Recommendations for a Tripod for Macro Photography

Scotty Pro

Scotty Pro

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Paul
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Hi Guys
can you recommend a decent but not too expensive tripod for Macro Photography.

I was thinking the Manfrotto MN190 X PROB since you can adjust the centre column. I was going to couple this with a Ballhead, everyone seems to suggest these are better than the Pan & Tilt heads so, I had the Giottos MH7002 in mind.

What do you think of my choice, is it a decent enough starter kit or utter rubbish and not suitable.
 
Oops, sorry Mods for putting this in the wrong section, thought I might have had a better response in the dedicated macro section.
 
I use a manfrotto 190xprob for macro, does me nicely. Ballheads work fine for macro. If you can afford it, a geared manfrotto 410 head is the epitome of macro precision, but it's not suitable for anything else (maybe landscape photography, but certainly not panning).

It's also worth having a look at the giottos tripod range, they do some good flexible tripods. The centre column on the 190 goes to horizontal, with the giottos models they can lock at any angle. I went for the manfrotto because I didn't get on with the way the column system on the giottos works, but it's worth looking at.

can't go wrong with the manfrotto though ;)
 
Using a tripod for anything that moves is virtually impossible with macro, if your shooting at 1:1 you may want to look at a focus rail as its difficult to focus moving the tripod.
 
thanks Adam, thats what I wanted to hear, think I'll stick with the ballhead though.

@ Paul - going to start of with subjects that don't move, well at first I will.

@ - Spike, will take a look at that model tomorrow, Jacobs is opposite Jessops so one of them will have one in.

so is my ballhead choice OK. Will be using a 40D and 100mm USM Macro.
 
Scotty Pro said:
thanks Adam, thats what I wanted to hear, think I'll stick with the ballhead though.

@ Paul - going to start of with subjects that don't move, well at first I will.

@ - Spike, will take a look at that model tomorrow, Jacobs is opposite Jessops so one of them will have one in.

so is my ballhead choice OK. Will be using a 40D and 100mm USM Macro.
Click to expand...

That ballhead should be fine. The giottos ones I've looked at in the past seem nice.
The model Spike recommended is the one I looked at. Definitely worth considering, looks like an excellent tripod for the money.

Can I suggest something? It's worth thinking about how you are going to carry the tripod. They're quite inconvenient things to lug about, but if you put a bit of thought into how you are going to carry it and buy a nice strap, it can make it a lot easier. I have mine with a Optech briefcase strap, with one of the clips clipped to the metal loop on the other, clipped to the little plastic clip on the tripod, then put over my shoulder. The result is the tripod hanging nicely by my side on a nice comfortable optech strap, which I can get to very quickly by just unclipping the one clip.
Optech make some dedicated tripod carrying straps, but I didn't like these because the attach to the tripod in two places, making it much slower to get at.
 
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Scotty Pro said:
thanks Adam, thats what I wanted to hear, think I'll stick with the ballhead though.

@ Paul - going to start of with subjects that don't move, well at first I will.

@ - Spike, will take a look at that model tomorrow, Jacobs is opposite Jessops so one of them will have one in.

so is my ballhead choice OK. Will be using a 40D and 100mm USM Macro.
Click to expand...

Cant comment on the head i use one of these on a 190 CXPRO which work very well together
 
squishy said:
That ballhead should be fine. The giottos ones I've looked at in the past seem nice.
The model Spike recommended is the one I looked at. Definitely worth considering, looks like an excellent tripod for the money.

Can I suggest something? It's worth thinking about how you are going to carry the tripod. They're quite inconvenient things to lug about, but if you put a bit of thought into how you are going to carry it and buy a nice strap, it can make it a lot easier. I have mine with a Optech briefcase strap, with one of the clips clipped to the metal loop on the other, clipped to the little plastic clip on the tripod, then put over my shoulder. The result is the tripod hanging nicely by my side on a nice comfortable optech strap, which I can get to very quickly by just unclipping the one clip.
Optech make some dedicated tripod carrying straps, but I didn't like these because the attach to the tripod in two places, making it much slower to get at.
Click to expand...

I have a Lowepro Flipside 200 so will take that along to try the fitting.
 
Scotty Pro said:
Oops, sorry Mods for putting this in the wrong section, thought I might have had a better response in the dedicated macro section.
Click to expand...

no probs :)

On the rare occasions I dust off the macro lens nowadays I still prefer using my old benbo trekker, there's not a position that tripod can't get into :)
 
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