which tripod - yes another thread - sorry

[nacoya]

ok, been having a look at the circa 50-60 quid range. found 3

first is a opticron discovery tripod from quiggs of glasgow but I can't find a spec on the net to let you see it. don't know the weight or exact heights though i have seen it briefly. Comes with case and head (3 way)- i'd be grateful if anyone could find a link to the actual spec of this.

2nd is the velbon max-i 347E , 60 quid jessops.
http://www.velbon-tripod.com/maxi.htm

3rd is the calumet 6011 , a little heavy but bloody sturdy for 39.99+vat, bag and head. from calumet in glasgow.

http://www.calumetphoto.com/ctl?&ac.ui.pn=cat.CatItemDetail&ac.item.itemNo=CK6011&ac.cat.CatTree.detail=y&type=PRDINDEX


comments please........

cheers, nacoya

[tim]

You get what you pay for with tripods. I got a cheap one to start with, but had to upgrade because it wasn't stable enough. So now I have 2 tripods and it cost more than if i'd just gotten a decent one to start with. I like manfrotto tripods, there are brands that are a little cheaper and brands that are more expensive that will do a decent job.

[Ricko of Fla]

Try a Feisol tripod at www.feisol.com Not cheap ,but not expensive as a Manfrotto or others a cheap is a cheap and you will sooner or later trade up to a good tripod. Save your money and buy a good one first. check around first before you buy. I have a Ct3401 feisol and love it I am not one to spend a lot of money . Tim is right!

Ricko

[DavidW]

What makes a difference to my feelings here is that the original poster lists a S2 IS in his signature, not a digital SLR. That camera is around 400g - rather less than my EOS 20D body (let alone the grip that's always attached, along with one of my L zooms). If I'm using my EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS, I'm putting about 2.2kg on my tripod.

Certainly I don't think anything like my tripod is justified here (Gitzo G2220 Explorer, Gitzo G1275M head, Manfrotto RC2 adapter, Gitzo GE12P bag) - that costs about the same as the S2 IS camera. It's also far in excess of what's needed to adequately support such a light camera.


Of the options you posted, I don't think the Velbon is that suited to stills use - it's got a geared column (which is unnecessarily fiddly), a pan head (not as convenient as a ball head in most cases) and braced legs (good for quick setup, can be a pain if you're trying to set the tripod up on an uneven surface).

The Calumet looks quite good on the web, at least. There's no panning base on the head, which means that it's not ideal for shooting panoramas, but apart from that, it looks pretty good.


If you can stretch your budget a bit more, it may be worth looking at a Manfrotto 488RC2 head and some legs commensurate with the weight of your camera - that way, you'd have a head and possibly legs well suited to a digital SLR if you traded up. However, 60 pounds should get you something perfectly adequate for your S2 IS.



David

[nacoya]

thanks for the feedback guys.

i like the calmet but i felt that it was a little heavy. But that's just a number comparison with the velbon. In the real world i don't know how this would bear out.
I really wanted something light (ish) and a reasonable size when folded (hence my leaning towards the velbon).

David, I think you've looked at the wrong velbon. I'm condsidering the max-i 347e (the second on that page) not the 347gb (the braced one - in fact i'm specifically NOT looking for a braced tripod). What do you think of that?

Yes the camera is an S2 (sorry should have made that clearer) and at most i'd put a lensmate adapter (already fitted) and a raynox dcr-1540pro tele on it so I don't need something that'd support a huge weight.However it is my intention that in the future (year to eighteen months) to get a dslr along the lines of a rebel xt or d70 depending what's on the go at that time.

cheers,

nacoya

[DavidW]

The Calumet is indeed rather heavy - my Gitzo, all up, is 3kg (well, 2.9kg plus the Manfrotto RC2 adapter).


The (right) Velbon doesn't look too bad - but it is 4 section, which means it's a little less stable than a 3 section tripod. On the other hand, it's smaller. No bracing is a plus, but it still looks to have a pan head. The information on the web site is confusing - it talks about two different maximum heights, and I'm unclear whether you need to use the central column to reach teh maximum height.

For most purposes, I need little to no extension of my Gitzo's central column - which is ideal, because the more you extend the central column, the less stable things will become.


Buying a tripod in this price bracket is not going to get you something that's ideal for a digital SLR with heavy glass, but you may get away with something like an EOS 350D and a kit lens or light prime on these. The Calumet should take something far heavier, but how steady a £60 tripod will be with a moderately heavy setup (like my EOS 20D, BG-E2 grip and EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS) is questionable.

As I said, if you can find the budget for a Manfrotto 488RC2 ball head and some legs to suit, you won't regret it. The ball head will certainly be usable on a future DSLR outfit, even if the legs aren't ideal. It's up to you.


I still haven't put our family Ixus 700 on my Gitzo, but it would be amusing to try it - if just to get a picture of how ridiculous a tiny camera looks atop a fairly sturdy tripod!



David

[nacoya]

I'm going to take the camera and try out a couple.

Maybe the calumet won't be as bad as i thought weight wise as i won't be climbing mountains with it and i suppose it should carry well with case and/or calumet straps/webbing. And in the end up 2.7kg isn't that bad.

And the plus side fror the velbon is it's size and weight so i'll pop through to edinburgh where i can try them all. And i know that calumet shop and edinburgh cameras do manfrotto as well.

btw. the velbon is 50" extended without column and 61.8" with column and 16.8" closed.
http://www.adorama.com/VNM347E.html

cheers,

[DavidW]

The 61.8" of the Velbon is 1.57m. Add in the height of the camera's viewfinder from the base, and you may well still find that you're stooping a little from your standing height to look directly through the viewfinder, even at maximum central column extension (which is the least stable position).

This maybe isn't so important with a camera like the S2, where I believe you've got the option of composing your pictures on the LCD screen. In case you weren't aware, you can't use the screen of a digital SLR in that fashion - you can use it to review shots, but not preview them, so you do need to look through the viewfinder to set up the shot.

In other words, I think the Velbon tripod may be a bit on the short side.



David

[nacoya]

in that case so will the calumet...

what do you think of this one

http://www.digital-cameras.com/accessories/digital-cameras/tripods/tripods/manfrotto-tripod-digi-mini-3wh-718b.html#specification

[dgcorner]

thanks for the feedback guys.

... in the future (year to eighteen months) to get a dslr along the lines of a rebel xt or d70 depending what's on the go at that time.

cheers,

nacoya

You do mean a 20D and not a d70 eh? ;-)

[DavidW]

The Manfrotto looks interesting - it's not going to take that heavy a camera (maximum of 2.5kg - and I suspect it could be quite unsteady at that point) also I'm unclear whether there's any facility to remove and replace the head.

Unfortunately it uses yet another oddball Manfrotto QR plate (there's numerous styles of Manfrotto QR plate, though the one that many of us use is RC2 - 200PL series plates), though extra plates are available separately as 384PL-14.

It looks a reasonable setup for the money - if I say that my Gitzo tripod bag cost nearly as much as that tripod / head / bag kit, it tells you that I'm used to using something in a different (and much more expensive) class which really isn't needed for your camera. Manfrotto would be fools to put their name to complete rubbish, and this may well be a good choice in this price bracket. It's not going to take a DSLR with heavy glass, but it should be fine for lighter lenses, could well be a good tripod for carrying around, and it could always do double duty in the future either as a travel tripod for use with a compact camera, or to mount a flash.

I wonder if you could persuade a local shop to get one in for you to have a look at.



David