Is this tripod just too big?

[wizzo]

Hi Brian and welcome to WAB. The manfrotto tripods are top quality although they make much lighter, (but still very stable) tripods these days. Made of Aluminium or carbon, these are perfect for lugging around all day, or at least some of it! If you can handle the weight I'd hang on to it. I should add though, with todays VR lenses etc, the need for a tripod of any kind is diminishing. Your 'Bigma' however should come with a health warning lol

[wizzo]

Incidently Brian, the fluid head you refer to, was I believe, originally designed for video cameras, to enable smooth panning. That's not to say of course, if you shoot sports etc, a fluid head would be very usefull. Sorry if I've duplicated anybody elses reply.