500 f4 is support question

skater911 wrote in post #14802430
how much extra wiggle room do you need when it comes to max load. I figure with my 5d, 500 and accessories it wouldn't be more than 13lbs.

Would a 26lb tripod be ok? I see most are 26lb max and then go to 39 along with the price jump.

50% of the rated load should be plenty of margin to keep it nice and stiff. Even if you went up to the full raged capability, you still wouldn't be in danger of breaking the tripod or head; it would just be rather wobbly.

footman wrote in post #14803334
That seems to me to be an enormous safety margin.
You've actually made me think here, My Manfrotto 055xb is rated to load 15.4lbs and the total weight I put on it is 14.75lbs, a very close margin!:o

As a few others have commented, it isn't about danger of breaking, it is about stability. In a perfect world you want to stick that camera and lens on there and have the tripod not even know it is holding anything, staying rock solid. After all, if your tripod is wobbling around with the slightest touch, you might as well just be using a monopod and save youself the space and time of setting it up.

If you really need stability most quality tripods will let you tie the center of the pod to a sand bag to really keep it still (albiet a lot less mobile).

Even though my setup is close to the tripod limit it seems very stable to me.