Tripods

[brancho]

I use a SLIK pro 500 EZ which is great for the money

 

[VirusKiller]

Manfrotto #075 tripod and #136 fluid video head. Great build quality. I originally bought them for celestial telescope use, but used for all sorts (camera, camcorder, sound meter, light meter, etc.)

 

[Schwert]

My favorites are two Gitzo carbons I have had for ages. 1228 is my lightest and it definately needs to have my camera bag suspended below it to stabilize. My hands down favorite though is the 1348 which is good most of the time without additional weight added.

Both with Arca Swiss ballheads.

I have put a braided leash on the 1348 to make adding weight easy as pie. More details in my old article in the outdoors magazine archive.

http://outdoors.magazine.free.fr/spip.php?article283

I am also a big fan of non-tripods for some uses, but almost always find one of my Gitzos the way to go.

Non-tripod support old article...

http://outdoors.magazine.free.fr/spip.php?article287

 

[Ropeman]

Another Gitzo/Arca-Swiss fan.

Have a read of this article, it saved me a fortune

http://bythom.com/support.htm

 

[burry]

These look expensive.

http://www.manybiz.com/images/products/thumb/28/06/43/64343.jpg

you are so humor....

 

[Wayland]

These look expensive.

http://www.schifbenger.com/the_guardians/start_bilder/tripod95.jpg

Buying cheap tripods like that was the worst waste of money I made when I started out.

They don't do the job properly, they fall apart after any real work and they cost about half as much as a decent pod.

In the end, if you are serious about photography you will have to buy a decent pod and you will have wasted the money you spent on the carp one.

There's no point buying fancy bits of glass for the front of your camera if the camera is moving about when you take the picture.

 

[jimford]

Buying cheap tripods like that was the worst waste of money I made when I started out.

They don't do the job properly, they fall apart after any real work and they cost about half as much as a decent pod.

In the end, if you are serious about photography you will have to buy a decent pod and you will have wasted the money you spent on the carp one.

There's no point buying fancy bits of glass for the front of your camera if the camera is moving about when you take the picture.

Spot on!

The golden rule for tripods is:

Cheap, light, stable - pick any two.

John Ruskin must have been thinking of tripods when he wrote the following!

"It is unwise to pay too much, but it is also unwise to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money, that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything because the thing you bought is incapable of doing the thing you bought it to do."

Jim

 

[Kikatito]

i have a cheap nonbrand specific tripod just now and it just collects dust in the boot of my car, its far too light weight for anything, I have a canon 400D which aint the lightest body and that with a telescopic lens (75-300) and not having a decent trypod is awfull it just becomes top heavy.......one day i will get a Manfrotto, this i have promised myself...

i totally agree with the Cheap, Light, Stable, pick two and go with it!! For me it has to be Light and stable......

 

[jimford]

I recently bought a carbon fibre Benro Flexpod and am very pleased with it. I try not to think how much it was, though!

Jim

 

[Kikatito]

ooooooooooooooo carbon fibre..............drool's

 

[Rob]

I have to say that I am a fan of the compact tripods that you can get from Dixons for less than £20.

I have used mine everywhere that I have been from on the hill in Scotland annoying red deer, to taking pictures of Bushmen is Southern Africa.

Stainless steel, so will be coming to the Jungle with me later this year.

They pack down to aout 8-10" (by about 2" wide) and open up to well over 1m high with the legs spread and fully exptended.

Proof is in the pudding, but I like mine so much that I got one for Mel once she started to get into taking pics.

 

[SiWhite]

Have a look at http://www.aldine.co.uk/redsnapper/tripod-3wayhead-combo.html - they come very highly recommended on some photography forums I visit.

 

[Tony]

I saw 'Tripods' and thought "Excellent, they've been putting up pictures of their tripods" with the image in my head of lovely forged tripods with pots hanging off of them over lovely fires
Carved feet, innovative designs, light weight........


:umbrella: :sulkoff:

 

[Rob]

Maybe we need another thread for that one

 

[Wayland]

I saw 'Tripods' and thought "Excellent, they've been putting up pictures of their tripods" with the image in my head of lovely forged tripods with pots hanging off of them over lovely fires
Carved feet, innovative designs, light weight........


:umbrella: :sulkoff:

It was in the Photo section Tone....:twak:

 

[Tony]

he he, I know, I just thought someone was showing some photo's

 

[Rumcajs]

Manfrotto is the way to go.
My main tripod is 055XB with 322RC2 ball head.

 

[Sam442]

Manfrotto is the way to go.
My main tripod is 055XB with 322RC2 ball head.

I have exactly the same setup, weighs a ton but stable and strong, even survived a fall down

with only a few scratches and dings and is still going strong 2 years later, although I will be replacing it with a lighter model soon.

 

[Adrian]

Carbonfibre Manfrotto - I forget which one as I've had it for several years.

The thing about tripods I think, is that if you buy wisely once, you've got the thing for years, and - unlike lenses, you can use it with any camera system you change to

The head I use is the magnesium alloy 460 - not the most advanced of their selection, and relatively cheap compared to a lot of their heads, but its' done an excellent job for me; its compact and strong enough to use my old Canon FD kit and my Mamiya MF - neither is exactly featherweight!

 

[Rumcajs]

I have exactly the same setup, weighs a ton but stable and strong, even survived a fall down

with only a few scratches and dings and is still going strong 2 years later, although I will be replacing it with a lighter model soon.

When I was on holidays in Poland few weeks ago I was thinking about getting 055CX3 which is exactly same as 055XB but carbon fibre. It is lighter and can take more weight. Very helpful when trekking, but decided against it.
I think I got too attached to the one I have now. It's been through a lot and I only have it couple of years.
Ball head is amazing, so easy to adjust to what you want. I also have 3-way 804RC2, but am only using it for strobist work as its bit more precise.