Tripods?

By Draconian Guppy
in Digital Camera Lab

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Grand Master

Draconian Guppy

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So I used to own this tripod which I got for free as someone gave it to me, found out it costs $10 (at the time, it's now at $14 on amazon ), well i still own i, but my mum was nice enough to lose teh quick release plate a couple of months ago. :angry: So i googled for a new one and a new release plate cost more than the damn tripod! Long story short, looking for a new tripod locally, shipping of anything just for for sheer volume, would get me ass raped by my courier...

Anyway, I never had a complain about said tripod, it's very light weight, closes up to almost 1/2m ( 2-3ft) and when open up it goes to like 2.5m tall ( 7-8ft). The only complaint MAYBE is that the ball head doesn't tilt from side to side. Build quality is alright, lot's of plastic and metal, but nothing I would be afraid of placing my camera on...

So I was browsing amazon and man those gitzo tripods are crazy expensive some even around $700, when I could get a fully functionaly one for $14 :s Now I know... "yeah yeah I don't want to punt my $4K of camera equipment on a $14 tripod" So I say to thee, why not? It gets the job done, keeps the camera firm and tight in place for taking photos. Don't get me wrong, there probably are thousand of very cheap tripods that would break which is why people prefer uber expensive manfrottos or gitzos I guess. But in the long run, I can't see myself spending more than $50 on a tripod and even then I would think about it :p

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Grand Master

Draconian Guppy

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I got myself a sherpa or something to replace my old on that couldn't handle the increased weight of my D90 with batterypack and 300 lens :)

they're pretty damn awesome, good quality, fairly cheap (ok not 10 dollar cheap but..)

never heard of that brand i'll look into it :)

I think one possible concern with a cheap laptop is that it would get easily bent so your camera is no longer able to stay level. I personally just have a <$100 tripod which has worked fine for me, but I don't use it very often.

Laptop :p ? Yeah yeah I know :p

Well maybe that $10 isn't built like a rock and could get bent, but for that to happen I would have to either put my weight on it ( 230lbs ) or a couple of bricks :rofl:

@ Argote try $800 :/ carbon fiber craziness. Oh I agree for heavier equipment and whatnot, It's just unbelieveable IMO.

I ended up looking at second hand stores/thrift shops for a cheap one, still haven't found one, found 2, but without quick release. :(

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Experienced

SyntaxError

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Sears/Kmart sells a few decent tripods for $15-20.

Here's a few. These links won't work in Firefox, btw. Poorly coded site.

Digipower Tripod w/ 3-Way Panhead $20

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00354654000P

Digital Concepts Tripod, 55 in. 2-Way Panhead $17.99

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_107000000SAKTR60P

They actually have a large selection of tripods, in a wide range of prices.

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Grand Master

crazzy88ss

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I ALWAYS take care of my gear and I went through two cheap department store tripods very quickly. Plastic and cheap metals don't last long, especially when dealing with heavy gear. Talk to lots of people in the photo community and you'll find that most agree that the tripod is not something you should cheap out on.

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Grand Master

HawkMan

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Sears/Kmart sells a few decent tripods for $15-20.

Here's a few. These links won't work in Firefox, btw. Poorly coded site.

Digipower Tripod w/ 3-Way Panhead $20

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00354654000P

Digital Concepts Tripod, 55 in. 2-Way Panhead $17.99

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_107000000SAKTR60P

They actually have a large selection of tripods, in a wide range of prices.

That first one looked like my old tripod.

works great for PS cameras and small DSLRs with small lenses. well on the DSLR It's not very stable and can be a bit hard to stabilize.

however once you get a bigger DSLR and/or a bigger lens, the head can't cope with the weight and no matter how hard you tighten, it'll just tip forward.

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Grand Master

Prince Charming

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It's not that cheap tripods don't necessarily offer the stability, but they break so damn easily, they're a waste of cash repeatedly buying vs a more expensive tripod that will last. Generally speaking, at least.

I had a cheap tripod I was using in Paris, and one of the legs snapped (thankfully not with a camera on it), so I tossed the whole thing, in its cute little tripod bag, into the nearest bin. I then got followed by four french police officers for about half an hour, after which they stopped me and had a rather long conversation which barely understood; the best I could tell, they thought it was extremely suspicious and I think they were trying to arrest me.

I'm currently using a not-expensive tripod from the 70s. It's not necessarily sturdier or offers firmer support, but for my purposes, it's fine, if a bit on the heavy side. One plus side, they don't make em like they used to, it's built like a brick ****house, and looks like it would survive a nuclear war.

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Grand Master

crazzy88ss

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It's not that cheap tripods don't necessarily offer the stability, but they break so damn easily, they're a waste of cash repeatedly buying vs a more expensive tripod that will last. Generally speaking, at least.

exactly

I had a cheap tripod I was using in Paris, and one of the legs snapped (thankfully not with a camera on it), so I tossed the whole thing, in its cute little tripod bag, into the nearest bin. I then got followed by four french police officers for about half an hour, after which they stopped me and had a rather long conversation which barely understood; the best I could tell, they thought it was extremely suspicious and I think they were trying to arrest me.

Seems weird that FOUR french police officers NONE of them speak English. I went to Paris for 5 days last year and everybody spoke SOME amount of English.

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