a few things to consider: what do you place more emphasis on, ease/speed of setup, or more flexibility?? if you want ease/speed of setup, get a tripod whose height (fully extended without raising the center column) will be suitable for your height, which usually means about 6-8 inches shorter than you. this will compensate for the ballhead and camera, putting you level with the viewfinder so no hunching over to see. setting up is sooo easy when your tripod is the right height, so you dont have to fiddle with the leg locks, just fully extend and GO!
if you want flexibility, then 4-section tripods can get some wickedly tall heights, plus they do fold more compactly. however, when i was searching for the tall 4-section gitzos, none of them were suitable for my height when i wanted a super-quick setup. in the end, i chose ease of use and quick setup.
another thing to think about is whether you will do lots of low-level/ground shooting. if so, then think about the systematic models, since they have no center columns (you can add one later on). you can get as low as you want, and no center column also means better stability and vibration dampening.
with that said, it really is hard getting one tripod to satisfy ALL of your shooting needs. thats why i have TWO!?! (gt1541t + markins q3t and gt3530s + markins q20):tongue:
good luck!
