Wow! Thanks for the great response to last week’s newsletter about why I use a tripod. Over the weekend, several people contacted me asking what tripod I would recommend for them to get – either for flower or landscape photography. And rather than try to guess what tripod would work for a specific individual, I promised I’d write an article about what to think about when buying a tripod.
Choosing the right tripod can be a major decision for a photographer. If the tripod you have isn’t right for you, then you’re not likely to become comfortable using it and it can become more of a barrier to getting the photos you want than a useful tool.
WEIGHT:. If your tripod is too heavy for you to carry comfortably, then you’re more likely to leave it at home or in the trunk of the car, than to take it with you into the field. Tripods are available in a number of materials including aluminum, stainless steel, wood and carbon fiber. Depending on what type of photography you do, and how far you are likely to have to carry your tripod, weight can become a major issue.
HEIGHT: When the legs of your camera are fully extended, your camera should at least be level with your eyes. That way, you don’t have to constantly bend over to adjust your tripod as you compose your images. You shouldn’t have to raise the center post on your tripod to get your camera to eye level. You tripod won’t be able to hold your camera as stable with the center post extended as it can without it extended.
STURDINESS: Your tripod needs to be able to easily support your heaviest camera body and lens combination. If it doesn’t then you risk having it collapse and damaging your camera and lens when they crash to the ground.
FLEXIBILITY: Some of my best flower photographs were taken with my camera at the same height as the flowers which means I need a tripod that can as low to the ground as possible. If your camera has a center post, The height of your center post is the lowest height you can photograph from. Tripods without a center post or with a swing arm generally can get much closer to the ground than ones with a center post.
PRECISION: If you photograph smaller subjects like flowers, having a tripod head that you can make precise adjustments on can make life a whole lot easier when trying to get your camera in just the right place for photograph. There are several types of tripod heads – pan and tilt heads (good for photographing landscapes and shooting video), gimbal heads (good for photographing wildlife), ball heads (good for most types of photography) and geared heads (good for situations such as macro where precise small movements are important)
COMPACTNESS: If you travel with your camera gear, be sure your tripod fits in your suitcase. And if you check your bag with your tripod in it, don’t be surprised to see a note from TSA when you reach your destination.
COST: How much are you willing to spend? You knew I had to get to this point eventually. You can spend as little as $ 15 on a cheap light tripod with a hard to control pan head for about $ 15. Of course, if you put a DSLR with a macro lens on it, it very well may collapse and destroy your camera and lens. Or you can head to the B&H website and search for the most expensive tripod head and legs combination and easily spend over $ 5000. I can guarantee that a $ 5000 tripod will support your gear, it’s also very likely way more tripod than you’ll ever need.
When you are ready to purchase a tripod, don’t just order one off the web. If you have friends who use tripods, ask them what they use, what they recommend and if you can try theirs out to see if you like it. Then I’d recommend visiting a good independent camera store and seeing what brands they carry, and what they recommend. If they have the right tripod for you, buy it from them.
If you’d like to see what Bill and I are using for tripods these days, join us at our Morning on the Soleado Lavender Farm workshop on June 23. We’ll bring our tripod collection with us so you can see what some of the options are and figure out what might be right for you.
You can read more about our June 23 workshop at https://beautifulflowerpictures.com/morning-on-the-lavender-farm-workshops-2018/