Do you need an expensive tripod? Hi there, I was wondering if you need to invest on a exoensive tripod or with a regular cheap one you can do fine? I have a Proline Dolica. Thank you...

lianetdiaz

Hi there,

I was wondering if you need to invest on a exoensive tripod or with a regular cheap one you can do fine? I have a Proline Dolica.

Thank you

RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

From personal experience "cheap" ones are expensive in the long run as you replace them with a slightly better one over the years.
Buy a good one and they will last for years and they are stable.

ricardo7 Loc: Washington, DC - Santiago, Chile

RichardTaylor wrote:

From personal experience "cheap" ones are expensive in the long run as you replace them with a slightly better one over the years.
Buy a good one and they will last for years and they are stable.

Good point. The main thing you are looking for is a tripod
that will hold your camera with stability. Also consider the
head. It should be simple and easy to position your camera.
SLIK and Manfroto are good names in tripods. I'm sure
other recommendations will follow.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

lianetdiaz wrote:

Hi there,

I was wondering if you need to invest on a exoensive tripod or with a regular cheap one you can do fine? I have a Proline Dolica.

Thank you

You don’t say if you’re trying to buy a good tripod or if it’d just a general question.
My answer is no, you don’t need an expensive tripod but you do need a good tripod.
VERY sturdy tripods can be bought used for next to nothing. Old heavy duty Alloy pods are inexpensive and good but can be up to 8 pounds or more.
If like most you just drive around in a car and stop to shoot it will be fine.
If like a few you walk long distances then then weight is a factor, thus expense.
It depends on you and your equipment.
So the answer is yes and no!!!
SS

pesfls Loc: Oregon, USA

Personal view here. Weight is often eschewed these days. But weight equals stability. In my view it is more a question of how much you will carry how far and how patient you are before firing off the exposure. Within that the heaviest you can use is best regardless of material. A wobbly tripod that is inadequate is your enemy. It is like the foundation of your home. Thin, your home is not stable. Thick, it is solid.

blackest Loc: Ireland

lianetdiaz wrote:

Hi there,

I was wondering if you need to invest on a exoensive tripod or with a regular cheap one you can do fine? I have a Proline Dolica.

Thank you

It seems similar to mine , which is also not an expensive tripod, but mine seems taller, amazon seemed to be giving it around 60" in height i hope thats not with the centre column extended as that wouldn't be stable. I couldn't find tube size, the larger the diameter the tubes the less flexing and vibration. One thing is aluminium is quite a bit heavier than carbon. If your young and fit enough that weight might not bother you. Hiking about carrying it can get tiresome and suck the enjoyment...

So if it's tall enough, has thick enough tubes to provide a stable platform and the weight isn't a problem it should be fine. On the plus side I think it uses arca swiss mounting plates, they will still be useful on your next tripod. You might not want one for a few years thou.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

pesfls wrote:

Personal view here. Weight is often eschewed these days. But weight equals stability. In my view it is more a question of how much you will carry how far and how patient you are before firing off the exposure. Within that the heaviest you can use is best regardless of material. A wobbly tripod that is inadequate is your enemy. It is like the foundation of your home. Thin, your home is not stable. Thick, it is solid.

Nonsense. I sold a 16 lb Bogen 3051 with a 3047 head because it was fundamentally unstable. It even had only two leg sections - should have been as solid as a rock. It wouldn't hold a 300mm lens without vibrating. Got a 4 lb, carbon fiber tripod with 4 sections per leg, use it all day long with a 600mm and a 1.4xTC - no vibration issues at all.

Rating a tripod's stability solely on weight makes no sense at all. Design, materials and build quality are more important. Carbon fiber is the lightest, most rigid material used in tripods today.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

lianetdiaz wrote:

Hi there,

I was wondering if you need to invest on a exoensive tripod or with a regular cheap one you can do fine? I have a Proline Dolica.

Thank you

Is it stable enough to do what you need it to do? Are you tossing a lot of images because of sharpness-robbing micro vibrations? If not then you have your answer. A cheap tripod ≠ a stable tripod. If it did, companies like Really Right Stuff, Gitzo, Induro, Linhof and others would have gone out of business years ago.

Shutterbug57

I have an aluminum Bogen that I have had for 20+ years. It is great, but gets very cold and is heavy. I recently splurged on a Manfrotto carbon fiber unit with e piece legs that holds with lbs. it has similar performance to my aluminum unit, but weighs 2+ lbs less and even when it is 4*F outside doesn’t feel cold. It wasn’t cheap, but I am glad I bought it. Whatever you do, don’t go flimsy.

coj Loc: NJ, USA

Few truer words have been spoken.

RichardTaylor wrote:

From personal experience "cheap" ones are expensive in the long run as you replace them with a slightly better one over the years.
Buy a good one and they will last for years and they are stable.

pesfls Loc: Oregon, USA

Gene51 wrote:

Nonsense. I sold a 16 lb Bogen 3051 with a 3047 he... (show quote)

Your point is well taken, however your concern about vibration is precisely why I mentioned "patience." I still use a 35 year old aluminum 3021 Pro 3 section unit that can be a burden to carry with a 3047 or gimbal head & cable release but once it settles down it is great. I never raise the center post. I sometimes use it with an old 800mm f8 and get sharp images. So we agree to disagree.

Whuff Loc: Marshalltown, Iowa

My first tripod was a cheap one - about $60, thinking that a cheap one was better than not having one. It only lasted about 2 years tops and one of the legs came apart in such a way that I couldn’t get it to go back together right. I now have a great one that I paid a lot more money for. The $60 was totally wasted.

Walt

coj Loc: NJ, USA

Very true. Add Feisol to your list.

Gene51 wrote:

Is it stable enough to do what you need it to do? Are you tossing a lot of images because of sharpness-robbing micro vibrations? If not then you have your answer. A cheap tripod ≠ a stable tripod. If it did, companies like Really Right Stuff, Gitzo, Induro, Linhof and others would have gone out of business years ago.

jpgto Loc: North East Tennessee

lianetdiaz wrote:

Hi there,

I was wondering if you need to invest on a exoensive tripod or with a regular cheap one you can do fine? I have a Proline Dolica.

Thank you

My $0.02, buy good and something very stable initially, it will last a long time, you won't regret it.

Photographer Jim Loc: Rio Vista, CA

Need? Depends I suppose. In my case, I use a tripod about 95% of the time. I wanted one that would accommodate my 6’4” without a center column. I wanted adequate diameter leg tubes to avoid vibrations especially when fully extended. I also needed the legs to articulate well for uneven ground. And they needed to swing out 90 degrees so I could position it at ground level. I needed it to be light, because I would often be hiking with it, so carbon fiber was the best option. I found few options that weren’t expensive!

I ended up with a tripod that costs more than a few of my good lenses. But, I never worry about it’s performance, and I doubt I’ll ever need to replace it.