Mrs C isn't big on humour, but she did mention once that in a lift (elevator) there was an attractive, intelligent woman, Father Christmas and the perfect man. How many were in the lift she asked? Three I replied. No, she said; Just the one, everyone knows that Father Christmas and the perfect man don't exist.
That got me thinking about tripods, because unless you are tied to just one genre of photography, tripods are pretty much of a compromise. They need to be heavy enough to be stable, but I do carry a plastic bag to hang off the tripod with some local stones, or even photography gear. They need to be light enough to carry. If you are going trekking for miles laden down with camera gear, the extra weight of a steel and aluminium tripod isn't helpful. They need to be well built and reliable and in my experience, that means paying the extra for one of the premium makes. They need to be versatile. You need to be able to set it high when you need to and on the deck when you need. On rough terrain you also need to set it at awkward angles for maximum stability.
Then there are the multitude of heads. Do you go for a ball head, grip head, 3 way head, gimbal head, or fluid head? By the time you choose the right tripod for you and then the right head, there are lots of opportunities to end up with the wrong thing.
So what's my perfect tripod then? Can't find one; I use three and it used to be four and a heavy duty monopod. I use the big heavy duty number with a fluid head for my large telephoto's and generally in a bird hide. Then a carbon fibre 055 with a lightweight magnesium 3 way head and that is my general purpose tripod. Finally a little 190 carbon fibre, with a small ball head. Small and lightweight for when I travel abroad, or go somewhere where I don't think I will need a tripod, but I pack it anyway. And I still feel the need for a small table top tripod, but I have managed to resist the urge .............. so far!
C18I0797a by Colin Cross, on Flickr
C18I0798 by Colin Cross, on Flickr
That got me thinking about tripods, because unless you are tied to just one genre of photography, tripods are pretty much of a compromise. They need to be heavy enough to be stable, but I do carry a plastic bag to hang off the tripod with some local stones, or even photography gear. They need to be light enough to carry. If you are going trekking for miles laden down with camera gear, the extra weight of a steel and aluminium tripod isn't helpful. They need to be well built and reliable and in my experience, that means paying the extra for one of the premium makes. They need to be versatile. You need to be able to set it high when you need to and on the deck when you need. On rough terrain you also need to set it at awkward angles for maximum stability.
Then there are the multitude of heads. Do you go for a ball head, grip head, 3 way head, gimbal head, or fluid head? By the time you choose the right tripod for you and then the right head, there are lots of opportunities to end up with the wrong thing.
So what's my perfect tripod then? Can't find one; I use three and it used to be four and a heavy duty monopod. I use the big heavy duty number with a fluid head for my large telephoto's and generally in a bird hide. Then a carbon fibre 055 with a lightweight magnesium 3 way head and that is my general purpose tripod. Finally a little 190 carbon fibre, with a small ball head. Small and lightweight for when I travel abroad, or go somewhere where I don't think I will need a tripod, but I pack it anyway. And I still feel the need for a small table top tripod, but I have managed to resist the urge .............. so far!
C18I0797a by Colin Cross, on Flickr
C18I0798 by Colin Cross, on Flickr
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