Could someone advise on a suitable tripod please?

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Nick_593

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Nick
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Hello everyone,

I recently invested in the Canon 650D and I'm loving experimenting with the camera and learning about photography. However, I have come to realise (very!) quickly that a tripod is pretty much an essential piece of kit. Could someone please offer some advise, or even recommend a tripod for me?

I will be carrying the tripod around a lot, as I like to take a lot of photographs while on treks, and I'll mostly be doing wildlife photography or landscape, so will need it to be compact and lightweight.

I've been into my local camera shop and they stock a wide variety of tripods, but ones they were recommending were in their (£££'s!). I'm actually looking to spend around £30-£70, but as it will be a long term investment and I don't want to be buying a vast selection of tripods along the way, so I am a bit flexible on the price for the best suited one I can get, roughly in budget.

If anyone could recommend a tripod or give any advice that would be a huge help!!.

Thanks a lot,

Nick
 
Anything you spend on a tripod will be wasted if you don't also get a decent head that keeps your camera steady when tightened up

Think you might have to up the budget a bit, the old saying light, cheap and sturdy pick two is very often true
 
You might just get away with the Manfrotto travel tripods which are a fixed legs/head unit if you're willing to sacrifice a little bit of height and aren't based in Scotland (i.e. high winds).

I'm having similar dilemmas right now.
 
Make sure you get a sturdy/fairly weighty tripod (unless you really do need lightweight, carbon, for travel) if it's too light it might not be sturdy enough, even in a light breeze.

Also check the height is enough for you, without having to fully extend the centre column, which also makes them less stable.
If you're interested in the night sky, you'll need it tall enough to enable you to stand under it without stooping too far.

Also, will you need it for macro? (now or in the future) as some have a removable, or tilting centre column.

Buy the best you can afford tbh.......& you'll only need to buy once.

Check out the Giotto range too.
 
While tripods are necessary evils, they are not always necessary. I avoid them if possible preferring to hand hold (even my D4 w/ 400 2.8). I will use a monopod next and maybe that is a viable option for you...

But in the end you will eventually get a tripod. If you buy a cheap one, you'll wind up buying several.
 
I bought this last year and I can assure you it is superb. You will not find better for the price
tripod
 
I bought one of THESE Manfrotto ones for my wife last year. Compared to my carbon fibre 3LT and Giottos tripods, it's a little flimsy but it's perfectly suitable for normal conditions.

The head on the Manfrotto is great. It'll easily hold a 650D and a 70-200 stable at any angle and it's really easy to operate! :)
 
Gr8Shot said:
I bought this last year and I can assure you it is superb. You will not find better for the price
tripod
Click to expand...

I bought this one for my OH a few years ago and it certainly is a sturdy bit of kit. I spent hours scouring the interwebs researching tripods and that ended up being the best choice.

Downsides are the weight and size, however having since doing even more research to see if I could find a lighter weight one I found that without forking out £££ for carbon fibre or whatever by the time you put the weight of the tripod and head together the difference between the 'lighter' tripod and the one linked above was negligable.

We have both recently 'upgraded' to 3LeggedThing Adrians, however prior to that I was using a £40 Jessops tripod (something like this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Velbon-MAXi...=sr_1_7?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1363446432&sr=1-7) which I used for years and is still fine. It is decent enough for the money, obviously the leg bracings limit the flexibility of the tripod and the centre column was not removable. It also has a hook on the bottom of the centre column for adding weight however I never used the tripod in conditions that required it.

That Manfrotto compact tripod linked above looks like a good bet (y)
 
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