Ries, a tripod for professionals.
Michael Collette (Better Light) recommended the Ries tripods, and he should know tripods, since Mike invented/developed the 4x5 format Dicomed Field Pro and Studio Pro cameras. Ronald Wisner recommends the Ries tripods as well. Wisner is the owner (and hands-on operator) of a major manufacturer and distributor of large format cameras. Thus I was embarrassed to admit that I had never heard of a Ries tripod. To reveal how corporate advertising programs can miss entire segments of their potential clients, I then found out that few of the photography professors at my college were familiar with the Ries tripod either. But now I have not only heard about them from large format professionals, I have admired them in person, since FLAAR has two handsome Ries tripods to review on this Web site. If you want to see the tripod top in 3D, rotating with a Wisner camera, here is an animated GIF. My first reaction to the Ries tripods was that they were beautifully machined and well put together. The fittings all look rugged. Archaeologists ought to be at home with this class of tripods because they are similar to the wooden ones used by surveyors. Ries tripods avoid wobble in two ways. First, their parts are precision cut and fitted. This means that everything meshes with no free play. Second, Ries tripods have no center post. This may be a result of their heritage in movie making. A center post is what introduces the potential of a poor fit and thus wobble around the center post. You can affix your camera directly onto the top of the Ries tripod or you can use your favorite head (as long as it has no protrusions or fixtures that go below the plane of the head). The top of the Ries tripod is almost 6 inches across. Ries tripods are light, probably lighter than the all-metal tripods I have. If you are doing turntable photography you need a second tripod for the turntable (plus naturally a tripod for the camera). The model of Ries that has no extension leg is the safest since extension legs tend to slide down. If you have a sixty thousand dollar ceramic vase on your turntable, it would be painful if your tripod leg slipped down a bit. We feel that Ries tripods deserve to become better known, so this insert in our FLAAR review of large format equipment is a good start. Ries tripods would be useful for nature photographers since their backpacker model can be disassembled and transported in a backpack. For working in archaeology, or any outdoor photography, wood is more comfortable. Black or even aluminum colored metal heats up quickly (and painfully). To order: Ries Industries, 7865 NE Day Road, Suite R, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110. Visit their new website.
Redesigned April 21, 2008.
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