What are some good tripods?

[Christopher E. Kincaid]

I searched and really didn't find anything... I have a T2i and I am planning to get a Canon 70-300 F4-5.6 IS lens and thought it might be time to upgrade from my broken Sunpak.

Oh and does any one have an opinion of that lens?

Thanks In advance...

 

[Jason Foster]

Are you going to do any video as well with the T2i. What is your budget. Because with video a Fluid head is certainly the way to go, but you better budget $700 for a min. good quality. Otherwise, you are going to see everyone tell you to go Manfrotto/Bogen, including me.

 

[Drew.Gardonia]

Are you going to do any video as well with the T2i. What is your budget. Because with video a Fluid head is certainly the way to go, but you better budget $700 for a min. good quality. Otherwise, you are going to see everyone tell you to go Manfrotto/Bogen, including me.

i have to echo Jason on this, the Manfrotto/Bogen is just phenomenal. I have so much control over my camera to include, tilt, rotation, pitch, and even leveling bubbles, and mines'a got a good 72" of extension...with 6" of mount raise on it. very sturdy and durable.

 

[Jim Hunt]

May I suggest - http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...055XPROB_808RC4_055XPROB_Pro_Tripod_Legs.html

 

[Jeff Richardson]

i have to echo Jason on this, the Manfrotto/Bogen is just phenomenal. I have so much control over my camera to include, tilt, rotation, pitch, and even leveling bubbles, and mines'a got a good 72" of extension...with 6" of mount raise on it. very sturdy and durable.

I'll give my two cents on the quality of the Manfrotto/Bogen equipment and agree with Drew and Jason. Their quality is state of the art. Well worth the price as well. I almost lost an $800 Sony camcorder to the asphalt pavement on a chase in June, 1998 when the plastic head on a cheap tripod cracked. That alone convinced me to never buy a cheap tripod again.

 

[JR Hehnly]

I got two of the Slik 700DX Pro tripods last year along with some Manfrotto heads and am really happy with them. 90 bucks and when it's windy you can lock legs out at two wider angle options.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/557127-REG/Slik_615_317_700DX_Pro_Tripod_Legs.html

 

[Wes Carter]

I've used Manfrotto/Bogen for years and can attest to their quality. Gitzo also makes fine tripods, but they are more expensive. Some people love carbon fiber tripod because they have a very high strength to weight ratio, but to hold a camera stable in a windy environment you need to add a weight to them which defeats the whole purpose anyways. I'd stick with an aluminum tripod like the Manfrotto Manfrotto 055XDB.

The head is just as important. Because you will be jumping out of a car and trying to position your camera quickly sometimes, you need a head that is quick and easy to use. A good ball head is the way to go. But don't go cheap on the ball head. A cheap ball head is a pain in the butt to use and will start drifting with a little bit of wear. Kirk, Really Right Stuff, and Arca Swiss all make good ball heads.

Also, consider a good quick release plate for your camera. It is sometimes a pain to have to thread the head to your camera every time you mount it. A good quick release plate will save you some headache and quite possible save you from a stripped tripod socket on your camera.

 

[Darren Addy]

As JR and Wes alluded to, you really have two decisions: the tripod and the head you put on it. Do your research. I like to check Amazon buyer reviews and pay special attention to the low rating reviews. That tells you specific gripes and you can then decide if that particular gripe is important to you or not.

If you want to "underthink it", the Manfrotto 055PROB or 190PROB would be the way to go as bang-for-the-buck. You lose stability (on any tripod) when you crank the center post up, so get one that is high enough for you without doing that.

 

[Christopher E. Kincaid]

Thanks for the advice everyone!

Question: If I buy a tripod with out a mount, can I just buy any mount I want and use it? In other words, do tripods an mounts use a standard connector or whatever?

 

[Darren Addy]

Yes, unless you've got some weird set of legs, the connection between the center post and the heads are standard. Some people like the innovative "joystick" ballheads by manfrotto. You could choose one of them (like the 324RC2 or the 322RC2 ) and then save some money by looking for an older set of Bogen legs. They made some models for over 20 years, sometimes with version changes like the 3021 (how to tell the different versions). It's probably a pretty decent set of legs if they made it for over 20 years. Here is a list of the Bogen model numbers and what they were replaced by. As you can see Bogen had a different number for tripod/head combinations. Those numbers will help you in looking for reviews, like this one and also in finding deals on eBay.

This video is a good one to show you the relative differences in vibration damping between center column up and all the way down.

 

[Greg Campbell]

I have two of the Slik 700 leg sets, and strongly suggest you buy something else.
The legs are rigid, large, cheap and generally sturdy, but suffer a fatal flaw. The leg extension joints are build from cheap nylon inserts. My newer 'pod, purchased about 5 years ago, has suffered two detached legs that occured when I was extending the lower sections. I have always been careful when extending the legs, and am in no way abusing the tripod. Ever since the first break, I've taken pains to be even more careful, but managed to break another leg anyway. Oddly, my older 700 (about 15 years old) has proved bombproof. Slik must have swithche to cheaper (much cheaper!) material at some point. BEWARE!

 

[Rob H]

This seems like a good thread to bring this up... does anyone have any tips for quickly leveling a tripod on uneven gravel/asphalt? I'm planning on using a monopod more this year, because I was so frustrated with leveling last year.

edit: Also throwing my vote in for Manfrotto. The gear that I have from them is heavy duty and works amazingly well. No tiny plastic pieces that easily break anywhere.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Another vote for the Bogen/Manfrottos. They will save you money in the long run because you won't need to replace them twice a season as you do with the cheap ones. A couple of my Bogens have broken leg extender clamps after 6 years of use, but I was able to replace them with a wing nut and bolt. The head you get depends on whether you shoot stills or video. A ball head is better for stills, while a fluid pan head is better for video.

 

[Jason Foster]

This seems like a good thread to bring this up... does anyone have any tips for quickly leveling a tripod on uneven gravel/asphalt? I'm planning on using a monopod more this year, because I was so frustrated with leveling last year.

You can always go Ghetto, pick up cheap small bubble levels and hot glue, duct tape or whatever to the tripod. You may have to get a little inventive how how to 'verify' the tripod is level before mounting the levels.

A slightly less ghetto DIY way to do it, assuming you have a tripod that has a separate head is get a nice piece of sheet metal, bend/fold corners for safety (or put a rubber "u" piece on). When cutting the metal, make it large enough to mount between the mounting points (often connected with set screws) of the tripod and head and hold the levels (and other things if desired, like a clip for the wired remote shutter release). Drill holes to match the bolt pattern of the set screws. Purchase slightly longer set screws to compensate for the added thickness. Then sandwich the finished (and treated to prevent rust) sheet metal between the head and tripod legs.

 

[cedwards]

I also cast another vote for Bogen/Manfrotto
If you have a bogen head and a SLIC tripod, you can get an adapter that fits over the screw to make it fit.
I also recommended that you have a quick release plate and have one on all your cameras, this way you don't have to waste time swapping them out.