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I've been recently puzzeled by the importance people attribute to tripods in pictures submitted to photographic magazines. Does the kind of tripod you use influence the quality of the pictures you take that much?
I keep reading in mags about the use of a Manfrotto tripod or some other brand which makes theirs with policarbon etc.
I mean wouldn’t be just as good using a $25.00 aluminum tripod from Harvey Norman's?
I ask out of ignorance...

Nothing wrong with ignorance - from the recognition of ignorance stems knowledge

You will find that in many situations a cheap ($25) from Hardly Normal will suffice. Where a more expensive model comes into it's own however is when you start using to hold hevier equipment (perhaps a bigger body along with long lens), or if it is anything other than super still (breeze-wise).
As you go up the price scale tripods and heads generally become more stable, and then more stable with more weight, and then more stable with less weight

I make do with a $200 manfrotto setup. but others here have spent a couple of minimum wage weeks on their tripod gear

(and that's without going into all the different heads and plates and - I kid you not - leg warmers you can get!)

As Leon said a tripod from Harvey Norman will suit most situations, however, when you use a longer lens where you need a tripod collar, for example, a more expensive tripod will provide greater stability.

You can always go and get a Manfrotto panoramic head for over $1,000!

I have read (not necessarily my view) that when you use a tripod and then extend the centre column, you end up basically using a monopod.

Cheers

P

Hi Zafra52.
The image quality may only be affected by your tripod say if it is not sufficiently strong to hold your cameras and lens motionless when you are taking your shots - vibration.
What Sheepie says is true. For instance if you have a light weight P&S camera and want to take a portrait (and maybe even include yourself) your requirement for your tripod would be much less than if you were taking shots with a heavy DSLR body and a heavy telephoto lens. In the latter case a good quality tripod is a must. It would be more stable and also less likely to collapse - which could result in all your subsequent shots being of poor quality.
I had a tripod for my P&S and it was also used my old nikon FA with a lighter lens. When I purchased a DSLR and an 80-400 zoom I heeded the advice I was given and bought the best tripod I could afford. This also was taking into account my future requirements and hopefully I will not require another tripod at a later date.
Cheers,
Mick

... Obsolete ...

VK4CP wrote:$0.03

I hope you don't want change from that!

...especially after forking out that sort of money - nice kit though

... Obsolete ...

I'd tell a story with cheap tripods from my own experience...

I used to own other two of the cheaper tripods, they were paper light and pen short to carry around (literally).

The first one, its a very thin legged tripod that extends to 1.45m and collapses to a tiny 25cm length (!!), one night, I was using the tripod at 3/4 leg extension, with a 70-300 lens, placed my left hand on top of the lens to get a little bit of stability, and suddenly the camera sunk down by 10cm, and I noticed that one of the legs were BROKEN. Ended up in the recycle bins.

Second one, a very light velbon for light digicams (still 'big' enough in its terms). I thought it will be stable enough, so mounted a longer one, this time a 1+kg 300 f/4 lens. Was out there at daytime, had bit of strong crosswind through the camera, the cam shaked and tripod was about to collapse as well, lucky I grabbed it back and put it away FOREVER.


Now the third one, invested 5 weeks of complete saving of my low salary wage. A Manfrotto 055PROB + 488RC2 head, despite the whooping 3.5kg weight to carry around compared to the ohter ones in grams, never had a problem leaving my camera/lenses on top of it, came home with plenty of keepers.

The most expensive is not always the best but the best is always expensive.

I have three tripods - all not so cheap. One an expanding tripod as Yi-p has explained above and others are a Velbon and a Slik. I cant trust any of them with the weight of a SLR. The Velbon and Sliks were supposed to be rated heavy duty, they are made of good aliminum and look solid,however the leg locking mechanisms can't be trusted. They sit above the cupboards in their boxes hardly used since new.

The cost of three of them added up is more than one good Manfrotto.

And as the old saying goes " Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it"

... Obsolete ...

Don't tell my wife, but the reason I married her was for her Manfrotto 055 tripod and 222 pistol grip head.

But, it helped me take this photo:



P

Reschsmooth wrote:Don't tell my wife, but the reason I married her was for her Manfrotto 055 tripod and 222 pistol grip head.

But, it helped me take this photo:



P

Mmmmm, So, we can infer that you married her for her "legs" then?

The reason I upgraded wasnt so much stability, though I understand that a light tripod could be in danger of tipping with heavy gear.

It was more the cheap velbon I used was really pissing me off, you would try to adjust it to frame and the head would not stay where it was put, it would try to move back to the where it wanted not where I wanted. So i would have to hold it in place, and negating all the use of a tripod in the first place. ARRG

A fluid bearing type head has cured all this and I dont think I could go back.

Thanks guys! Your various point of views and collective experience helped me to put tripods in a reasonable perspective. As some of you said, a solid and well built tripod is a must with long heavy lenses and heavy camera body. My two canon lenses are very light (18-55mm & 55-200mm) and therefore I met yet the perilous situation of seeing my gear at risk of collapsing.

I like the picture of the moon though! I guess that is a good example of when to use a robust tripod for it must have taken with at least a 400 mm lens.
Thank you again to all of you for your valuable opinions.

Andyt wrote:Mmmmm, So, we can infer that you married her for her "legs" then?

All three of them!

Zafra, that was taken with a 2x teleconvertor with a 200 mm - effective focal length is therefore 600 (with the 1.5 crop factor).

Cheers

P

Don't forget that the better tripods allow you to keep a mounting plate on the bottom of each camera/lens & just clip them onto the tripod. Quick & easy.

You did well, and should be very proud of such a photo. Thanks for the information

Reschsmooth wrote:Don't tell my wife, but the reason I married her was for her Manfrotto 055 tripod and 222 pistol grip head.

But, it helped me take this photo:



P

I've got the 055 ProB and 322 pistol grip head - I wonder if anyone would marry me for it
Anyway, the reason I bought this was to upgrade from my $40 panasonic tripod. I found that when I mounted the camera on, and tilted the head up, it would slowly creep down - very undesirable especially for long exposures!
For me, a good tripod not only should be able to hold the load (sturdy), but also easy to carry around (not too heavy - same may say contradictory with sturdyness?), not too big (for travelling), easy to use.

I really like Thom's article on 'support' here. He echoes a lot of what this thread has covered...

http://bythom.com/support.htm

adam wrote:
I've got the 055 ProB and 322 pistol grip head

This is quite a nice combo, I've got the same set up. It's not the world flashest bit of kit, nor can it hold the heaviest lens. But... for the money, it's a nice intermediate bit of gear.

The 322 head can be a bit frustrating for studio work, but in cases where you need to work quickly with a tripod it's brilliant. The clip type legs on the 055 make for easy progress too

Colcam wrote:Don't forget that the better tripods allow you to keep a mounting plate on the bottom of each camera/lens & just clip them onto the tripod. Quick & easy.

Not just the better ones. I have got a $19 eBay tripod that does that. The rest of it is crap, but it does have that feature.

adam wrote:I've got the 055 ProB and 322 pistol grip head

I've been looking at the 055 ProB as well, along with a 488 RC2. It's a bit heavy but looks sturdy enough for my needs. I take it you would recommend them because quite frankly I am an utter ignoramus with tripods.

rokkstar wrote:

adam wrote:I've got the 055 ProB and 322 pistol grip head

I've been looking at the 055 ProB as well, along with a 488 RC2. It's a bit heavy but looks sturdy enough for my needs. I take it you would recommend them because quite frankly I am an utter ignoramus with tripods.

I recently purchased the 055 ProB with a 488 RC4 and I couldn't be happier. I don't find it too heavy and it's really user friendly. Two thumbs up for this tripod and head from me.

Hi Pat/Reschsmooth ... trying to get my 50 meaningful posts up here so I can comment on coffee. ....

I tried that moon photo last time we had a full moon over our unit, with my $40 tripod ... yeah, expensive, stable tripods are the go for that.

But the $40 jobbie (previously held together with gaffa tape - something wore down and broke, now held together with super glue) is perfect for the kinda photo's I usually take. When I figure out how to attach photos ... does that mean I'll need to get one of those flickr accounts or something?

49 to go...

rokkstar wrote:I've been looking at the 055 ProB as well, along with a 488 RC2. It's a bit heavy but looks sturdy enough for my needs. I take it you would recommend them because quite frankly I am an utter ignoramus with tripods.

I've got this exact setup. Cant be much happy with its weight, but cant be any happier with its stability

If you want, you can go for a test ride of the tripod over this weekend. We can arrange a meetup somewhere out there in the city for some shooting and you can try the tripod to most of your liking

mattyjacobs wrote:Hi Pat/Reschsmooth ... trying to get my 50 meaningful posts up here so I can comment on coffee. ....

Don't try too hard.

There's also a one month membership requirement, but none of the rules are hard and fast: if we see that you are a good community member, we can advance your status. That's the primary reason for these rules: we don't want abusers here.

mattyjacobs wrote:Hi Pat/Reschsmooth ... trying to get my 50 meaningful posts up here so I can comment on coffee. ....

G'day Matty & welcome,

don't worry too much about the coffee thing - these people drink instant! (just kidding).

I note Ashley (Admin) is lurking around somewhere as well.

Cheers

P

gstark wrote:Don't try too hard.

There's also a one month membership requirement, but none of the rules are hard and fast: if we see that you are a good community member, we can advance your status. That's the primary reason for these rules: we don't want abusers here.

Fair enough! I've been part of enough sites with abusers ... no fun for anyone.

Reschsmooth pointed me to this site - I know him from a coffee site that we're both part of. I'm hoping to learn heaps while I'm here!

Hi P, I gathered that a lot of these people are instant drinkers. We need to come up with some sort of plan to convert them to the goodness of the bean. Shall we start by posting lovely photos of our machines? Or shall we show them what a naked portafilter is?

Also, I gathered that Ash would be a photo-nut too. Plenty of issues of the magazine have stuff about cameras in them, and really nice photography.

Anyway, back to tripods! Mine wobbles a lot (you get that for $40), but long-exposures go well when set off with the timer. When I get home and hook up to my extra HD, I'll put up some more pics in the Critique section ... but I might need to upgrade my internet connection first - I've passed my monthly limit already, and I figure that joining a site like this won't help with future months!

mattyjacobs wrote:Fair enough! I've been part of enough sites with abusers ... no fun for anyone.

Exactly

Reschsmooth pointed me to this site - I know him from a coffee site that we're both part of. I'm hoping to learn heaps while I'm here!

Yes; I'm aware of all that, so welcome. We're here to help, so please feel free to ask.

mattyjacobs wrote:Shall we start by posting lovely photos of our machines? Or shall we show them what a naked portafilter is?

One step ahead of you

http://www.dslrusers.com/viewtopic.php? ... highlight=

However, we should refrain from further coffee discussion in this thread as it is not good etiquette to hijack the thread.

P

Where are you guys getting the 055 ProB + 488RC2 and how much?

shutterbug wrote:Where are you guys getting the 055 ProB + 488RC2 and how much?

I got mine here for roughly AU$420, self-delivery option selected

Kayell's in Brisbane supplied mine.

055proB and 488rc4 with $25 delivery (courier) was around the $470 mark from memory. I think the 488rc2 would be cheaper.

And the service was excellent.
Just ask them to pack it well.

shutterbug wrote:Where are you guys getting the 055 ProB + 488RC2 and how much?

Macka picked up ours for ~$420 from Ted's in the city. But we didn't pay the extra $20 for black paint that scratches off

It's a fat slug of a tripod, but as solid as a rock, a decent height, a beautifully built. The only thing I'd change next time is maybe buying an Arca-Swiss compatible ball head so that I could get an L plate. If Manfrotto made L plates it would be fantastic

shutterbug wrote:Where are you guys getting the 055 ProB + 488RC2 and how much?

Vince,

You might also want to review this thread. I've added some Benro tripods to our bargain page.

I got my 055ProB legs from Singapore. A lot cheaper than here. About $160... but I'm not sure if they still sell it at that price, because when I was last in Singapore, the distributor changed.

Thanks everyone, much appreciated

Will check it out at Teds.

Gary, I have looked at the Benro Tripods...nice but I want clips-release for the legs.

vl

Shutter,


Mind if I ask why you want clip release ? From everything I've read they make the tripod less stable, and are only mildly faster then screw type legs.

Hi Craig, just for the speed and I have always used the clips.

Maybe I should try out the screw type ones.....

Alpha_7 wrote:Shutter,


Mind if I ask why you want clip release ? From everything I've read they make the tripod less stable, and are only mildly faster then screw type legs.

Agree, have just recieved a new Gitzo G1228LVL to replace my Manfrotto C190, with clips you have to have tensioned "just right" so as to be able to close them without over stressing and be at thier strongest, and of course to open them again.

After 10 mins practice, the Gitzo is easy, quiet, and the screw clamps are super secure. But then again, for the money, it should be!