I have a main 'home' tripod and a 'travel' tripod. The main tripod was bought first, and the primary decisions for me with that was cost and height. The height I wanted was about eye level with the centre column down and around £100-200 (with head). For me that turned out to be a Manfrotto 055 (Pro B I think) which is a about 1.4m with the centre column down. It has the flip locks to adjust leg height. More on this later.
It also has the option to take the centre column up and put it back in horizontally, which can be good for taking pics pointing down or at a low level. I got a ball head at the same time, 'I think' I may have had a 486RC, with a quick release plate. You always have to factor in the cost of a head as well as the tripod.
I've had that tripod for about 10 or so years.
When I started travelling abroad I decided I needed a smaller tripod to fit in the case, as the larger tripod wouldn't. I got a Manfrotto 190 Pro tripod, and of course already had the head. I would have to bend slightly with the centre column down when taking pics, but it was a small price to pay for having it with me. This also had the flip locks for adjusting leg height. Again more on this later.
The good thing about both these tripods is that the legs can be splayed very wide and low, and the centre columns can be placed horizontally. This has come in handy a few times, but particularly on one occasion in Rome when I have been taking pics on the wall of a bridge with the legs not extended, but the legs splayed and the centre column horizontal, and it was the perfect height, so didn't have to shoot over the wall of the bridge, which was quite high, as I was on the wall.
All that was fine and I was happy until 2017 when I left my travel tripod (and head) on a boat in Venice.
:banghead: So I had to replace the Manfrotto 190, so I thought I would get the same again. I went into my local camera store to check that, and any other options, and noticed that the size of the flip locks had got a lot bigger on the 190 compared to the one I had, and would actually hamper its use flat out in similar situations to the one described above, so I decided to get one with the twist release legs. I ended up buying the 190 Go! 4 section with twist release legs, 1.22m with centre column down, and I have been very happy with it so far. I saved about £30+ buying from Park Cameras, as they had an 'open box' one for sale, which turned out to be that the box was damaged when I asked, but otherwise everything was perfect and still untouched in plastic bag in damaged box.
It pays to look around,
because prices for tripods are normally pretty similar between everyone.
Like I said, 'I think' I may have had a 486RC ball head before, but got a 496RC2 as the replacement. It was a toss up between the sticking with the Manfrotto Quick Release plate, or change to the Arca Swiss type plate, but I stayed with a the quick release. I didn't really consider Carbon tripods because of the cost. All my gear is not that heavy, so the tripod(s) and head can easily handle my needs. If possible, always go a to a shop and check as many as possible, because I wouldn't have picked up on Manfrotto changing the size of the flip locks on the legs if I hadn't, and it is better to check the heights then from numbers on a webpage.
Hope that helps someone in some way. If I weren't going abroad, I would have been happy with only the original tripod. And wouldn't have lost a tripod in Venice.
Worth it though.
