Many beginner and serious amateur photographers get introduced the world of landscape images by taking shots while on vacation or around their home town. These shots are generally taken during the bright hours of the day. To emulate the scenic landscapes that we grew up seeing in magazines such as National Geographic or on Google Plus one needs to find the best lighting for the subject. This can be dawn, dusk or dark night long exposure. To go beyond hand held and to the next step to improving ones photography skill is to find the best light conditions for your composition. The Blue Hour and sunrise times of day however require longer shutter speeds do to the lack of ambient light. The shutter speed would be too slow for hand held and cranking up the ISO just introduces more digital noise and grain into the image. After purchasing a camera and lens the next item generaly is a tripod. Tripods offer a stable platform for longer exposures, bracketing images and help keep an image sharper than hand holding.
When you first start shopping around for a tripod, you might be a little shocked by the price range: there’s some for $20 and then there’s others for hundreds of dollars.
So, what’s the deal with that huge price range? How could something so simple cost so much? Three metal legs for $500?
My first tripod was a family erlume hand-me down from the 80s after I purchased my first DSLR in 2008. The tripod was stiff and hard to setup, so I went to a big box store and purchased a generic $39 tripod. I tried to use it for about 6 months before the cheap tripod started showing its faults. I had also lost the tripod mounting plate while out on road trip once and found it nearly impossible to find the correct one even at a chain store of the same retailer.
After 6 months my interest in shooting landscapes, sunrises, sunsets and wildlife kept growing stronger so I decided to invest in a good tripod. I went to a family run camera store that carry s a variety of quality photography equipmetn and spent almost 1hr talking to the clerk about what kind of tripod would be a proper long term investment. I still own and use that very same tripod I purchased in 2008. Its been on day trips, long road trips, all over the USA, on volcanoes, forest trails, snow capped mountains, rocky and sandy beaches and has served me well. I did have it sent in for a factory warranty service after 2 years because some of the tripod legs were not locking properly but after 3 weeks I had it back in time for an airshow.
The good part is that you don’t necessarily need to spend $500 on your first tripod. There are some very good ones for about $150, and they’re monumentally better than those generic tripods.
Here are two of the biggest benefits you’ll experience with a “good” tripod:
#1 – More stability
The job of the tripod is to keep your camera still, so it’s important to have a stable tripod. Stability means that once you lock in your camera on the head of the tripod, then your camera completely stops moving. How much your camera slides and/or shakes after locking it in will vary with the quality of the tripod and head.
If you’re already using a pretty good tripod, and you still notice a lot of sliding and/or shaking after you lock in your camera, then make sure your tripod and head can handle the amount of weight you’re putting on it (multiply the weight of your camera and lens by three, and this number should be less than the load capacity of the tripod). And, if you’re using a long lens, you might need a tripod collar for the lens, since the center of gravity shifts sometimes with those longer lenses (generally anything longer than 200mm needs a collar).
#2 – Quick to set up
A good tripod will also be designed so it’s very easy and quick to set up. This is really important in nature photography, because many of those special moments don’t last too long.
Before you invest a lot of money in a tripod, I’d recommend trying out a few different designs at a camera store. See what design works best for you. For example, some people really like tripod legs with latches, while others prefer the legs that you can just screw loose.
#3- Better Build Quality
As the price goes up so does the build quality, materials used, and features. Leaving the factory many brand names such as Manfrotto, Oben, Giotos and Really Right STuff have a good quality assuarnce check and have a good warranty program.
You may not initalially see the difference in weight between tripods. Going from the trunk of the car to the overlook parking lot is different than carrying it or strapping it to your camera bag for 1hr or more on walks. That is when you will start to desire a light weight build material.
They options you have in the $150-$250 price range offer good stabililty, features and weight. Unlike a camera body or lens that everyone seem to crave the next update, a high quality tripod can last you years of service provided you treat it well. This makes the cost of owning a $300 tripod over 3 years less than $8 a month. Cheaper than buying a bottle of pain killers for your sore neck and back after lugging around a heavy cheap tripod.
#4- Features
The collapsible and extendable height are part of the price point. Cheaper tripods might only have 2 or 3 sections and not extend very high. If you stand 5'10 but the tripod only extends to 5' you will be hunching over to see your viewfinder. If you frequently plan on flying or packing your tripod into luggage you would be looking for a tripod that packs down fairly small.
Some tripods legs fold almost flat allowing your camera to be very low to the ground. Others have the options to reverse the center column so that your camera can be mounted just a few inches off the ground for low angles.
#5- Ball Heads
The ball head is the connection between your camera and the legs of the tripod. The ball head allows you to rotate and position your camera plane. You can start off with a quality ball head and over time upgrade the legs to more sturdier and lighter legs.
If these benefits still aren’t enough to convince you, then I’d highly recommend trying out a few tripods at a camera store, renting one over the weekend or borrowing one from a friend.
Gear Used during these shoots
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