its time to upgrade my tripod

davidh6781

davidh6781

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David
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I am not saying i am unhappy with my Red Snapper as its been great and rock solid example but one niggle i have is the twist lock legs.

What does every one use and why? budget will be up to £180 but would like to get a ball head if i can.
 
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Must admit that I too dislike the twistlocks! Nothing against the Redsnapper gear though, just my personal prefs!
I have a Manfrotto and a Giottos, both with the leg lock levers, and I prefer the Giottos ones. Absolutely solid and adjustable, (as are the Manfrotto) but somehow the Giottos wins!
 
Me either, i think the snapper stuff is great and wouldn't change if it had clip legs.

What frotto and giottos have you got?
 
an older model Manfrotto - from ffordes £45 - who then supplied a Manfrotto 115 3-way head for £15....

they still have some legs and heads...."as per"

not modern, not stylish, but built like the proverbial brick***house. NEVER moves..!
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I've got a Giottos aluminium tripod. In terms of the general design and sturdiness I think it's pretty good but I have had a couple of reliability problems with it. I don't know if that's just bad luck or indicative of a more general problem with the quality of Giottos tripods. I've read about people experiencing problems with >£400 Gitzos though, so spending more money doesn't guarantee reliability.

I would strongly recommend getting a tripod is tall enough to get the viewfinder to your eye level without extending the centre column (if it has one). If you use it on uneven ground you'll need to factor in the fact that you might be standing above the lowest leg.
 
SamHH said:
I would strongly recommend getting a tripod is tall enough to get the viewfinder to your eye level without extending the centre column (if it has one). If you use it on uneven ground you'll need to factor in the fact that you might be standing above the lowest leg.
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Very valid point worth remembering.

With a 40D and fairly lightweight glass you're not going to need a tank to support your kit. Maybe something like a s/h 190XProB?
If you don't like your current pan and tilt head, RS do a nice ball head too.
 
davidh6781 said:
Me either, i think the snapper stuff is great and wouldn't change if it had clip legs.

What frotto and giottos have you got?
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Frotto is 190cl, the one with legwarmers. Giottos is 9271, and 3290 pro monopod.
 
Just got a 055XPRO at £89.00 suposedly demo but as new in poly bag and box no marks 804RC2 head £39 definitely new and boxed all from Ffordes they have / had 109XBs and 391RC2s onoffer as well.
 
Yardbent said:
an older model Manfrotto - from ffordes £45 - who then supplied a Manfrotto 115 3-way head for £15....

they still have some legs and heads...."as per"

not modern, not stylish, but built like the proverbial brick***house. NEVER moves..!
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showphoto.php
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similar to what ive got, big old manfrotto 190 also bought from ffordes for about £85 with a 141RC head., the twist legs are an absolute ball ache as they take so long, im going to upgrade to a more modern manfrotto soon with level locks
 
I have Manfrotto 190 and 055 tripods with twist and quick releases. My favourite is the 055 with quick release.
 
BandyQuill said:
how do you find the 055 height wise, been looking at those but cant find a picture or a real person with one...
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I have two, they are fine. You can shoot very low by popping out the centre column and putting it in upside down and it goes high enough.
 
BandyQuill said:
is it worth the extra over the 190 ?
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It depends. The 055 is heavier duty and heavier! The 055s that I have have the centre column that comes out whereas the 190 has the flip to horizontal column. Either tripod will handle the D700, grip, flash and 80-200.
 
Manfrotto XPROB and head of your choice.

Solid, dependable, easy to use and damn versatile with the 90deg column flip

There are both 190 and 055 XPROB tripods in the range both with the flip centre column so its up to you if you think you need the heavier duty 055 or not.
 
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hmm sounds like the manfrotto is a good option to go, are they sturdy like my snapper? my red snapper is the 3 sections version
 
David

my Manfrotto 115 head [see above] is now for sale....."link"
 
Another vote for an XPROB. I use a 190 for my macro, since it's lighter and cheaper than the 055, and I don't need height and stability isn't an issue at low heights.

If I was doing primarily landscapes, I would go for the 055, cos you can get it to eye level or very close without extending the column. The 190 gets the viewfinder to just below my chin, so I don't have any problem with it for landscapes, but the 055 might be a bit more practical.
 
i have a £30 tripod from argos, as i rarely use it i dont like spending the money on something that will just hold the camera steady etc.
to me a tripod is a tripod.
 
I was torn between the 190X PRO B and the 055X PRO B and despite me not being all that tall I favoured the extra height and sturdiness of the 055X PRO B.
 
adam-gardner said:
i have a £30 tripod from argos, as i rarely use it i dont like spending the money on something that will just hold the camera steady etc.
to me a tripod is a tripod.
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There are tripods that will hold the camera and tripods that will hold the camera steady.
 
adam-gardner said:
all tripods surely hold the camera steady
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some of them dont, i had a cheapo velbon one and it could keep the camera still, it was a vibration bed for the camera, some tripods are not up to the job they are intended for.

also tripods are designed to hold a certain weight of kit, get near or over this limit and it is less likely to be able to hold the camera as steady
 
i have the 5d mkii with 28-300mm and the tripod holds up fine when i use it, result!
but as i say, i rarely use the tripod as im always moving about and would be viable for me, but everyone is different. By the way nice to meet all of you. im gonna be a regular on here :)
 
What does a tripod do? A tripod is a three legged stand which a camera sits on so it can be very still and stay in the same place while pictures are taken.

thats my definition of a tripod
 
adam-gardner said:
all tripods surely hold the camera steady
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No. I had a cheap jessops tripod and it would fall over in a slight breeze - it wasn't wide enough or strong enough to hold itself steady nevermind the camera. I had to resort to tieing a bag of bricks to it just to stop it falling over sometimes.

The 'buy cheap - buy twice' principle definitely applies to tripods. I got the Red Snapper as an upgrade and don't regret it at all.
 
adam-gardner said:
What does a tripod do? A tripod is a three legged stand which a camera sits on so it can be very still and stay in the same place while pictures are taken.

thats my definition of a tripod
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You are quite correct but Whitewash has summed it for you:)

Best start your own thread as this thread now appears to be hijacked on the question of what a tripod does:)
 
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barbs said:
No. I had a cheap jessops tripod and it would fall over in a slight breeze - it wasn't wide enough or strong enough to hold itself steady nevermind the camera. I had to resort to tieing a bag of bricks to it just to stop it falling over sometimes.

The 'buy cheap - buy twice' principle definitely applies to tripods. I got the Red Snapper as an upgrade and don't regret it at all.
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thats jessops for you though, i have a sturdy tripod which was £30 and that is fairly heavy and supports my equipment.
 
its also worth pointing out that if your doing things like portraiture and therefore using a tripod as a method of gaining repeatability over a series of shots then a cheap tripod is not going to show its poor stability as your likely to be using short exposure times (bear in mind im not suggesting that a high quality tripod is overkill and pointless in these situations - im just saying that the shortfalls of a cheap tripod will be less aparent)

vastly different is being on the side of a hill when its windy trying to get a long exposure shot.... in this scenario a tripods stability weaknesses will be very apparent.
 
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cheers think it may have to be the frotto range.

I have tried the cheaper tripods and i admit for indoor they work ok but i used one outdoor on a beach and it was a different story. as said only reason changing is for quick locking legs rather than the twist types
 
I have a 190 (well time sharing with a friend) so just bought the 055X, must say I didn't think there would be much difference but I'm glad I got it, a little bit heavier but very sturdy and extends with centre column above my head (I'm 6'2"). Ordered a ball head to go with it but it hasn't arrived yet.
 
Another thumbs up for the 055X superb can't imagine it moving even in a gale.
 
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