Tripods - Bargain or waste of time?

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bildo

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I've found a couple of decently priced tripods, I rarely use tripods as I mainly enjoy shooting motorsports but I'm wanting to give macro aswell as other things a try and expand my horizons a little.

Now, I've found a couple on Amazon that look good value for money, I'm still new so I don't want to go all out yet as I've still got a flash to get and all the lenses in the world I want to spend my money on! :lol:

Advice on these would be great, if I'm wasting my time let me know! I'll be using a Nikon D5100 and my heaviest lens will be the 70-200mm VR.

Vista Voyager Tripod with W/FZ10 Head
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vista-Voyager-Tripod-FZ10-Head/dp/B0019M0B02

Hahnel Triad 40
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hahnel-Tria...8&qid=1368740171&sr=1-1&keywords=hahnel+triad
 
red snapper are decent too

what you pay for is rigity vs some 10quid cheapo. Rigity requires precision, hence the cost :-(
 
I'll second the redsnapper fantastic tripod at almost half the cost of a manfroto
 
+1 for redsnapper - the carbon one is light and strong
 
pingu666 said:
red snapper are decent too

what you pay for is rigity vs some 10quid cheapo. Rigity requires precision, hence the cost :-(
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That makes sense bud, I wasn't looking at the lowest end but trying to find a suitable medium. Would consider used if need be but wouldn't want something that's a bit past it.

markyboy1 said:
I'll second the redsnapper fantastic tripod at almost half the cost of a manfroto
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I'll take a look into these mate, thanks for the advice.

rowland said:
+1 for redsnapper - the carbon one is light and strong
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Carbon doesn't sound cheap, but I'll take a look - thanks for the advice, certainly seems to have a good following on here!
 
I believe you still get a discount for TP membership which will help - check the shopping/suppliers forum.

If you can stretch to it, the RS-12 head is a much better option. That head you linked will be OK when everything is well balanced, but I would be very surprised if it would be as robust while used as other angles. Also, there is not a lot of room to tip the camera on it's side for vertical format shots and that is really where you would see some flex.
 
I've had a beaten up old £50 tripod for a few years and the only time I've needed it was to take self portraits for my composites. It was a bit of a pain to get and keep level, it would sometimes move a bit and it wasn't very solid to be honest.

Turns out I've now got two jobs over the next week (interior shoots) and I need a good tripod so just went out and bought a good redsnapper tripod and head combo. Blimey what a difference. Tripod is solid as a rock and the head locks the camera in place positively with no movement. Would never recommend a cheap tripod as the intended use is normally to gain camera stability for either repeated same shots or for long exposure and the cheapo's just cant guarantee that delivery.

Redsnapper products are ace!
 
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Thanks for the advice guys, this one looks best to me:

Ivan S said:
The best deal imo is this one from Redsnapper http://www.redsnapperuk.com/camera-accessories/RSF-284___RSH-61_Ball_Head.html

I purchased this one and it's really nice, it holds my camera and kit lens and flash no problem and a quality bag with it.

Don't forget the discount code ''RED10'' and your postage will be free.
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It doesn't mention a bag though, and I noticed they have a bag on their site for an extra £10, am I going to have to buy that individually?

Cheers guys, great help.
 
bildo said:
It doesn't mention a bag though, and I noticed they have a bag on their site for an extra £10, am I going to have to buy that individually?

Cheers guys, great help.
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All redsnapper tripods come with a case, a very good one it is too :thumbs:
 
Tripods: Bargain (i.e., cheap) = waste of time.

A good tripod is light, stable and cheap - but only two out of three of those.

Most people start by buying something cheap and light - and find it's unstable.
Then they go for cheap and stable - and it's too heavy.
They may make several purchases like this until, finally -
They buy something stable and lightweight, even though it costs lots of money.

By now they'll have spent loads of cash on several tripods that were no good. It's worth taking your time and buying the right tripod from the start.
 
hollis_f said:
Tripods: Bargain (i.e., cheap) = waste of time.

A good tripod is light, stable and cheap - but only two out of three of those.

Most people start by buying something cheap and light - and find it's unstable.
Then they go for cheap and stable - and it's too heavy.
They may make several purchases like this until, finally -
They buy something stable and lightweight, even though it costs lots of money.

By now they'll have spent loads of cash on several tripods that were no good. It's worth taking your time and buying the right tripod from the start.
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Very sensible advice there mate, I've already got a light unsturdy one that was given to me so learnt my lesson there, although thankfully no loss was made!

Redsnapper seem to have fantastic reviews, and the amount of people in this thread that recommend them speaks volumes imo.

For the amount of time I'm intending to use it, I'm sure it'll be more than sufficient for my requirements.
 
Well I have the one I linked to, and it only just fits in the bag with the smaller head attached, saying that it is very sturdy and cannot see me spending £1000 on a beast of a lens anyway so it should hold up fine to most use I reckon, just don't go putting on a 2 kilo lens and you will be happy or if you have the many thousands to spend on lens I'd suggest a much more expensive tripod in the first place and a £200+ head:lol:
 
I find the ball heads not as handy as you'd think, with a heavy camera you just get a slight 'relax' after setting your position - which is really annoying.
 
Ivan S said:
Well I have the one I linked to, and it only just fits in the bag with the smaller head attached, saying that it is very sturdy and cannot see me spending £1000 on a beast of a lens anyway so it should hold up fine to most use I reckon, just don't go putting on a 2 kilo lens and you will be happy or if you have the many thousands to spend on lens I'd suggest a much more expensive tripod in the first place and a £200+ head:lol:
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Did think that, however I feel it's always best to buy the best you can afford personally. Would rather have something that over-compensates rather than under if you know what I mean?

4wd said:
I find the ball heads not as handy as you'd think, with a heavy camera you just get a slight 'relax' after setting your position - which is really annoying.
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What's best then? Is the trigger one the only option?
 
bildo said:
Very sensible advice there mate, I've already got a light unsturdy one that was given to me so learnt my lesson there, although thankfully no loss was made!

Redsnapper seem to have fantastic reviews, and the amount of people in this thread that recommend them speaks volumes imo.

For the amount of time I'm intending to use it, I'm sure it'll be more than sufficient for my requirements.
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You need follow his advice. get a Gitzo lightweight tripod and your set for life
 
jonneymendoza said:
You need follow his advice. get a Gitzo lightweight tripod and your set for life
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So, £500-odd for something that I'll use a handful of times a year?

Based on the reviews of the Redsnapper and the assumption these people use theirs a lot more than I will I think I'll have to take my chances with it. I've only just got started with photography and I've got a big enough shopping list to not justify that sadly.
 
bildo said:
So, £500-odd for something that I'll use a handful of times a year?

Based on the reviews of the Redsnapper and the assumption these people use theirs a lot more than I will I think I'll have to take my chances with it. I've only just got started with photography and I've got a big enough shopping list to not justify that sadly.
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This is where it gets hard, balancing price with performance, I gave you my thoughts on it, it really depends on how much you are in to it, if for say I was going to buy a lens at £1000+ I would want the very best tripod to support it and would pay the extra for it, but as it is I know I will never be buying pro lenses so had to balance it out some.
Below £100 on a tripod I thought was reasonable, if you can set a budget and stick to it, you get the best for your budget, I had my budget of £100 and the redsnapper came out top:)
 
bildo said:
So, £500-odd for something that I'll use a handful of times a year?

Based on the reviews of the Redsnapper and the assumption these people use theirs a lot more than I will I think I'll have to take my chances with it. I've only just got started with photography and I've got a big enough shopping list to not justify that sadly.
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did you not read the persons advice?

you can easily spend £500+ on various tripods and heads for x amount of years or you can spend it all in one go now and be done with it.

That was the advice.

I rate manfrotto ahead of redsnappers.

better build quality and priced reasonably.

The Gitzo is under the same division as Manfrotto and there is a good reason why manfrotto and Gitzo are the two most popular tripod brands.
 
Im no professional but I got a fairly cheap Hama tripod. As I say, im not a professional and I only bought it for long exposures and it does the job fine, I dont like the way the legs extend which make it difficult to get it level first time but after a few minutes of tinkering you can get it right and theres a spirit level on it too. My point is, I spent very little on it and it does the job or has done so far, ive had it for about a year and never had a problem with it yet although I dont use it all that often.
 
So why not look at Gumtree or Freecycle in your area and see what is available?
Check the products on Google.

There are loads of people who have bought decent tripods and don't use them...
 
I haven't used a tripod much upto now but got a Vanguard 284CB (the 284CT and sb100 head together) recently. I want to start trying ND/Grad filters for landscapes so knew I needed a tripod for that and I had looked at spending upto £150 on a redsnapper, manfrotto, giottos etc.. However the vari-angle arm is going to be very useful for macro photography as well so that was one of the factors that swayed me towards spending the extra for this one, but I did pay less than the UK price for it.
How much use I'll get out of it I don't know, but I see it as essential for what I want to do (and there aren't many that offer the same functionality as this one) and hope that it'll last for a good number of years.

What I'm getting at is buy a tripod that does what you're going to need it to. If a cheap one does that then all the better. However some people need to look at paying more for some reason such as weight, adaptability, strength or additional functionality etc...
 
my red snapper, one that folds up smaller easily fits in its case with the expensive ball head.

also handles a 2kg lens well :-)
 
I originally went for a cheap £45 tripod and quickly learned that it was a wast of money because things would move in between shots. I went for a RSF-284 & RSH-12 Ball Head recently and although its not the most expensive tripod i no longer have any of the problems i had before. Mine fits their bag fine too.
 
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