Do All Tripods Fit All Cameras
Choosing a tripod can be an overwhelming experience, given how many different types and choices we are presented with. On one hand, a tripod is a very simple tool to keep our cameras steady when we apply them in challenging light weather. On the other paw, there are so many unlike variables that come up into play when choosing a tripod: How tall should information technology exist? How light should information technology exist? How stable should it be? What kind of weight tin can it support? How much should I spend on a tripod? These are simply some of the questions that might come up up as you look into buying a new tripod.
Before getting into the intricate details about tripods, I would similar to get over the advantages and disadvantages of tripods and why you might need i for your DSLR or mirrorless camera.
Tabular array of Contents
Why Practise You Need a Tripod?
Then, what is the purpose of a tripod? Yous might demand a tripod for some or all of the post-obit reasons:
- To increase sharpness and depth of field in your images past keeping the camera yet in low-light environments when using slow shutter speeds.
- To rest heavy camera gear such as long telephoto lenses on the tripod.
- To increase the quality of the images by keeping the photographic camera ISO low.
- To let more careful composition, while framing the shot exactly how you want it.
- To shoot HDR and panoramic shots that require exactly the same framing and precision.
- To photograph dark objects such as the Moon, planets, stars, etc. too as painting with light or using available light for landscape and architectural photography.
- To practise self-portraits with a camera timer.
- To shoot extreme shut-ups/macro (flowers, insects, etc).
- To concur various objects such every bit flashes, reflectors, etc.
- To shoot at difficult or impossible (manus-held) angles.
- To shoot vibration-complimentary videos.
- To defend yourself :)
I personally employ a tripod for one main reason – landscape photography. Shooting sunrises and sunsets tin be quite challenging, specially when the low-cal conditions are far from platonic. Cheers to paradigm-stabilized lenses and now cameras with splendid congenital-in image stabilization, the use of a tripod for most types of photography is not necessary when shooting in daylight conditions.
All the same, some photographers still prefer to use a tripod, equally it allows them to keep the camera ISO as low every bit possible, which not only keeps the amount of racket in images to a minimum but also provides the highest dynamic range the photographic camera sensor tin can capture. In addition, a tripod can help in proper framing of a subject and allow to capture panoramic and HDR images.
Lastly, there are situations where 1 must use a tripod in lodge to slow down and blur action, such every bit when photographing streams and waterfalls every bit shown in the image beneath. Therefore, if you are into mural photography, a expert tripod is a must-accept tool in the field.
Occasionally, I might use a tripod for wild animals photography (specifically for bird photography), but not during long hikes, due to inconvenience and weight factors.
Tripod Components – What is a Tripod Organisation?
A tripod system is generally comprised of the following parts:
- Legs – the obvious. Tripod legs are typically made of aluminum, basalt, steel or carbon fiber.
- Head – the part that holds a digital camera or a lens. There are many different types of heads, but the most popular types are ball-heads and pan-tilt heads.
- Centerpost/Eye Cavalcade – a separate leg that runs through the middle, assuasive to farther heighten the tripod head.
- Feet – good tripods let irresolute tripod feet at the end of the legs for indoor and outdoor utilize.
The cheapest tripods have legs with an integrated non-replaceable head and feet and sometimes take a centerpost, while the meridian-of-the-line tripods accept a modular tripod system that have replaceable feet and allow attaching a split up tripod head (the caput is typically not included).
Disadvantages of Using a Tripod
Tripods are nice and can give yous many options to get the highest quality paradigm. However, there are too some disadvantages of using tripods, specifically:
- They are potentially heavy. Although in that location are lightweight carbon-fiber tripods out in that location, once you add together a tripod head, the setup tin can become heavy.
- They are inconvenient. No thing how pocket-size and collapsible a tripod is, it nevertheless occupies space and is often inconvenient to conduct around or travel with.
- They are difficult to utilize in crowded environments.
- They can be expensive. Adept tripod systems tin cost over $ane,000.
- They can take time to set up upwardly, making y'all miss the best moment.
- You tin easily damage your photographic camera and lens if you practice non know how to properly operate a tripod, or if the tripod arrangement is cheap and unstable.
Factors to Consider When Choosing a Tripod
Yous started your tripod shopping spree and have no idea where to start. What factors do you demand to consider when purchasing a tripod? Every bit I take pointed out above, purchasing a tripod can be an overwhelming experience, given how many different choices we are presented with from small and compact, to large and heavy. Let's go through each gene and identify your needs:
Weight Rating
The outset thing I would look at is how much weight a tripod tin support. Many photographers make the fault of buying a tripod that tin can only support a few pounds and is not fabricated for heavy photographic camera equipment. What ends upward happening is obvious – at one point or another, the whole thing collapses, destroying the camera and the lens. Ever make sure that the tripod you desire to buy can support at to the lowest degree i.v times more than the total weight of your photographic camera and your heaviest lens. I say "at least" considering I prefer to keep information technology at around 2x more. Do not forget that you will at times utilise pressure on your photographic camera and sometimes fifty-fifty rest your hands on the setup if you are shooting with long lenses, which adds to the weight. You lot might as well add together a flash or a battery grip to your camera in the futurity, or potentially shoot with something heavier, so you have to keep all of that in mind.
Tripod Tiptop
I always recommend buying a tripod that matches your height, so that you do non take to bend to look into the viewfinder. Once you put your camera on a tripod, the viewfinder should be at your eye level. Information technology is OK if information technology goes college than your centre level because you tin always accommodate the legs to be shorter. Even so, if it is much below your eye level, you will find yourself bending all the time, which can be a tiring experience, specially when y'all are waiting for some kind of activity and need to constantly look through the viewfinder.
If you are ownership a tripod with an fastened head, you want the tip of the head to be on your jaw level. If you are buying a modular tripod with a split caput, make sure that the legs stop approximately on your shoulder level.
Another factor to consider is tripod height when information technology is folded for easier travel. Practise you lot need it to fit in your carry-on baggage? Mine barely does diagonally, with feet removed, and I take information technology with me everywhere I go.
Tripod Weight and Construction
Weight is a significant factor when choosing a tripod. You exercise not desire your tripod to be besides heavy, because you will find yourself leaving it at home, rather than taking it with you on the road. The lightest tripods are made of carbon-cobweb material, which is extremely durable, stable and does non rust. While carbon-fiber is the best material for a tripod, it, unfortunately, comes with a high price tag.
The next best construction fabric is aluminum, which is heavier than carbon cobweb. Most cheaper tripods are made of aluminum today. You can also find tripods made of stainless steel, just those are generally used for video equipment and are too heavy for regular use.
In terms of total weight, try to proceed the tripod legs without the head under 5 pounds. By and large, carbon fiber legs are between 3 and 4 pounds (but can exist lighter or heavier depending on what they are made for), while aluminum legs tin can exist betwixt five and six pounds and heavier, depending on the size and how much weight they can support. Basalt lava legs are somewhere in-between both in terms of weight and price.
Tripod Legs
Tripod legs by and large come up in two forms – tubular and non-tubular. All carbon-fiber legs come in tubular form and accept a threaded twist-lock system to secure the legs, while aluminum, basalt, and steel tripods might come in different shapes with a flip-lock. Depending on the maximum height of the tripod, there might exist between iii and v sections on tripod legs. The more sections, the higher the tripod and more often than not a petty less stable.
Tripod Feet
Some avant-garde tripods volition let yous to replace tripod feet for dissimilar conditions and situations – they just unscrew on the bottom of the tripod legs. There are unlike types of tripod feet for indoors (rubber or plastic) and outdoor use (metallic spikes). Unless you lot are planning to shoot in icy, rainy/slippery conditions, the standard prophylactic feet that come with your tripod should work only fine.
Centerpost
Some tripods come with a centerpost – a single leg in the middle of the tripod that allows you to increase or decrease the height of the photographic camera by simply moving the centerpost in upward or downward management. Although some photographers find it convenient and squeamish to have, I strongly suggest against having a centerpost on a tripod. A centerpost defeats the whole purpose of a tripod – it is essentially the same thing as having a monopod on acme of a tripod. It might non be as pronounced if you are only shooting with a wide-angle lens, only one time you set a long telephoto lens, yous will quickly understand that using a centerpost volition cause besides much vibration. If you still desire to get a centerpost for whatever reason, make sure that it can fully refuse to the same level every bit where the tripod legs run into. The centerpost should never wobble at its lowest level.
Tripod Caput
A tripod caput is the about essential part of the tripod system. Information technology is responsible for deeply holding camera equipment and controlling photographic camera movement. A modular tripod system does not come with a head and you accept to buy it separately. When choosing a tripod caput, e'er make certain that it can back up at least the aforementioned corporeality of weight your tripod legs can.
There are mostly iii types of heads usually bachelor:
- Pan-Tilt Head – either with a single handle for horizontal move or dual handles for both horizontal and vertical movement. This is the almost common type of head that is typically built into cheaper tripods.
- Brawl-Head – compared to pan-tilt heads, ball-heads just take one control that loosens or tightens the grip. They are very flexible and allow very polish functioning while keeping the camera/lens securely tightened.
- Gimbal Head – a specialized head for long and heavy 300mm+ lenses. Compared to pan-tilt heads and ball-heads, gimbal heads perfectly rest the photographic camera and heavy lens and are best suited for fast-activeness photography. They are extremely easy to utilise in any direction and do non require tightening the head every time the camera/lens moves.
I started out with a pan-tilt caput and somewhen switched over to a ball-head with a quick-release arrangement (run across side by side), due to flexibility and easiness of use.
Quick-Release System
Every modern camera comes with a thread on its lesser that allows you to adhere information technology to a tripod or a monopod (heavy lenses also come up with a similar thread on the tripod collar). This threaded system makes it extremely inconvenient to attach cameras and lenses on tripods because you accept to either rotate the camera or the tripod to attach them together. To make it easier and more than convenient for photographers, manufacturers came upward with a bully solution – to attach a small removable plate on the camera or lens, which then can be tightly secured on the tripod head.
Cheaper tripods come with a simple plastic plate that can exist attached to any photographic camera or lens, while some of the more expensive tripod heads come up with a more durable plate. The best quick-release organisation, however, is the Arca-Swiss Quick Release System. It has more than or less become a standard amid manufacturers and it has proven to be a very effective solution for quick and easy functioning. Compared to plastic plates, the Arca-Swiss Quick Release System is made of very strong aluminum and allows attaching the camera/lens on a tripod without the demand to rotate anything. A quick-release plate is permanently attached to a camera or lens, which then easily slides into a quick-release clench (pictured below). The locking mechanism is elementary, all the same super tight for vibration-free functioning.
The dazzler of this system is that some manufacturers like Really Right Stuff and Kirk Enterprises offering not just plates for almost any camera and lens but as well replacement lens tripod collars, flash brackets, L-brackets, and other accessories for the Arca-Swiss Quick Release System. The but downside of the Arca-Swiss Quick Release Arrangement is that it is non cheap – you also have to purchase dissever plates for each camera and lens.
Stability
A heavy tripod does not always mean that it is stable. There are enough of tripod systems out at that place that are heavy and durable, yet lack the much-needed stability when used in various weather conditions. When a tripod is fully set upwards, it has to withstand not only air current simply also occasional bumps and knocks that might happen in the field. You always need to make sure that your photographic camera and lens residual on a tripod rather than lean towards one management, because you might end up damaging your equipment if the head is not fully tightened or if the front end outweighs the dorsum and everything falls on the ground.
Which Tripod Should you Purchase?
Now that you are familiar with all the criteria for selecting the correct tripod, you are probably wondering which tripod you should buy for your photography needs. Since I have numerously gone through the experience of shopping for tripods and have seen others exercise the same, let me tell you what many photographers end up doing. They first await for the cheapest tripod available that will exist good plenty to agree their first camera, since they take no thought if they really need it or do not know how often they would exist using information technology. The tripod would cost betwixt $75 and $150 for the legs and the caput, which is a good price for a unproblematic tool.
Adjacent, they purchase a longer and heavier lens and add more weight to the setup. Suddenly, they find that the cheap tripod is not good enough and they demand something more durable and stable. After making the first mistake, they suddenly realize that they demand to practice more research and they spend countless hours reading most tripods on dissimilar websites and forums. Despite all recommendations from the pros, they are not willing to invest on a top-of-the-line tripod with a good ball-head, so they end up getting a popular tripod system for $300-500 with a separate caput. Seems like a great investment and the tripod seems to be much better than the previous one.
Later on a twelvemonth or two, they realize that their last buy was not that good, because the tripod is too heavy and hard to use, especially for traveling. They realize that they should have listened to the pros in the beginning and bought a solid tripod organisation. Does this sound familiar? It certainly does for me, considering I went through a similar experience and wasted likewise much effort and money.
Other photographers might have a unlike story, where they purchased an inexpensive tripod they like in the beginning and they are still happily using information technology today. All it says about them is that they are not using their tripods every bit much and what they take is expert plenty for occasional utilise. Anybody who heavily relies on a tripod (especially landscape and architectural photographers) ends up buying ii to three different tripods to eventually terminate up with the all-time.
It seems that it is hard to avert purchasing multiple tripods considering information technology is often impossible to justify the cost of a skilful system for someone who does non heavily apply a tripod. If someone told me that I would somewhen spend more $500 on a tripod system when I just got into photography, I would have never believed them – that'due south too much coin to spend on a darn tripod! But it all turned out to exist true, because I actually concluded up spending a lot more than $500 overtime, and I wish I could go back in time and buy the correct stuff from the very beginning.
If I recommend someone who has just bought their first DSLR or a mirrorless camera to get the all-time tripod organization that costs betwixt $800 and $1,200, I will almost certainly get a "you are crazy" look, no thing how well I explain my story. Therefore, hither is what I would recommend:
- If you currently practice not have a tripod and you lot want to buy one, get the cheapest aluminum tripod system with an integrated head for less than $150 total. Why practice I recommend the cheapest tripod? Considering you first need to understand how much you volition exist using it. Six months down the road you might terminate upward doing other types of photography that exercise not require a tripod or you might find yourself on a path of becoming a good landscape or macro lensman. A cheap tripod will give you enough information to sympathise the real role of a tripod in your photography.
- If you already have a inexpensive tripod and yous want to become something better, save yourself a lot of money and frustration and get the best tripod with an Arca-swiss quick release system – skip the middle. Some people buy cheaper legs and heads and either detect them too heavy or unstable. Ane common trouble with other quick-release systems is the fact that cheaper plates do not grip well on cameras and start wiggling and rotating relative to the base, making it a nightmare for things like panoramic photography.
All-time Tripods to Purchase
My tripod recommendations, based on the to a higher place, are divided into two categories: "low-upkeep" (nether $150) and "top of the line" (over $500).
Depression-budget Tripods (under $150)
Hither are the best depression-budget tripods under $150 that I recommend:
- Sunpak Ultra 7000 – $69.99. Very cheap, weighs 4.1 pounds (i.ix kg) and can back up up to 12.iii pounds (v.vi kg) of total weight. This is very like to the first tripod I bought for myself from a local camera store.
- Slik Pro AL-324DX Tripod with 3-Manner Pan/Tilt Head – $119.55. Although maximum height is as well short at only 57.v″ (146 cm), it is reasonably lightweight at 3.viii pounds (1.72 kg) and can back up up to 8 lbs (iii.63 kg) of total weight. This would be a great tripod to take on long hikes.
- Slik Pro 700DX Tripod with 3-Way Pan/Tilt Caput – $139.95. Although it is a piffling heavy at 7 pounds (three.18 kg), it can support up to 15 pounds (6.8 kg) of total weight and tin can be extended all the fashion to 74.8″ (190 cm).
Peak-of-the-line Tripods (over $500)
Superlative-of-the-line tripod systems have separate legs and replaceable heads. Let's start with the tripod legs. The best legs are made of carbon fiber and manufactured by such brands as Gitzo (pinnacle pick) and Really Correct Stuff. I cannot really recommend a particular model, because you should choose i that fits your superlative and weight requirements. If you buy Gitzo, their best and the most stable line is the "Systematic" 6x Carbon Fiber serial without a center cavalcade. I personally have an older version of the Gitzo Systematic legs that I accept been happily using for years and they have never failed me in one case.
In terms of tripod heads, if you are not shooting with very long lenses, yous should definitely become for a ball-caput. Here are the best brawl-heads available in the market today:
- Arca-Swiss Z1 – $379.95. I accept used this ball-head in the by and I actually like it.
- Kirk BH1 – $385.00. An excellent alternative to the Arca-Swiss Z1.
- Really Correct Stuff BH-55 Pro – $415.00. Some other great ball-caput that is better in quality than the Arca-Swiss Z1 and Kirk BH1.
- FLM CB-58 – $474.00. Another superb brawl-caput with swell features (see my FLM Ballhead review)
These are all relatively large brawl-heads with huge load capacities, which might exist overkill for your particular needs. I recommend exploring other smaller brawl-heads past the in a higher place brands to encounter if there is a amend fit. For example, I personally stay abroad from full-size ball-heads, because they are huge and heavy. My preference is to utilize smaller and lighter ball-heads that carry enough load to fit virtually of my needs, especially when traveling. My personal favorites are the RRS BH-30 and FLM CB-32 – these are the ball-heads I employ most often for my work.
If you are shooting with long and heavy lenses, your best choice is going to be the Wimberley Gimbal (top pick) or the much smaller Sidekick (requires a solid brawl-head to work).
There are many other cheaper and more expensive brands out there that industry very solid ball-heads, merely I'thousand not going to listing through them all in this article.
I more thing worth noting is that some of the higher-stop tripods sometimes come with a claw nether the platform. Those can be useful to hang a haversack or a sandbag for boosted stability, but you have to exist careful when shooting in windy conditions, equally it can move the weight and potentially cause even more photographic camera shake.
A Expert Tripod is a Life-Long Investment
Different cameras and even lenses that come and go, a good tripod is a life-long investment. If you lot buy a adept tripod that is like shooting fish in a barrel to disassemble and reassemble, chances are, yous will be able to hands clean and even repair it yourself without having to ship it anywhere. Well-known tripod manufacturers will provide long-term service and repair options in case whatsoever part of the tripod malfunctions or breaks. This way, you practise not accept to worry about replacing your tripod in the future…
Recall, with tripods, you often get what you lot pay for! Please permit me know if yous have any questions in the comments section below.
Source: https://photographylife.com/how-to-choose-and-buy-a-tripod-for-a-dslr-camera
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