basalt) compare in this regard-worse,better or about the same?
The ones listed at B&H are pricey for the load capacity-would it be any real
improvement from a scientific viewpoint.

In this case I would consider a fully organic carbor-fiber compound, which is what my tripod is made of: Wood.