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Iceland: 190GO in action.

Under pouring rain, wandering the great Icelandic landscape.

December 2016, in preparation of a tour in Iceland that I will take next 5-12 March 2017, I decide to have a quick visit to the places where I have planned to bring my students. I want to scout for nice spots and explore locations, so that I can have a good idea where are the best shooting points for them to take great photographs during the workshop.

After talking about this with the guys at Manfrotto, they propose to have with me the new 190Go! tripod during the trip, so that I can try it, and use it in a nice and complex environment. What a fantastic idea!

I am thrilled by it…

I am worried I have to take to Iceland my Carbon Fiber 055 which, although good, is to big and heavy to make me want it with me, this time. Since i need to carry a lot of anti-rain and cold clothes, I have limited luggage space and weight, so welcome home 190go!!!

So here are my impressions about it, after having tested it during the darkest and most rainy days i had ever had in my life.

First, the version I had is the carbon fiber 4 section one. It is simply sexy. The new locking system, which reminds me of the one that Gitzo has, has a great design: practical and precious. I must admit, I was a little afraid that it could give me problems, I had had experiences with Gitzo and in moments of haste and confusion, too much turning of the knob, ended up in disassembling the system. But… this didn’t happen this time. To tell the truth, I found it a very solid system, as one expects from a member of the very successful Manfrotto 190 family.

The 190 is a mythical object. And this new version, even if it has lost its peculiar locking levers, it’s a worthy member of its lineage. The legs have been coupled with an 804 three way head. Which I love. I don’t like much the ballheads, which even if faster to set, tend to be less precise. I was going to do a lot of landscape, and I prefer to be precise in leveling and framing my images by adjusting the three axes separately.

For this mission, I carried with me my Fujifilm cameras (X-T2 and X-T1), and a lens selection including the 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 which I thought might be too heavy for the tripod. But, surprinsigly, it amazed me. Strong, sturdy, steady as a rock, and I loved it.

Light to carry, fast to set, and a great worker. In my studio I am used to the big 055, and it’s not always that fast to set, but this 190Go have given me great satisfaction, even when I had to use my heavy long lens.

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