tripod advice

rc mad

hey everyone, liking the forum already. Just want to pick your brains about tripods.

I want a fairly cheap but rugged tripod, it has to be able to survive a bit of abuse, not intentional but it'll spend most of it's life on the back of a motorbike or in check in luggage.

Any suggestions? :dunno

catspaw

There's a stick at the top of this forum on tripods, if you haven't read it yet.

Otherwise, I love my SILK tripod since it collapses down enough to be smaller than most I've seen, yet still sturdy. It's also super lightweight, so I don't begrudge carrying it around on hikes, etc.

Art Scott

rc mad wrote:

hey everyone, liking the forum already. Just want to pick your brains about tripods.

I want a fairly cheap but rugged tripod, it has to be able to survive a bit of abuse, not intentional but it'll spend most of it's life on the back of a motorbike or in check in luggage.

Any suggestions?

I really like my Giottos 4 secion.......the thing most copmplain about with Giottos is the twist locks......they work great, but are not as fast as the clamp style.........they have great tripods and especially their p-pod (monopod)............I bought mine so it would not catch the dorrway of busses and trains while in Europe (my Bogen Manfrotto was notorious for this) and be easy to carry on my motorcycle also.

ziggy53

Rc mad, welcome to the Digital Grin.

Like Leah suggests, check out this thread:

http://dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=53477

You do need to consider that you need to look at both tripod legs and a suitable head.

It is best if you can check systems out in person as some features are very subjective likes and dislikes.

Also, a single tripod may not serve all of your needs. I have one very heavy tripod that I use for video and heavy camera work and it has Slik "sticks" (legs) and a Manfrotto video fluid head.

I have a very lightweight and cheap aluminum/plastic Ambico that I use for travel and wet work. It has rapid setup and an OK 3 way head.

I use Manfrotto 755XB legs and its built-in 50mm half-ball head along with an adapter and a panoramic head for panoramic photography.

I have several very small tripods/heads that I use to hold speedlights for portable support lighting.

Research carefully and buy what suits your needs.

Cygnus Studios

I use the Manfrotto 055XPROB and love it.

darkdragon

Cygnus Studios wrote:

I use the Manfrotto 055XPROB and love it.

Ditto for me. I use a 322RC2 grip head with it and love the pairing.

rc mad

Thanks for the welcome and the input everyone, I did read that thread but had no idea what makes of tripods were good or not. I've got a few ideas now thanks to you lot

I'm leaning towards the Manfrotto 190XPROB with a 486rc2 head, it looks like right set-up for me and it's not too heavy at just under 2kg.

I'll do a bit more research before the final decision tho

DsrtVW

I have been pleased with the Induro AX214. One of things I bought for was the ability to go vertical or horizontal with the center column. I have giottos ball head and they both handle the D300 with 200mm f2 nikon very well. Pricing is very competitve

http://www.indurogear.com/products_details_AX214.html

rc mad

well, I went in a slightly different direction than expected. I'm soon to be the proud owner of a redsnapper tri-283 tripod and a redsnapper tb-12 ball head. All for just over £100

Main things that swung me away from the manfrotto setup was the max weight the tripod can take, this combination can take 8kg while the manfrotto can only take 5kg. The other thing was the redsnapper head has friction adjustment. It is heavier tho, just over 2kg with the head.

the manfrotto setup was around £95 - £100 on ebay.

thanks again for the input, it was appreciated