Making sense of old Gitzo aluminum tripods
Gitzo remains one of the top brands in the world of quality tripods. Currently overwhelming majority of Gitzo tripods are carbon-fiber models which are extremely expensive whether new or second-hand. In the age of the internet there is plenty of information on the current or recently retired models – explanations of the differences between various models are not hard to find. I will not be dealing with any recent Gitzo tripods but instead I will look at their older models from the time when Gitzo only made aluminum tripods in the age before internet. The second-hand market is abundant with high quality aluminum Gitzo tripods which are much cheaper than their carbon-fiber counterparts and more importantly compete very well with modern aluminum tripods from the other top brands.
Gitzo used two parallel systems to designate their huge variety of tripods in the era before advance of carbon-fiber and basalt tripods. There was a rigid numeric designation system that separated tripods into series ranging from 00 to 5 (00, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) and a parallel (less rigid) naming system oriented towards less experienced consumer. The numeric system would be fixed to match the naming system.
Series
The main difference between different series of tripods was the diameter of thickest leg– the most important component for the tripod stability. The leg diameter ranged from 16mm on 00 series tripods to staggering 42mm on the series 5 tripods. Thus the first figure in the tripod code would indicate the leg diameter. Only “Table” (“Loisir”) tripods had two figures “00” to indicate its series. The table below summarizes these main characteristics:
Gitzo remains one of the top brands in the world of quality tripods. Currently overwhelming majority of Gitzo tripods are carbon-fiber models which are extremely expensive whether new or second-hand. In the age of the internet there is plenty of information on the current or recently retired models – explanations of the differences between various models are not hard to find. I will not be dealing with any recent Gitzo tripods but instead I will look at their older models from the time when Gitzo only made aluminum tripods in the age before internet. The second-hand market is abundant with high quality aluminum Gitzo tripods which are much cheaper than their carbon-fiber counterparts and more importantly compete very well with modern aluminum tripods from the other top brands.
Gitzo used two parallel systems to designate their huge variety of tripods in the era before advance of carbon-fiber and basalt tripods. There was a rigid numeric designation system that separated tripods into series ranging from 00 to 5 (00, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) and a parallel (less rigid) naming system oriented towards less experienced consumer. The numeric system would be fixed to match the naming system.
Series
The main difference between different series of tripods was the diameter of thickest leg– the most important component for the tripod stability. The leg diameter ranged from 16mm on 00 series tripods to staggering 42mm on the series 5 tripods. Thus the first figure in the tripod code would indicate the leg diameter. Only “Table” (“Loisir”) tripods had two figures “00” to indicate its series. The table below summarizes these main characteristics:
Series (old name in brackets) |
Series Numeric number |
Standard 24° |
Performance 24°, 60° 24°, 60°, 80° |
Geared center column |
Thickest leg diameter |
Table (Loisir) |
0 0 |
1 |
|
|
16mm (5/8”) |
Weekend |
0 |
1 |
2 |
|
20mm (3/4”) |
Sport (Total) |
1 |
0 |
2 or 1 (geared) |
8 |
24mm (7/8”) |
Reporter / Reporter Industrial |
2 |
0 |
2 or 1 (geared) |
8 |
28mm (1-1/8”) |
Studex / Mini Studex / Compact Studex |
3 |
0 |
2 or 1 (geared) |
8 |
32mm (1-1/4”) |
SYSTEMATIC TRIPODS |
|||||
Inter Pro Studex |
34 |
----- |
----- |
|
32mm (1-1/4”) |
Pro Studex / Pro Studex Giant |
4 |
----- |
----- |
|
37mm (1-1/2”) |
Tele Studex / Mini Tele Studex |
5 |
----- |
----- |
|
42mm (1-5/8”) |
Standard / Performance Models and Rapid / Geared Columns
Another important characteristic was the ability of the tripod legs to spread to different angles. The tripods that could only spread to 24° were called standard. The tripods with the variable leg spread were called performance. In the series 1 through 3 there were two angles – 24° and 60°. Inter Pro Studex, Pro Studex and Tele Studex often had additional angle of 80°. Not all tripods in the latter range (Inter Pro Studex, Pro Studex and Tele Studex) had three angles – I saw some that had only two leg angles.
The Standard and Performance models were also encoded into tripod numeric designation. This was done by adding a figure after the series number. The “Table” (Loisir) 00 series model was a standard one with only one leg angle of 24°. For the 0 series tripods the standard model was designated by “1” while performance model has “2”. This was quite logical but thing became more complicated with the tripods in series 1, 2, and 3. Standard models in these series were indicated by “0” while Performance models could be indicated by either “1” or “2”. I suspect that when figure “1” was used to indicate a performance model of series 1, 2 or 3 it also indicated the use of geared center column. However, this was not always the case since sometimes the geared column could also be indicated by the figure “8” at the end of three figure model numbers.
Systematic Tripods
Systematic tripods as can be seen from the name are customizable models offering a large variety of accessories. The customization is achieved via a removable top plate that can be either flat (Circular Camera Platform G349 and G449) allowing for maximum stability of the camera or have a top plate with integrated geared column (G336, G338, G526, G528, G529) or rapid column (G315, G317, G524, G525, G527). Other accessories such as half bowls (75mm and 100mm) as well as leveling bases (G321, G421) with 15° inclinations and leveling bases with integrated center column (G421CR – geared and G421RA - rapid) were available.
Another important characteristic was the ability of the tripod legs to spread to different angles. The tripods that could only spread to 24° were called standard. The tripods with the variable leg spread were called performance. In the series 1 through 3 there were two angles – 24° and 60°. Inter Pro Studex, Pro Studex and Tele Studex often had additional angle of 80°. Not all tripods in the latter range (Inter Pro Studex, Pro Studex and Tele Studex) had three angles – I saw some that had only two leg angles.
The Standard and Performance models were also encoded into tripod numeric designation. This was done by adding a figure after the series number. The “Table” (Loisir) 00 series model was a standard one with only one leg angle of 24°. For the 0 series tripods the standard model was designated by “1” while performance model has “2”. This was quite logical but thing became more complicated with the tripods in series 1, 2, and 3. Standard models in these series were indicated by “0” while Performance models could be indicated by either “1” or “2”. I suspect that when figure “1” was used to indicate a performance model of series 1, 2 or 3 it also indicated the use of geared center column. However, this was not always the case since sometimes the geared column could also be indicated by the figure “8” at the end of three figure model numbers.
Systematic Tripods
Systematic tripods as can be seen from the name are customizable models offering a large variety of accessories. The customization is achieved via a removable top plate that can be either flat (Circular Camera Platform G349 and G449) allowing for maximum stability of the camera or have a top plate with integrated geared column (G336, G338, G526, G528, G529) or rapid column (G315, G317, G524, G525, G527). Other accessories such as half bowls (75mm and 100mm) as well as leveling bases (G321, G421) with 15° inclinations and leveling bases with integrated center column (G421CR – geared and G421RA - rapid) were available.