keenasmustard
28th of December 2005 (Wed), 22:30
Firstly, many apologies for yet another thread on tripods. I have read through many of the ones on here, plus other forums and I'm starting to go a little mad I think. One promising thing is it seems as though everyone goes through this same frustration. It's very difficult to wade through the threads to find other recommendations that best fit what I'm after. Therefore, I throw this challenge out to you wonderfully helpful people to hopefully give me a hand:
My current equipment should now show up in my signature below, and as you can see the biggest weight (plus my camera of course) is my 70-200IS; so I've worked out I need a tripod and head combo which can hold a minimum of about 2kg/4.5lbs.
I have been given advice by a friend that it is good to have a tripod which is at least as tall as me (minus the height of my camera and tripod head etc), to give me the extra benefit of taking shots while having the tripod on the ground and then standing on a rock. Therefore achieving a great range of angles in my shots. I'm 162cm/5'3", so have come up with a rough minimum for tripod to be 135cm/53"- without the centre pole raised. (hope that's correct)
I take a lot of shots also at ground level, so would like the tripod to have a good minimum height, if possible. Therefore I would prefer no centre post or a removable one.
I have gleaned that a 3 section tripod is much more stable.
My main uses in the immediate future will be landscape and wildlife photography. In the future, I will be doing sports photography, but realise I may have to get a different tripod head and/or possibly a monopod to accommodate a different type of activity.
Whatever I get, must be reasonably compact and lightweight, as I intend to travel a lot on airlines and also tend to do a lot of jumping in and out of my car (preferably once it has come to a stop) to snap a shot of a landscape.
Budget: I threw this question at my husband earlier, and he said "try and see what you can get for under $300US" (tripod and head). I will want to get quick release plates too, but they can fall outside that margin. If I see it's beneficial to stretch my budget, I will, but I have to have some sort of guidelines!
I have read the following article:
http://www.bythom.com/support.htm
But the thought of spending $600-1000 seems rather overthetop. I do get his point of trying to get the right thing first go & "you get what you pay for"- that's why I invested in my 70-200IS for example, but surely there are other options out there? I want to get something that will do a good job and not be garbage, but I'd prefer it not to completely break the bank!
OK, I lay down the challenge for someone to find me something that might fit all of those criteria, and apologise for the length and possible repetition of this type of thread! :o It would be great to hear the perspective of people who are perhaps doing the same style of photography I am, ie travel, landscape & wildlife, as you may have actually tested this sort of thing in the field.
My current equipment should now show up in my signature below, and as you can see the biggest weight (plus my camera of course) is my 70-200IS; so I've worked out I need a tripod and head combo which can hold a minimum of about 2kg/4.5lbs.
I have been given advice by a friend that it is good to have a tripod which is at least as tall as me (minus the height of my camera and tripod head etc), to give me the extra benefit of taking shots while having the tripod on the ground and then standing on a rock. Therefore achieving a great range of angles in my shots. I'm 162cm/5'3", so have come up with a rough minimum for tripod to be 135cm/53"- without the centre pole raised. (hope that's correct)
I take a lot of shots also at ground level, so would like the tripod to have a good minimum height, if possible. Therefore I would prefer no centre post or a removable one.
I have gleaned that a 3 section tripod is much more stable.
My main uses in the immediate future will be landscape and wildlife photography. In the future, I will be doing sports photography, but realise I may have to get a different tripod head and/or possibly a monopod to accommodate a different type of activity.
Whatever I get, must be reasonably compact and lightweight, as I intend to travel a lot on airlines and also tend to do a lot of jumping in and out of my car (preferably once it has come to a stop) to snap a shot of a landscape.
Budget: I threw this question at my husband earlier, and he said "try and see what you can get for under $300US" (tripod and head). I will want to get quick release plates too, but they can fall outside that margin. If I see it's beneficial to stretch my budget, I will, but I have to have some sort of guidelines!
I have read the following article:
http://www.bythom.com/support.htm
But the thought of spending $600-1000 seems rather overthetop. I do get his point of trying to get the right thing first go & "you get what you pay for"- that's why I invested in my 70-200IS for example, but surely there are other options out there? I want to get something that will do a good job and not be garbage, but I'd prefer it not to completely break the bank!
OK, I lay down the challenge for someone to find me something that might fit all of those criteria, and apologise for the length and possible repetition of this type of thread! :o It would be great to hear the perspective of people who are perhaps doing the same style of photography I am, ie travel, landscape & wildlife, as you may have actually tested this sort of thing in the field.