How To Pick A Camera Tripod
6 tips for choosing a camera tripod.
A tripod is one of the best investments a photographer tin can make. But how practice yous know which one to buy, and which to bring on specific types of shoots? That's why we consulted with Mark Condon from ShotKit to provide some tips on why you may want a tripod and what to look for when buying one.
Beginning off the bat, securing your camera to a tripod allows you to shoot at slower shutter speeds.
Despite mod cameras and lenses which have built-in stabilization, in that location comes a point where hand-property ain't gonna cut it — you either utilize a tripod, or you come home with a blurry photo.
Using ho-hum shutter speeds can be a creative determination (i.e. when trying to blur moving water), or but a necessity (when the light is low, and raising your ISO or opening your aperture won't provide enough light to go the right exposure).
Then there's the matter of sharpness. It's ofttimes a real eye-opener when comparison a handheld shot with a tripod-stabilized i. Even in decent light and at higher shutter speeds, a tripod allows you to get a sharper prototype.
Using a tripod tin as well allow you meliorate precision when framing your photo. This is most notably the example with macro photography, where every slight movement can make big changes to your final composition.
If yous're shooting a static field of study such every bit food, a tripod can be a huge help to 'fix' your shot, allowing you lot to concentrate on composition, lighting, or sneaking a bite of that succulent-looking éclair before the customer sees you…
A tripod as well allows you to go creative with some avant-garde photography techniques, including focus stacking, HDR bracketing and panoramic stitching.
Tripods are also needed for perfect panoramic images (ideally with a 'nodal slide' tripod head) and for panning.
One final advantage of using a tripod is that tripods make taking cocky-portraits much easier! Peculiarly if you find a camera with a flip-around screen to help with selfie composition!
OK, and then now you know the versatility of a tripod, let'south talk about some tips when it comes to buying one.
How to Choose a Tripod for your Camera
1. Avoid Cheap Tripods
Permit's tackle the elephant in the room first, shall nosotros?! Testify me your money!!
Expect — every photographer has been through the same thing:
- Pace 1, purchase expensive photographic camera.
- Pace two, buy expensive lens.
- Step three, shop for the cheapest tripod yous can notice online.
Trust me on this one — you lot need to invest in a tripod. Information technology's non an after-idea, information technology's an essential bit of kit. This doesn't mean you demand to spend hundreds of dollars on tripod legs and fancy panoramic ball heads, though. There are a handful of name brands that accept been around a long time and offering reliable quality at an affordable price.
Manifestly, 'affordable' is a relative term, and it sure is tempting to buy a budget tripod, specially when you lot've merely blown an arm and a leg on your fancy new photographic camera.
Without wanting to trash any tripod brands out at that place, stick to the big-brands such every bit Manfrotto and Slik if you desire dandy bang for your buck.
If you've got deep pockets, Really Right Stuff and Gitzo are the names to lust after.
If you're feeling particularly flashy, there's even this one from Peak Design which features an innovative design to reduce space when collapsed.
Retrieve: when it comes to shopping for tripods, the one-time adage is true — Buy inexpensive, purchase twice.
In every lensman'southward garage, in that location's a flimsy plastic tripod hiding in shame… if it hasn't already made it to the bin, that is. Don't exist that lensman!
2. Twist Lock vs Lever Lock
OK, we're getting down to the nitty-gritty now.
This is the kind of hotly debated topic you'll over-hear from those landscape photographers sitting around sipping tea from their flasks — should you be tightening up your tripod legs with a twist, or with a flip?!
To cut a long and rather wearisome story brusk, it's just a matter of preference. There'due south no right or wrong selection here, merely I do recommend you lot have a dabble around with each version before yous drib your hard-earned cash on a tripod.
The biggest deciding factor isn't the type of leg lock, but rather, the quality of the leg lock.
There are enough of nasty twist locks that crack or fail, and there are cheap lever locks that volition eventually snap on you… and it'll probably exist when you're getting that slow shutter speed shot over water!
My personal preference is lever locks, as I discover it easier to undo all of them at once, making deployment much faster.
They're also much easier to operate in colder climates, especially when you're wearing gloves.
iii. Choosing a Size and Weight
Any serious landscape lensman commonly has a selection of tripods of diverse weights and sizes.
There's no perfect size or weight when it comes to choosing a tripod — information technology'southward all-time to consider where you lot intend to use information technology, and then work backward from there.
Are y'all planning to shoot in studios, or in a location where having a heavy tripod won't be a burden? If and so, get the heaviest, sturdiest tripod you tin can find. In this example, a heavy tripod volition be a blessing, and the first step to getting razor-sharp results.
Are you a keen traveler, who likes to stuff everything into one carry-on-sized backpack? Well, guess what? Yous'll want something pocket-sized and light, and y'all'll just have to sacrifice some stability in those high winds.
Pro Tip: Some tripods provide a hook below the center column — hang your photographic camera bag from it to provide some extra weight, and thus stability, to your shot. Here's a option of some adept travel tripod options.
Still struggling to choose a tripod? Go for something relatively heavy and tall.
Ideally, it'll be something that'southward still light plenty that you lot don't feel inclined to leave it at home, nonetheless alpine and strong enough so that information technology can handle your biggest camera + lens combo without buckling under the strain.
For lightweight travel, I'd actually opt for a mini tripod, or 'tabular array-tiptop tripod', which are available for much less than their bigger brothers.
iv. Number of Leg Sections
The more than leg sections a tripod has, the more it'll flex. This can brand information technology harder to precisely frame a shot, especially with heavier photographic camera/lens set ups. In extreme cases, it can even cause blur in the images.
Pro Tip: One more than leg lock per leg is three more points of potential failure!
It's ordinarily the light-weight 'travel tripods' that utilize more than than 3-leg sections as a way to make themselves more compact, so attempt and avoid these if you're planning to utilize anything other than a lightweight mirrorless or compact camera.
On the topic of leg sections, we may also alienation the problematic topic of the center column.
It's uncomplicated — avoid using your tripod'south center cavalcade every bit much as possible. If you're getting a sore cervix from craning your head down to peer through your photographic camera's viewfinder, just squat a picayune lower instead!
The eye column tin can introduce vibration and movement to your image — information technology's a shame to have the stability of 3 legs if yous're going to compromise everything with that one bendy, wobbly 1 on meridian!
5. Leg Materials
A carbon fiber tripod is the Rolls Royce of the iii-legged globe, but are they really that much better than their aluminum counter-parts?
(If you're wondering whether to go an all-plastic tripod, finish reading immediately and get dorsum to point 1!)
Aluminum is more affordable and more durable than carbon fiber. Carbon cobweb on the other manus is lighter and stiffer… and let'south face up it — CF just looks and feels sexier as well!
It'due south also important to remember that a mid-range aluminum tripod will always out-perform and out-concluding a inexpensive carbon cobweb tripod.
f you're on a budget, stick with the name brands, even if it ways getting an aluminum version instead of carbon fiber.
6. Rotating Center Column
This isn't really an essential feature when shopping for a tripod, simply if yous're a fan of 'height-downwards' photography, the ability to extend your center cavalcade horizontally is a huge plus.
At Shotkit, we're best known for our camera gear 'apartment lays', with talented photographers from effectually the world showing off the contents of their camera bags, ordinarily in a creative way.
Existence able to shoot straight downwardly from a tripod makes the task of composing a pretty flat-lay much easier. It's also a handy characteristic for macro photography, with some tripod models even allowing you to turn the center column upside down, meaning your camera's lens tin can become fifty-fifty closer to the discipline.
Summary
Exercise yourself a favor when choosing a tripod and buy something decent the beginning time effectually.
If you opt for a cheap tripod from the bargain bin of your local camera store, yous'll exist putting your camera at gamble, and yous'll end upwardly having to purchase some other one when you realize your mistake! Spending over $250 will become you a undecayed, well-made tripod that should last a lifetime.
Finally, remember to await afterwards your tripod to lengthen its life. Wash it thoroughly under running water after all encounters with table salt, and avoid submerging your tripod underwater at all costs.
Now, become out at that place and shoot!
Nearly the Writer: Mark Condon is the founder of ShotKit, a website that gives you a peek inside the photographic camera bags of the globe's all-time photographers. Mark is also a nuptials photographer based almost Byron Bay in Australia, where he lives with his wife and 3 kids. Mark is also the writer of More Brides, LIT, Lightroom Power User, and other popular books for photographers.
Source: https://news.smugmug.com/6-tips-for-choosing-a-camera-tripod-9f2949d7f88a
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