Looking for a sturdy Tripod

[Rory]

I'm looking for a sturdy tripod that I can get a lot of height out of, and after looking around several websites, I'm not sure what to get. I currently use a cheap plastic tripod, which is not suitable for what I am doing. I shoot a lot of low light situations, with slow shutter speeds and the movement in the tripod is causing blurring. I also have a Velbon SX-681K which I use for video work, but the panhead is fixed so I cannot shoot portrait using this tripod, which I often have to do. Should I just look for a different panhead for the Velbon? Is this possible, or is there a great new Tripod that I'm missing?

Thanks in anticipation

[AjP]

I have Bogen 3221 Wilderness Tripod & Bogen 322RC2 Grip Action Ball Head and I love it. but it is up to you what tripod do you want and for what type of photography

[JoshBowers]

I use a Bogen 3021BN with 3047 3-Way head. It's heavy, but very sturdy. I use it for indoor and macro work. Setting up scenes, low light, product photography for magazines, etc. Max height on mine 75.8".

If you plan to hike or walk around with a tripod a lot, you might want to look at lighter stuff. Mine weighs about 10 pds...

[Rory]

Thanks, I'll have a look at those. I'm shooting archive shots for live theatre, and at the moment I'm climbing on seats and balancing the tripod across three seats to get the height I need. If I can get a taller tripod, then at least that will be sturdy, and I'll just have to concentrate on not falling off the seats as I try and look through the viewfinder! Weight is not really a factor for what I'm doing. I'll have a look at the Bogens.

[DavidEB]

If you want a tripod that will position the camera in all sorts of weird ways, not necessarily straight over the center, and also able to splay the legs at odd angles to fit into uneven setups, consider the Gitzo explorer -- it's extremely versatile, and rigid, and fairly quick to set up and move around. I love mine. Carbon Fiber ones are more expensive.

[Bernt-Inge]

I use the Manfrotto 055 Professional with 141RC head, and I'm very happy with it I used a velbon Tripod before and that was to wobbly for me. On the Manfrotto I use my 70-200 2.8L with 2x and a D60 with battery grip and it's sturdy as rock You can read about it here : link

[Asmodeus]

Originally Posted by DavidEB

If you want a tripod that will position the camera in all sorts of weird ways, not necessarily straight over the center, and also able to splay the legs at odd angles to fit into uneven setups, consider the Gitzo explorer -- it's extremely versatile, and rigid, and fairly quick to set up and move around. I love mine. Carbon Fiber ones are more expensive.

The 3021BPRO has the same feature set, though with more limited leg settings, for $100 less. I'm very happy with mine, though I have been considering upgrading to the carbon fiber version.

[kram]

If you are looking for a conventional setup with a fairly good level of flexibility for most 'regular' shots, look at my setup - I'm very happy with it.

The advanced ones allow flexibility for specialized uses - macro or in extreme conditions where a regular 3 legged tripod will be a pain to setup.

[lostdoggy]

Whatever tripod you decide to get I hope you know that in windy situation you will need to add ballast to weight down the lower part of the tripod.

I have the Action Grip and I like it on my Monopod but it is limited to only 5lbs.

[Mitcon]

Just a thought as to the hight of the tripod, it would be very easy to make an extension to the center column so as to increase hight. Some tripods even have this feature so as to remove part of the center column so the tripods can go lower.