Thanks guys, that's really helpful!


Excellent equipment list there nimo, I'm doing some research on your suggestions but I'll probably just end up buying exactly what you suggest! It won't be yet though, my savings are already taking a hit from my 5DII (when it eventually arrives) .


Out of curiosity, what Gitzo tripod would you recommend? I've had a look at the models reviewed here but none of them are as tall as the Manfrotto, and they're 400g heavier which seems to defeat the point to me - strength doesn't really matter as I can't see I'd ever need to mount more than 7kg to a tripod.


(Sorry about the metric on a US forum, despite just quoting my height in imperial I'm only able to weigh in metric because of the ridiculous mix of two measuring systems we have in the UK...)