The Buffel LM-403C is our baby - a custom model made for the ZA market. To understand why we went to the effort of having this custom model made, you need to geek out a bit on tripods.
There are many factors that determine the rigidity of a tripod leg, but the two main ones are 1) leg diameter and 2) section count. Leg diameter is the simple one - bigger is better and 40mm is the largest tube size that Leofoto makes. Joints perform an essential role in tripod design - they lock telescopic leg sections, which allow tripods to extend very tall, but fold down to a practical size. The more joints you add to a tripod's leg, the shorter it folds down. This does however come with two downsides - each section/joint requires 3x actions (1x action per leg) to be deployed/extended. Joints also compromise rigidity - if you compare two tripods with the same leg diameter, but a 3-section and a 5-section version (e.g. LM-403 vs LM-405), you'll quickly see that the 5-section has a lot more flex.
You can thus add more sections to a tripod to make it fold down shorter, but at some point you are compromising too much rigidity and deployment time. For some people 5-section tripods are great - such as photographers who do serious hiking or have to fly with their tripods often. The opposite is the SO-362C, a 2-section tripod which deploys at lightning speed and has incredible leg rigidity, but folds down to a whopping 1.2m. It is totally unpractical to travel or hike with, but for those who want the ultimate rigidity and deployment time, it is perfectly justified.
4-Section tripods like the LM-404 are arguably the most popular as they offer a sweet spot between everything, but 4-sections is still prioritising folded size over rigidity. In our opinion, for the shooting and hunting market, 3-sections is the sweet spot. It can be deployed in under 10-seconds, offers incredibly rigid 40mm legs, but still folds down to 70cm, which you can hike and fly with if necessary.
Why Camo?
Our camo tripods are not just about aesthetics - it serves a much more important role that is not so obvious. The carbon fiber tubes are wrapped in an ultra-hard protective vinyl, which offers a layer of protection between the elements and your tripod. Most of the tripods going into the shooting community end up on farms and game reserves, where they are carried through the veld and transported on the back of a bakkie. This is a tough life and we want to make sure our tripods last as long as possible when put to real use doing hard work. The camo wrap goes a long way to ensuring years of hard use before the elements start wearing away at the epoxy on the carbon tubes.
For the camo lovers, there is also the added bonus of the aesthetic.
For those who aren't so fond of camo, don't fear - we have black LM-403 on the way due November 2023.
Specifications
- Material - Carbon Fiber with protective vinyl wrap
- Leg Sections - 3
- Maximum Height - 162cm
- Closed Length - 70cm
- Weight - 2380g
- Load Capacity - 40kg
LM-403C heights at each leg lock angle
| 23° | 55° | 85° | |
| With 0 sections extended | 642mm | 423mm | 110mm |
| With 1 section extended | 1145mm | 730mm | 155mm |
| With 2 sections extended | 1614mm | 1005mm | 195mm |
The Summit series is Leofoto's large tripod range offering a modular apex that can accept a leveling base or a wide variety of heads. These tripods offer maximum support, stability and compatibility along with Leofoto's proprietary accessory connection port.
Modular Accessories - One of the key attractions of systematic tripods is the removable apex plate, which can be interchanged with a variety of other accessories.
- In-Apex Leveling Base Photography |A must-have for panorama and video shooters. Click here for the YB-75LP.
- In-Apex Leveling Base SOAR | A leveling base is the most affordable head for sports use. Due to the long ranges at which all shooting is done, shooters don't need nearly as much articulation/pitch as photographers need, making a leveling base the perfect psuedo-head. Click here for the YB-75LR.
- Video Heads | All Leofoto 32- and 36- series Summit tripods are compatible with 75mm balls and a 75mm bowl adapter is included with all tripods. All Leofoto 40 series tripods are compatible with 100mm balls and a 100mm bowl adapter is included with the tripod. Leofoto's video heads can be found here.
- Center Column | Center columns are a must-have for studio photographers. Leofoto make both standard and geared columns for the Summit tripods, which can be found here.
Modern Apex Design - Summit series tripods feature an apex machined from aircraft grade aluminium. About 30% of the apex chassis is machined away to save weight, resulting in a hollowed out design that doesn’t compromise on strength or rigidity. Atop the apex you will find a standard 3/8” mounting screw compatible with 99% of tripod heads as well as a big, bright spirit level. The bottom features a hook for attaching weight in windy conditions, but the hook can be removed to reveal another 3/8” mounting hole.
The side of the apex features 3 instruments –
- A screw clamp that locks the apex around the baseplate/bowl adapter/center column.
- Safety catch with a simple pull-tab to release the baseplate/bowl adapter/center column from the apex.
- Leofoto 3/8” proprietary attachment port for magic arms and other accessories.
Premium Joint Assembly - The legs attach via stainless steel hinge shafts and brass bushings to a machined aluminium hinge chassis – premium materials you won’t see on many tripods in the market today.
Premium Japanese Carbon Fiber - Leofoto uses 10x layer cross-weave carbon fiber tubes made by Toray Inc – one of the world’s top carbon fiber manufacturers. This ensures strength and rigidity, while ensuring class-leading weight specifications. The hinges feature self-returning angle-selectors, a small feature that speeds up operation. All Summit tripods offer leg angles of 23, 55 and 85 degrees.
Uncomplicated Joints – All tripod ranges feature fat joints with prominent ribbing to provide great grip and torque for easy loosening and tightening of the joints. One of Leofoto’s proprietary features is a single-piece joint-shim (the shim helps legs to lock together more firmly and prevents the legs from being able to rotate within each other); those who have opened up a twist-joint tripod and seen parts fly will know the frustration of disassembling and reassembling those delicate internal components. All Leofoto tripods feature a one-piece shim, which makes maintenance and cleaning of the joints much easier.
Beveled Aluminium Core Feet – A tripod foot is just a piece of rubber, right? Think again! Most manufacturer’s tripod feet are just a steel spike encased in rubber – this makes it heavy and allows a lot of flex/vibration in the malleable rubber. Leofoto’s engineers have gone to great lengths to make the ultimate tripod foot and the result is an internal aluminium frame that minimizes the amount of flexible rubber in the construction. While this is a tiny detail, it adds to the rigidity of the tripod. All Leofoto ranges’ feet feature a multi-angled bevel, which helps it to grip on uneven terrain. All Leofoto tripods also include a set of spiked feet for shooting on ice or slippery rocks.
All aluminium components are treated with a hard-anodization process for durability against scratches and bumps.
Naming Convention | LM-404C
- LM | Summit
- 40 | 40mm top leg diameter
- 3 | 3-section
-
C | Carbon Fiber
Specifications
- Material - Carbon Fiber
- Leg Sections - 4
- Maximum Height - 175cm
- Closed Length - 80cm
- Weight - 2600g
- Load Capacity - 28kg
Included
- Summit tripods include a large padded bag.
- Free bowl adapter – Summit tripods include a free bowl adapter for leveling bases or video heads. Other manufacturers charge R1000-R2000 for this critical item. (32- and 36- series – 75mm, 40-series – 100mm)
- 3x Spiked Feet
- Multi-Tool
- Instructions
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The Summit series is Leofoto's large tripod range offering a modular apex. These are available in large to extra-large sizes.
The SO series is Leofoto's dedicated PRS range and is essentially a Summit tripod, but in an inverted 2-section design, which makes deployment much faster.
The SA series kits are aimed at all SOAR users and offer a compact apex designed for the MA-30L anvil head. These kits are available in a full spectrum of sizes from a portable SA-324C to a monster SA-404CL. The SA kits are a lot more affordable than the equivalent Summit or SO with the anvil head.
The Ranger series offers the most affordable solution for those who want a premium rifle sport tripod at the lowest possible price.
Do you have the item in stock?
Products are either in stock, out of stock (sold out) or special order.
- In stock: We have stock at our local warehouse. You can see how many we have in stock, add these products to your cart and check out.
- Sold out: We usually carry stock of this item but it has sold out. Please get in touch to get an ETA and reserve and incoming product. Or use the "Email me when available" button to get an email when new stock arrives.
- Special order: We don't carry local stock of this item. Get in touch to confirm stock availability and ETA to place an order.
Delivery options and what they cost
We pride ourselves on lightning fast shipping, FREE on all orders over R1000. For orders under R1000 a courier fee of R120 will apply. Apart from large f-stop gear orders and large tripods, most of our items ship overnight and the daily cutoff is 13:00. You can read more on the deliveries page.
Can I collect my parcel?
Yes, you can collect your order from our warehouse in Saxenburg Park, Blackheath (08:00 - 14:00). Just choose the collection option at checkout- we'll follow up with the specifics. Please note that we are very strict about payment if collecting. We will not release any goods if we are not 100% comfortable about payment. We accept the following as payment confirmation in order to release the goods.
- Payfast Card Payment (any customers, new or returning)
- EFT from FNB to FNB, pending fund clearance (any customers, new or returning)
- Normal EFT from other banks to FNB (return customers only)
- Instant EFT from other banks to FNB, pending fund clearance (Any customers, new or returning)
- Cash (any customers, new or returning)
What payment options are available?
What is your policy on returns and or exchanges?
We are more than happy to exchange any product for something else or a full refund* if you feel that the item you chose isn’t quite right for you. See our Return Policy page for more.
*If paying with any card, 4.5% of the transaction value goes to the credit card payment facilitation company. "Full Refund" means that we will return the full amount we received after the credit card service fees. If you are at all unsure that what you're buying is ideal for you, rather opt for EFT payment to be safe.
Where is my order? How can I track my order?
You will receive an email with your tracking number once your order has been collected by our couriers. You can also find tracking number for your orders under "My account"
Shop 5 Roeland Square, Cnr Roeland and, Upper Canterbury St, Cape Town
0214653573
Victorian Towers, 2 Palm St, Bellville, Cape Town
Fritz, 0219101380
Boskruin, Randburg
Deon Truter, 0823148308
Stonemill Office Park, Greenstone House
300 Acacia Rd, Johannesburg
Wilhelmus Möller, 0118802885
28 Pearce St, Berea, East London
043 726 2200
Kloof, Durban
Emil, 0844849959
Shop 5 Roeland Square, Cnr Roeland and, Upper Canterbury St, Cape Town
0214653573
Victorian Towers, 2 Palm St, Bellville, Cape Town
Fritz, 021 910 1380
Kloof, Durban
Emil, 0844849959
Durbanville
Bernard Kotze - 0727156743
Ivan Fourie - 0825290593
1032 Silvergrass St, Montana, Pretoria, 0182
Wayne Lesch – 0798834407
Damien Bradshaw
Eastern Cape (Hunting Products Only)
0835749134
Approved Arms
Pretoria
Dirk Pio – 0730556726
We have a no-nonsense approach. If a product breaks due to a manufacturer defect, we will replace it without asking any questions. If we have any reason to believe that the product was put through unreasonably heavy usage, we will have to follow the manufacturer's standard warranty procedure.
Leofoto
The manufacturer offers a 10-year limited warranty on all products and we extend that warranty to our customers. Please read the below very carefully, so you understand your position when something breaks or doesn’t work ideally anymore.
It is critical to understand that this warranty only applies to factory faults and not to standard wear and tear. Tripods are subject to a lot of gray areas in this regard as tripods used outdoors, particularly in sand and sea water, are subjected to extreme wear and tear. We will e.g. replace the affected part of your tripod if a carbon tube snaps or cracks without much pressure applied to it or if the apex breaks. We will not replace your tripod or the affected part if e.g. a joint locks up due to sand or salt build up or if a hinge becomes corroded or stiff/floppy and unserviceable due to corrosion or salt build up.
In sum, if we see that you took good care of your tripod and something went wrong, we will go out of our way to fix or replace it for you. If we see that you dragged it through the mud (literally or metaphorically), then we are unlikely to fix/replace it for you. How you handle your tripod and take care of it, is all the difference between 3- or 20 years of service.
The best of tripods will not last longer than 2/3 years if used regularly in the sea, INCORRECTLY, and never serviced. Always make sure to extend the lowest leg section first, so you keep the joints out of the water/sand. Always rinse with freshwater after use in the sea, wipe down with a wet cloth, leave extended to dry and ENSURE YOU KEEP THE HEAD AND APEX DRY. If your tripod’s joints start feeling sandy/gritty, open them up, give them a proper clean and lubrication and fine-tune the tension on the joints.
If travelling on dirt roads, ensure that your tripod is in its carry-bag when not in use.
Your tripod will not take care of itself – it is up to you to do so. All our tripods ship with an info-sheet on taking care of your tripod. We also offer a full tripod disassembly and service for R1000, including shipping both ways.
