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While working on the supertele comparison it was quickly apparent that i finally needed a real tripod. A nice, solid, aluminum tripod would have done fine, but the ultralight backpacker in me lusted for carbon fiber. I rationalized that i would be more likely to bring the tripod with me if it were lighter, but i wasn't able to rationalize the $400 to $600 price of a name brand tripod. I had heard of some decent knockoff tripods from benro, but they still seemed to be pretty pricey. I considered a flashpoint tripod from adorama, but in searching the internet i found plenty of references to amvona that i had to try it. I purchased the AT-A102T tripod on ebay for a steal of a deal. It has 3-section legs since weight and stability is more important to me than packing small. The outer tube has a 28mm diameter (similar on paper to gitzo and induro '2' series) which i chose since i plan to use it with my 4x5 camera as well. My expectations were low and i was quite pleased that it is in fact made of real carbon fiber and doesn't fall apart under normal use. While i won't say it's as good as a gitzo, it certainly does the job well and there's nothing to indicate i shouldn't trust this tripod with my camera. It weighs and measures exactly as advertised on amvona's site. I probably could have gotten by with one size smaller (24mm tube). I'm short, so i probably would have been happier with a 4-section tripod and removing the fourth section. I was pleased to find that they didn't bother including any instructions - one less thing to throw away with packaging. I did, however get straight to taking the whole thing apart and putting it back together so i have a better idea of it's build quality and inner workings. I decided to take and post photos to show most of the things I wish i could have found online before buying. Enjoy:
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Photography 
