Discussion
Gurbinder said:
... which tripod to buy ...
A question which comes up from time to time, my thoughts being:- get the best you can afford
- serious money is required for a really good carbon fibre set up which is solid, but reasonably lightweight, otherwise:
- "lightweight" and "stable" are not usually two words that you will see in a sentence about a tripod, which means you have to compromise or at least choose a priority
- ideally, with camera mounted, you want it to be tall enough that your viewfinder is at eye level WITHOUT CRANKING UP A CENTRE COLUMN!
- ideally you want fewer sections rather than more
- hanging your kit bag to weigh it down in a gale is going to be an option, but it still needs to be strong and sturdy
- if you'll be using monster lenses you may need to look at what load it will take, but most set ups should be happy with a medium weight SLR body and lens of no more than a couple of kilos total
- "L-brackets" beat turning a head on its side and displacing the weight away from over the centre of gravity for portrait format EVERY TIME!
- heads come in a variety of guises, three-way-pan-and-tilt, ball or action are just some and are all a matter of personal choice; try a few out
- decide if getting down to earthworm level is a necessity or nice-to-have
- get the best you can afford
beano500 said:
- get the best you can afford
Think I'd go for the cheapest I could get my hands on so I find out what features are important for the things I want to use it for then go and get a suitable one later rather than going out and spending lots straight away, but that's just the way I work...I have only two tripods; an old lighweight Linhof and a fairly hefty Manfrotto.
The Manfrotto is adjustable for height by locking levers that are at the top .... very very very useful,
and the angle of each leg can be independently set .... very useful.
The Linhof tripod I have, has neither of those features and is hence rather inflexible in use.
The Manfrotto is adjustable for height by locking levers that are at the top .... very very very useful,
and the angle of each leg can be independently set .... very useful.
The Linhof tripod I have, has neither of those features and is hence rather inflexible in use.
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