Tripod Chaos

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Ian
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Apologies in advance, as this gets asked a lot, but I need help with choosing a new tripod.

- I have a budget of £150
- landscape photography
- would like it to be light but still stable as I do hiking from time to time.
- I have a Nikon 70-200 f4 so it needs to be able to support that

I have looked at three legged thing but they have soooooo many options plus benro who have a slim carbon fibre for under £100 but not sure how solid that will be.

Many thanks
 
You are going about it all wrong, everybody knows that tripods get terribly lonely on their own and need to be kept with a herd of other tripods. Your stable needs to incldue a couple of cheap ones off Amazon, because, well, cheap. A big heavy one, Manfrotto 055 or similar; a carbon one that you might actually use; a Joby gorilla pod or two, because, well, hipster. And of course a Benbo because it is so unusual. Then you need to think about heads...

HTH


:-D
 
The benro slim carbon is not a good landscape option, The legs are far too thin to remain stable at anything above 2ft high.Its lovely and small and light but not stable enough,i use mine for trips when photography is secondary and there is an off chance I might want a tripod.

The bigger Benro range is great but out of your price range. I found the 3 legged thing Corey small and similarly thin legs.The Billy looked better but i wanted more height at the time.
 
Your budget is probably a little low in truth, but have a look at redsnapper tripods. They do a good strong ball head and sturdy tripod within your budget.
 
I picked up a used Manfrotto 055XPROB in the classifieds on here for under £100. Had no problem with a D500 and 200-500 shooting the moon. I have the 70-200 f4 too and it's very light compared to the 200-500. I've been using a ball head but just raided the classifieds for a 410 junior geared head for £80, much better than the ball head.

***just checked my feedback, tripod was £70 plus postage***
 
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You could always pop into WEX in Birmingham as I'm sure they'll have a range of tripods on display to get hands on with.
 
Is your budget for just a tripod or does it cover the cost of a head too?
 
I picked up a used Manfrotto 055XPROB in the classifieds on here for under £100. Had no problem with a D500 and 200-500 shooting the moon. I have the 70-200 f4 too and it's very light compared to the 200-500. I've been using a ball head but just raided the classifieds for a 410 junior geared head for £80, much better than the ball head.
Sorry to jump in, there’s a 055XPROB with ball head quite cheap, how do you rate it with D500+200-500 or 70-200 ? I looked and thought it was to cheap to be any good.
 
Apologies in advance, as this gets asked a lot, but I need help with choosing a new tripod.

- I have a budget of £150
- landscape photography
- would like it to be light but still stable as I do hiking from time to time.
- I have a Nikon 70-200 f4 so it needs to be able to support that

I have looked at three legged thing but they have soooooo many options plus benro who have a slim carbon fibre for under £100 but not sure how solid that will be.

Many thanks

Stable + light + £150? It's not going to happen - sorry.

I would suggest a 2 series Gitzo for landscapes, mainly because I use one! Nowadays Gitzo prices are a bit scary (certainly frighten me) but if you are happy with a used one they do, occasionally, come up pretty cheap. Keep an eye on the used market on well known auction sites etc, also do not be afraid of the older models as they are built to last.
 
Manfrotto all day and the 055 are excellent I have one 30 years now

They are certainly solid, but light they are not and this chap mentioned wanting it for hiking.
I have one with an Arca ball head that lives in the car, not carrying that behemoth very far
 
Manfrotto 055XPROB- does what it needs to do- I use mine with a 300mm f2.8 one hefty lens and it is a stable as any other tripod I have owned

Les
 
Manfrotto 055XPROB- does what it needs to do- I use mine with a 300mm f2.8 one hefty lens and it is a stable as any other tripod I have owned

Les

Yes they are stable, but just the tripod weighs 2.5kg, so not ideal for hiking.
Just weighed my 055pro and Arca K1, total is 3.5kg, wouldn't want to lug that up hill and down dale.

My old Gitzo 3540LS and ball head weighed in at about half that and was equally stable
 
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The choice of heads is quite simple. Manfrotto 410 is pretty much the only choice if you want to get images level without sweating and cursing and missing The shot before you eventually get there with the magic balls and the rest. You have pretty much blown your budget at this point.

The legs - you may as well get something decent from Aliexpress if the knockoff appears significantly cheaper. You will certainly want a pretty wide head attachment plate to match Manfrotto head (many tripods have TINY plates and won't work with the head unmodified!).
I am very angry with Manfrotto for their tripods made of sugar (read: Magnesium; which is nearly the same thing and will dissolve in water at some point!). So I can't recommend them even if the feel sturdy and carry reasonable price tag. I've currently got a fairly modified China special (labelled as Rollei from 2018 Photography show) and after mods and replaced nuts it is still usable.
 
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