What’s a good tripod?
Hello readers, friends, and any pro photographers out there. I need some advice. I have an inexpensive Velbon plastic tripod that I grabbed a while back for video that I’ve been using with my Nikon D70. While I was home for the holiday, I picked up a small desk tripod that was metal and more professional grade, and I really like it. When I was in the store where I grabbed it, I looked through several of the very nice professional tripods they had in stock, and now I’m considering getting one with some of my birthday money.
Any recommendations? I need something that is stable for macro work, and I’d prefer something that isn’t too huge when folded up and isn’t too heavy.
Recommend on Mahalo
January 6th, 2006 at 8:48 am
Anything by Bogen. They generally start around the low $100s and they are worth every penny.
January 6th, 2006 at 9:02 am
Bogen. Cool. Can you elaborate on why they’re the best or what I should be looking for in choosing a model? My budget is probably in the $100-200 range for this.
January 6th, 2006 at 9:46 am
Hey C.K.!
Bogen is definitely the way to go in that price range. I have 3221W legs and a 3030 head that I’ve used with everything from a midsize Canon film camera to a Hasselblad and a small 4×5 camera without problems. It’s probably a little outside of that range, a little heavy, and they might not even make it anymore.
I’ll try to check out their catalog and see what they’re up to though, they definitely make (er import, Manfrotto in Italy makes the stuff) good tripods.
January 6th, 2006 at 10:18 am
Cool, Matt. Thanks.
January 6th, 2006 at 12:34 pm
If you have the money (it doesn’t sound like you do), you can’t really go wrong with Gitzo. They pioneered carbon fiber tripods, and the 6X series is amazing. For a C-note or two, I’d look at the Manfroto 7XXX “Digi” series. This is probably what Matt and David are talking about, too. As far as I know, “Bogen” tripods are just rebranded Manfrotos and Gitzos; they don’t do any fabrications themselves. You can save some money if you buy a kit instead of buying the tripod and head individually. If you can, spend a couple extra bucks for carbon fiber (the 7XXX series is pretty affordable) instead of the 3XXX series aluminum models. The price has really come down in the last couple of years, and they’re more durable: slamming the trunk on a carbon fiber pole won’t make the whole setup list to one side.
Swing by http://www.bogenimaging.us to see what’s available, but I’d also head down to B&H to see a couple in person, too. You can debate tripod specs all day but, like buying a camera, once you settle on a range it’s a pretty personal choice that depens on what you’re comfortable with, and how you’re going to use it.
Here’s another idea, though: sink your money into the best, heaviest, stablist tilt/swivel or ball head you can afford, and forget the tripod. Build a nice sturdy bracket out of threaded steel or lead pipe; Home Depot or your local hardware store should be able to cut it to order. It’ll be practically earthquake proof for the stop motion work, fully customizable (want to add a boom for overhead work? Just throw on a 14″ length of pipe. Try that with a tripod), and you can probably get out the door for $25.
January 6th, 2006 at 4:35 pm
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January 7th, 2006 at 5:28 pm
A good tripod is almost more important than a good camera. The single best ’secret’ for making great landscape/interior pictures, in my opinion, is to have a good solid tripod. You really don’t want to use flash if you can avoid it unless you’re going for a specific effect or fix (almost imperceptible fill flash is nice). And with landscape flash often is useless anyhow. So put down your big steady tripod, put your camera on top, set your aperture to f/22, and it doesn’t really matter how long the shot has to be. You might even get some neat effects from the length of the exposure, like creamy water. For best results use remote release.
Of course you may like taking pictures at high ISO for the grainy effect, or you might like large aperture effects (I tend to shoot very large or very small) or it may not be possible in some situtations, so you do what you have to without the tripod. But otherwise bring it everywhere. Never get lazy and just leave it in the trunk because you probably won’t need it. That bit me in the ass too often.
Make sure your tripod is nice and solid, has three leg sections rather than four, and a small built in level might be nice. I use used to have a cheapo Vanguard tripod (which was pretty nice for what it was) but finally upgraded to a Manfrotto 3021 BRPO and a medium ball head for about $160, and what a world of difference!
One final suggestion - if you’re using a large lens like the Nikon 70-400mm VR, then you almost /must/ use the lens tripod mount to balance your camera and lens over the center of the tripod. If you get lazy and try to just put the camera on the tripod and have that huge heavy lens hanging out you will get far more blur. I have some pictures of far away birds on joshua trees that demonstrate this quite effectively.
May 30th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
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