Which tripod you use for photography?

[Philip]

Hello everyone,

Which tripod you use for portrait photography?

Aluminum tripod

or

Carbon fiber tripod

Aluminum tripod is good for stability while carbon fiber tripod is perfect for traveling purpose due to it lightweight.

http://www.thecinecity.com/eshop/Proaim-75mm-bowl-head-tripod-stand-CF-75-with-spreader-with-75mm-fluid-head.html

Tripod is the only accessory which hold the camera and lenses firmly and provide stable and smooth image. Tripod is very easy to setup no need of balancing like other tools have. I have Proaim aluminum and carbon fiber tripod, both are sturdy and good. Legs are really solid avoid all jerks and image blurs.

http://www.thecinecity.com/eshop/Proaim-100mm-Bowl-Head-Tripod-Stand-P-BW-100-With-Free-Spreader-For-100mm-Fluid-Heads.html

I use these aluminum tripod in studio and i purchased carbon fiber stand for traveling purpose.

Which tripod you guys are using?

Thanks

[nesgran]

You don’t say, any chance of posting just a bit more spam?

[cameraclicker]

I haven’t visited Best Buy for some time!  I’m pretty sure I still have one of their gift cards somewhere.  Didn’t realize they were carrying video tripods now!

Tripods are great for production portraits.  “Welcome.  Please stand on the ‘X’ and smile.”  You can do a portrait every minute or two and get through a whole school or company before lunch.  For individual portraits it is often easier and more practical to hand hold.  You can move more freely.  In a studio, you don’t need to use a tripod.  The flash from a strobe is about 1/1000th so it will stop most motion, camera stability is not an issue.

Since you asked, I have several aluminum tripods.  Most were $50.  One even has a panning head!  Good aluminum tripods have all metal parts.  If you are looking at an aluminum tripod and you see plastic, don’t purchase it!  Plastic does not like UV light so it will deteriorate when used outside and it tends to sag under weight.

My one, more expensive aluminum is a spindly little Velbon Sherpa, which is extremely light but very effective.  I use it when travelling, sometimes.

I also have a Slik carbon fibre tripod with a Manfrotto head.  A threaded adapter matches the thinner Slik and thicker Manfrotto threads.  It provides a good combination of light weight, height and head performance.  A feature I like is that the legs can splay out so the head is just above the ground for really low shots, then it can stand with legs extended normally and I don’t have to bend to look through the viewfinder, without extending the centre column.  Very versatile.

Of course, a rock, a car, a table, a railing, and many other things make good substitutes, too.

[EyeDocPhotog]

I have a carbon fiber Manfrotto with a matched Gitzo pistol grip quick-release head and also a Dolicia with a Manfrotto head.

But I don’t use these much. In general, when I need a sturdy surface I print out the spam from this website and the 50 or 60 pages per week provide more-than -adequate support for any of my camera stability needs.

[cameraclicker]

Picking up where I left off above,…  Sometimes a real tripod is helpful.  It is faster and easier to set the exact height, position and camera angle, than using found objects.  Some tripod, any tripod, is almost indispensable when doing stuff like this

or this

Although both are flash photos, having the camera positioned and focus set in advance is a big part of getting this sort of photo, so a tripod helps out.

Here is the setup for the water.  Speedlites are used instead of studio flashes because the speedlites flash duration is much shorter.  Most studio strobes’ flash is too slow to freeze water drops.

I shot that back in early March.  I see the head which tells me that day I was using a tripod I got a couple of years ago, for CDN$50.  It has aluminum legs, all metal (mostly aluminum) panning head, and it came with a bag.  Shop around, a good tripod doesn’t have to break the bank!

[Bill]

Philip – your post reads like an infomercial, but I’ll bite.

I use both an aluminum compact tripod for those travel shots, a carbon fiber for my main tripod and an aluminum monopod for shooting with my big lens and camera combo.

I prefer my carbon fiber tripod, due to the fact that carbon fiber reduces vibration through the body of the tripod where steel and aluminum. That and the fact that it is light as hell and I don’t mind carrying it, some of the times.
When I’m doing my sports action shots, I have a full panning gimbal I use that more than makes up the weight savings. Combine that with my big lens and the big camera, the aluminum tripods don’t come close enough to the weight ratings I need.

Next time, no spam, just ask.

UPDATE: Looking at that Proaim, does not very practical unless you are in a strict studio environment. And since I don’t do video, completely useless to me, maybe not to anyone else, but for me it is.

[NoLoveLossless]

I’ll play. My favorite is my Vanguard Alta Pro 263AB – http://www.amazon.com/Vanguard-Alta-Pro-263AB-100/dp/B003WKOENO/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1413999179&sr=8-3&keywords=vanguard+alta+pro+tripod

It is a beast, but man do I love this thing!  It comes with a really nice ball-head already attached, so that is one less thing to have to find. Mine also has a really well made Vanguard case that came with it, but I bought mine at the local camera shop so I don’t know if that comes with all of them on Amazon.

[Author]

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