sturdy tripod recommendation?

[canadave]

Hi all,

This may be a bit long, but please bear with me

I'd like to follow a longtime dream of mine and get into astrophotography a little bit, but without a telescope. For now, I'd like to get started with some simple Milky Way and wide field stuff, maybe try to get some decent shots of the Moon, perhaps M31 and/or M42, that sort of thing. Not ready for Hubble imaging just yet

I have a Canon 60D and a "Giottos" tripod, whose exact model number is not known to me (it's not printed anywhere on the tripod, incredibly, and I bought it from a small shop in my small town where they didn't know anything about it. The shop is now closed permanently). It cost about $90 new. Its legs are a sort of smooth "plasticky-feeling aluminum" (not sure if it's actually aluminum or not), has a pan/tilt head, elevatable centre column with pneumatic cushioning, plastic braces, a plastic carry handle, a couple of bubble levels, some etched degree markings on the head...looks like a simple surveyor's tripod. It's not a bargain-basement el cheapo deal like you'd find at WalMart, but it's certainly not any kind of "top of the line" kit, as the shop I bought it from wasn't that kind of a store.

It seems to me that the tripod is not all that sturdy and vibration free, even with mirror lockup and self-timer use on the camera. I went out the other night to do a quick shoot of the Moon and Venus...and even with a 300mm lens on it, I felt like the mild breeze I was shooting in was having a slight effect on the tripod. Venus came out as a sort of misshapen dot, even with a fast exposure; and the Moon was not sharp at all.

So my first question is: can anyone recommend a specific tripod that would be good for holding things steady enough for crisp 300-600mm photography of the moon? Failing a specific recommendation, is there any way I can look at a tripod in an online store and somehow discern whether it would be sufficient? (some kind of specification I should be looking for?)

One other question if I may. I'd love to eventually get the camera onto a motorized barn door mount (any "good" store-bought tracking mount is out of the question unfortunately from a budget standpoint, as far as I know...from what I've read, cheap mounts like Orion's EQ-1 and EQ-2 are insufficient for motor-driven astrophotography). However, at this stage of my life, I freely admit I lack the skills, tools, time, and patience to put together a proper decent motorized barn door mount myself. Accordingly, I've searched ebay, and to my astonishment I can't seem to find anyone selling theirs! So I guess my question is, is there any place I might be able to find someone selling their homemade motorized barn door mount?

Thanks

[buaku]

What were your settings for the moon shot? ISO, shutter speed?

I've taken a few shots of the moon through my 70mm celestron telescope with the tripod that came w/ that and I think they turned out fairly sharp. I think that telescope is around 900mm.

Here's one at ISO-200, 1/50


Here's another at ISO-1600, 1/500

[canadave]

Hi,

I used 1600 ISO, EF 75-300 lens at 260mm/f5.6, and a variety of shutter speeds: 1/8 sec, 1/3 sec, 1/13 sec, 1/25 sec. Here was the results:

http://imgur.com/a/Iuuyb/all

The moon, even in the shot where some of the "earthshine side" is lit a bit so you can see features, looks very fuzzy. Venus, rather than being a sharp dot, looks like a lumpish thing. Now, it was fairly windy when I shot these....which is why I created this thread

[buaku]

I'm thinking those shutter speeds are too slow and that's why things are little oblong.
The wind wouldn't help much either

When the moon is full it's way easier to take a picture since it's so bright, but on the downside you don't get the neat detail from where it goes from light to dark.

In your first pic venus looks pretty round. I'd say shoot with a faster shutter speeds. You should get some detail from the lit part of the moon at least.

[botw]

Definitely too slow of a shutter speed. Keep in mind that the earth and moon are constantly moving in relation to one another. If you put the moon in the center of your viewfinder and step away from the camera, it will rotate out in just a few minutes.

[canadave]

Thanks guys.

Just out of curiosity, though, can anyone tell me what I would normally look for in a photo tripod if I were looking for something that would be sturdier than most, particularly in wind? What makes one photo tripod more "solid" than another, generally speaking? To me, once you get above WalMart tripods, they all start to look pretty much alike to my uneducated eye I mean I know that there's different materials, carbon fibre legs, etc., but I don't know what I would normally look for when buying a solid tripod online.

[archer1960]

Unfortunately, up to the point of $300 or $400, a higher price gets you sturdier tripod. If you go to the B&H web site, their good tripods will have a load rating listed. Higher load ratings mean steadier for a given camera rig.

[canadave]

Originally Posted by archer1960

Unfortunately, up to the point of $300 or $400, a higher price gets you sturdier tripod. If you go to the B&H web site, their good tripods will have a load rating listed. Higher load ratings mean steadier for a given camera rig.

Oh, okay, thanks. So as a general rule, the more weight a tripod can support (listed in the "Support Weight" section on the left of the B&H tripod section), the sturdier and more "steady" the tripod will be?

[canadave]

Incidentally, I just wanted to add that I found the name of my tripod--a Giottos HD124. I don't know how I missed the fact it was painted on one of the legs

Someone actually posted the specs in a post on this forum a few years ago:

2-Way Video head
Polished twice before anodizing
Central column lock
Bubble level to adjust quickly
Gear elevator with brake: Gear elevator crank with easy to tighten, disc-style locking device
Air-Cushioned center column: With twist adjustable tension control
3-way tension control: Self adjusting with camera platform up to 90 degrees
Carry handle: Easy to carry it everywhere
Extended handle: The handle can be extended with locking and unlocking mechanism
Quick release platform: DIN standard quick shoe. Quick shoe flips automatically with the quick release lever
Leg Diameter: 29mm
Sections: 3
Folded Height: 665mm
Min. Height: 635mm
Extended Height: 1625mm
Weight: 1.73kg
Max. Load Capacity: 3kg

[Madweasel]

Sorry to come late to this one, but I saw that no one really answered the OP. For ultimate stability I use a Manfrotto 058 tripod, which weighs 6kg without a head. It's quite expensive new, but you can find them quite cheap on eBay. Slightly lighter models are the 075 or 074, which are no longer made, but you can get them on the used market.

EDIT: I see from your sig you now have the 055XProB, which is an excellent choice for a more portable alternative.

[EL_PIC]

Ansel Adams stated the best tripod was a ton of Granite with a screw in it.
Cheap but hard to lug around.