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The head (which i'm guessing that you will also want) is a large part of the tripod cost in addition to those things previously mentioned. It will dictate how smooth the operation is, as well as how much control you have over pointing/mounting the camera.
If you've ever consistently read their comparos, you would see that as everyone expects- they judge based largely on price/perfomance for the average joe - the guy that needs a magazine like this to help him make his decision. No offense to anyone here who has done so.
The picture leaves some to be desired, but If I were to guess, this was taken by some rather capable equipment: high iso on a digital slr with a really fast lens. Also a guess.... but just about any other camera and you would not even be able to tell what the pic was of. Before you judge...
I agree that the 50 is a little long on the small sensor digitals, but if decide on the 50 and you need to make a choice between the 1.8 and 1.4, go somewhere where you can hold both of them in your hand. You will either decide that you want to pay for the better build quality and faster...
I use both CF and microdrive. I have a couple of 1gb sandisk ultra II that I use when I cannot afford to lose the pictures, or need the speed for fast successive shots. I use the microdrives when I am going to be away from a comp for a long period of time, and dont want to carry around a bunch...