Budget Tripod.

Personally, I like the less expensive (but heavy) Manfrotto line. And when you have more money, they are bullet-proof and will get you a decent return in the 2nd hand market. You then put that money toward a lighter CF tripod, for example.

The Manfrotto's will last a lifetime. Stable as Gibraltar.

HrcRacing wrote in post #10724080
I always love the "spend your kid's college fund on a tripod" crowd. I bought a POS Slik tripod for $30.00 off of eBay years ago and that thing is still going strong. It's so sturdy that I went with a $115.00 SLIK Pro 400DX tripod and couldn't be happier. The only reason I went with that is because it can be set up extremely low if need be and it has a 3-way pan/tilt head. Show me a test where images on my tripod somehow fall short of ones taken with a break the bank tripod.

Spend your hard earned cash on a 400DX, 700DX, whatever, and use what you saved on something else.

Having done testing on the ability of cheap tripods to dampen vibration, I can tell you that you are wrong. The results were an immeasurably worse compared to looking at my two Gitzos. I also have a cheap sunpak that will, in a mild breeze, actually vibrate notably (mechanical resonance). I can handhold better in those conditions. If you are able to make those work for you, then great - you are in a very select group.

In the absence of vibration, any support will work.

To the OP - you get stable, cheap and lightweight as the tradeoff. Pick any two, you can't have all three. In your case, if you want to save money, go look for a used manfrotto aluminum tripod. It won't be light but it will be cheap and stable.

J.

Thanks guys. Weight isnt an issue.

Im going to keep looking around on BH and change my order in the morning.

If I get a head and legs separately, will I need anything else?

clamber wrote in post #10728064
Thanks guys. Weight isnt an issue.

Im going to keep looking around on BH and change my order in the morning.

If I get a head and legs separately, will I need anything else?

Depending on the size you might want to get a carrying strap, maybe an extra QR plate if you have more than one camera.

lannes wrote in post #10728486
Depending on the size you might want to get a carrying strap, maybe an extra QR plate if you have more than one camera.

Or lens

I bought a Slik F630 from Staples for $70. They price matched it to www.expresscanada.com which has it for $54.