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Technology / Re: What is the best tripod?
« on: 22/11/2012 09:28:39 »
Carbon fibre has superior vibration dampening properties and is lighter than aluminium - which is why most topermost end tripods are made of it.
Yes Carbon fibre can shatter, but what is it you are photographing that puts the tripod (and presumably the camera and photographer) at that sort of risk?!?
I think top end tripods that don't have leg braces tend to have a pretty solid (often) ratcheted stop at the top of the leg, allowing the legs to go wider, which simply gives more options such as low angle shots etc.
If vibration is an issue consider wood. I've got an old wooden theodolite tripod (which admitedly is quite heavy) I converted with a bit of fiddling and a decent ball head, perfect for taking long exposure pictures in quarries / mines / construction sites and a friend who goes whale watching swears by his german Berlback(SP?) as he can use a longer lens than he could otherwise comfortably hold...
Cheapest, quickest, dirtiest, lightest holiday solution (for compacts or lightweight dslr) is to get a bolt of the right diameter to fit the tripod mount on the camera. Get a 2litre PET bottle (e.g. pop bottle) put the bolt throught the lid, fill the bottle with sand et voila...
Yes Carbon fibre can shatter, but what is it you are photographing that puts the tripod (and presumably the camera and photographer) at that sort of risk?!?
I think top end tripods that don't have leg braces tend to have a pretty solid (often) ratcheted stop at the top of the leg, allowing the legs to go wider, which simply gives more options such as low angle shots etc.
If vibration is an issue consider wood. I've got an old wooden theodolite tripod (which admitedly is quite heavy) I converted with a bit of fiddling and a decent ball head, perfect for taking long exposure pictures in quarries / mines / construction sites and a friend who goes whale watching swears by his german Berlback(SP?) as he can use a longer lens than he could otherwise comfortably hold...
Cheapest, quickest, dirtiest, lightest holiday solution (for compacts or lightweight dslr) is to get a bolt of the right diameter to fit the tripod mount on the camera. Get a 2litre PET bottle (e.g. pop bottle) put the bolt throught the lid, fill the bottle with sand et voila...