Decent tripod

Ash Telecaster · May 10, 2019

Hello all,

I just bought a Canon M50. It came in a kit with a bunch of stuff. One of the items was a tripod. It seems pretty cheezy to me. I don't trust it. When I do a web search I find millions and millions of tripods. Can you recommend a stand that is decent and appropriate for an M50 class camera?

Thanks in advance for you thoughts!

Derrel · May 10, 2019

There are many light weight and medium weight tripods that would be perfectly adequate for your camera. When buying a tripod one of the best ways to get the most value for a given amount of money is to buy a good quality used tripod.

Asking for a specific tripod recommendation is a lot like asking for a blouse or shoe recommendation; while it sounds easy to make a recommendation, the market is so filled with choices that any recommendation is almost pointless without a budget that is concrete, and a specific bit or two of information.

Budget: $100, or $1000? $100 or $150? $100 or $650?

Ash Telecaster · May 10, 2019

Thanks Derrel,

I wasn't really sure how much I needed to spend to get something decent. Budget is less an issue than getting something worth owning but I don't want to go overboard either. So let's start with $50 to $100. I bought the M50 with the idea of it being a good travel camera but I would also like to try other things like landscapes, nightscapes, wildlife, etc. Hence the tripod. So I would describe my need as sturdy but multipurpose.

Thanks!

ac12 · May 10, 2019

There are 3 variables in a tripod, but you can only pick 2 of them; weight, sturdiness, and price.

You want light weight and sturdy, expect to PAY a lot. This is the carbon fiber (CF) tripods (EXPENSIVE).
You want sturdy and affordable, expect it to weight a lot.
You want light weight and cheap/affordable, expect it to be less sturdy.

There is no ONE perfect tripod.
I have three different tripod types.
#1 - Heavy studio, for my 4x5 view camera, and long tele time exposure (fireworks) on my dSLR. I got this on Craigslist for $50.
#2 - A carryable tripod that is light enough to carry for a couple/few hundred yards. #1 badly failed this test.
#3 - Travel. See below.

Travel tripods are a compromise.

They have to fit in your suitcase, without displacing a lot of your clothes.
They have to be tall enough to be usable (min 4 feet height for me). To me, the shorties are NOT usable. The higher you raise the center column, the less stable the tripod.
They have to be light enough to carry for a distance. Have to be light enough so your suitcase will not be overweight.
They have to support YOUR camera with acceptable stability.

Having said all this.
There are affordable carbon fiber (CF) tripods coming out of China that have changed the price scale.
They are still more expensive than the Chinese aluminum tripods, but the CF price is much lower than before.

The head is yet another variable.
Really good heads can cost as much as the tripod legs. IOW a lot.
Heads can also be HEAVY. So like a travel tripod, you have to compromise for a travel head.
I have several heads (3-way pan, ball and gimbal). Which one I use depends on the specific shoot and its requirements.

There is no one perfect head; some people swear BY ball heads, and some swear AT them.
My lightest head is a ball head.

Or get an integrated tripod+head.

BillM · May 11, 2019

Great point on the head to be used. Pay attention to the type of plate it accepts especially if it is a fixed head.

Original katomi · May 11, 2019

Have you thought of a Manfrotto clamp. Most come with the brass stud so that you can attach your camera directly. It’s something I have used when out and about need the stability and yet have to travel light.

TCampbell · May 11, 2019

Quality is a big deal for me because my personal opinion is that I shouldn't have to worry about how I treat a tripod. If I'm trying to climb down from something and I want to toss the tripod down, I don't want to have to worry that it might break. The tripod should be able to take a bit of a beating. I don't deliberately abuse my tripods, but I also don't worry about breaking it if I don't give it the white-glove treatment when handling it. And ... there are tripods that are in the "white glove" treatment category (and they sell for less than $100) A friend of mine is now on his THIRD $79 tripod because the first two broke (as I point out to him that he's now spent $240 to own an $80 tripod and wouldn't he have been happier to just buy the $240 tripod in the first place?)

I own several tripods and before recommending anything it's important to consider why a tripod would be used at all.

One of my earlier tripods is a large aluminum tripod. Though it is aluminum, it is large enough and beefy enough that it actually has some considerable weight (although I've used steel tripods as well and they are much heavier.) The point is if I were going on a nature hike, it's not a tripod I'd enjoy carrying around all day. But in a situation where the tripod never really has to move very far (e.g. indoor use or outdoor use where maybe you never really have to carry it very far from your car) then it's FANTASTIC because it's extremely solid. But another downside is that it's too large to fit inside any luggage so it's not great for travel unless it went in checked baggage. (Side note: Years ago when I did wedding photography (back in the 1980's & 90's), the tripod was especially beefy and heavy. But it only needed to be carried from the car to the church ... we weren't too worried about tripod weight ... we were more interested in how it handled the weight of medium format cameras & lenses.)

I wanted a travel tripod and one that could be carried all day ... so I bought a picked up one of the Benro Travel Angel series carbon fiber tripods. This thing is feather weight. It fits in any suitcase (even a small one). I have no problem carrying it all day and hardly notice it. BUT... it is not nearly as beefy as my heavier weight tripods. I don't mean to say it's cheap ... it's actually very well built, I don't have to handle it like an egg that might break. But it's certainly more "springy" than my beefier tripods. This means I really have to think about how I'm using it ... paying particular attention to vibrations, wind, etc. (things I don't have to worry about too much with the heavier tripods). I might hang a weight on the center column hook. I might stand upwind of it to break up the wind.

As for size ... does it need to travel? (sounds like it does). How much weight does it need to carry (doesn't sound like much). For certain types of activities you want it to be able to put the camera at eye-level so size can be a consideration. For certain types of shots you might want to get a camera down extremely low to the ground for some foreground perspective and that means having legs that go wide and possibly a tripod with either a removable center-column or an optional short center-post.

Quality tripods have removable heads so you can swap one head type for another. For video, there are video heads with three axis (tilt, tip, and swivel) directions which are independently adjusted. But for still photography, the ball-head design is more popular. It's a single ball joint that can be positioned in any direction and snugs down with just one knob (some nicer ball-heads also have a tension knob in addition to the main clutch knob).

All of my cameras have Arca-Swiss style dovetail plates as do my heavier lenses (lenses with tripod collars) ... I avoid tripods that use proprietary 'quick-release' systems because now you need the specific proprietary quick-release plate for all over your gear and if you don't have enough, you have to remove the 'quick release' plate from one device to attach it to another device ... which sort of defeats the whole point of the 'quick' part in 'quick-release'. Arca-Swiss is an industry standard. Loads of gear vendors sell Arca-Swiss compatible tripod-heads and plates. Even my BlackRapid camera strap has an Arca-Swiss clamp that works with it (the vendor for that particular gadget is Acratech). While Arca-Swiss is a "brand", the plate is not ... it's a generic industry standard. The plates also come in various lengths and these let you slide the load forward or back in the saddle to find the center of mass.

Their current series lets you detach a leg a use it as a monopod (my series is older and doesn't have this feature).

There's an optional $30-45 (depending on if aluminum vs. carbon fiber) 'short' center column that lets you position the camera much lower to the ground.

A lightweight Benro Travel Angel series tripod is about $200 (with a lightweight ball-head and arca-swiss plate included).

Benro isn't the only company that makes these things and I'm not suggesting this is *the* tripod for you. I'm just pointing out features that I find important in tripods:

Detachable head
Center column can be inverted
Center column can be removed or or swapped with 'short' column to allow low-angle shots.
Legs spread particular wide for low-shots
Arca-swiss style quick-release saddle & plate
Detachable leg can be used as monopod
Weight considerations (if you need to carry it for long distances durations)
Height / size considerations (will it pack in a bag? will be it tall enough for your needs?)
Durability of tripod (does it requires a 'white glove' treatment?)

Ash Telecaster · May 11, 2019

Hi,

Thank you all so much. I am amazed by the education I just received. Thank you for taking the time and giving me so mu h useful information.

I like the idea of carbon fiber and I like the idea of the monopod removable leg. I've also come to realize I will need to spend more money, which is okay. Like Tim's said, his friend spent $240 buying $80 tripods.

I'll have to read a couple times and take notes!

Thank you for taking the time to help me out!

Edit: I almost forgot to ask, are the attachments universal or are there differences based on camera manufacturer that I need to watch out for?

Sharpshooterr · May 11, 2019

Ash Telecaster said:
Hi,

Thank you all so much. I am amazed by the education I just received. Thank you for taking the time and giving me so mu h useful information.

I like the idea of carbon fiber and I like the idea of the monopod removable leg. I've also come to realize I will need to spend more money, which is okay. Like Tim's said, his friend spent $240 buying $80 tripods.

I'll have to read a couple times and take notes!

Thank you for taking the time to help me out!

Edit: I almost forgot to ask, are the attachments universal or are there differences based on camera manufacturer that I need to watch out for?

Ash, welcome(I’m pretty new myself)!!
Yes, most tripods and attachments are pretty universal.
What’s NOT universal are the Quick Release base plates found on the bottoms of ballheads and on top of some tripods(especially some cheap tripods, and they are somewhat brand specific as well but the actual camera mounting is universal and will attach to any camera, universally.
SS

Strodav · May 11, 2019

Most experienced photographers have several tripods, many of which they wish they hadn't bought. The ones I constantly go back to are a Manfrotto befree for travel, a Vangard Alta Pro 263AT with a Alta BH-250 ball head for in home studio work and a Sirui En2204 carbon with a Nest NT-530H gimbal head for birding. If you buy a good tripod and head it will last a lifetime and you won't be asking yourself "what was I thinking".

ac12 · May 11, 2019

Sharpshooterr said:
Ash Telecaster said:

Hi,

Thank you all so much. I am amazed by the education I just received. Thank you for taking the time and giving me so mu h useful information.

I like the idea of carbon fiber and I like the idea of the monopod removable leg. I've also come to realize I will need to spend more money, which is okay. Like Tim's said, his friend spent $240 buying $80 tripods.

I'll have to read a couple times and take notes!

Thank you for taking the time to help me out!

Edit: I almost forgot to ask, are the attachments universal or are there differences based on camera manufacturer that I need to watch out for?

Click to expand...

Ash, welcome(I’m pretty new myself)!!
Yes, most tripods and attachments are pretty universal.
What’s NOT universal are the Quick Release base plates found on the bottoms of ballheads and on top of some tripods(especially some cheap tripods, and they are somewhat brand specific as well but the actual camera mounting is universal and will attach to any camera, universally.
SS

If you loose one of those proprietary QR plates, the tripod is useless and you are SOL.
Some plates (like Manfrotto) are replaceable, others (brand X) are not.

Soocom1 · May 11, 2019

I pointed this out in a previous tripod post, and Ill bring it up again.
I have seen as of late some interesting things occurring at the thrift shops and with tripods.
I have been seeing them everywhere.

Now a goodly amount of them (70% or better) are the cheap junk found at Wally world.

But I have seen and actually purchased a couple recently that were higher quality.
Albiet older, nonetheless workable and serviceable.

To be honest, if you want to play the new game, go ahead. Or purchase a newer name brand as well.

But I still am amazed at some of the recent deals on some of these guys at places like Goodwill, Savers etc.

I dont know what the thrift stores are like in other regions, but I am assuming that if one has the look for it, one can find some serious deals.

The real question is are they capable?

In most instances yes.

If money isnt an issue than shop away at the big names.

But if the money is a concern, the real test is how sturdy the tripod is over the name.

Your best bet is to carry the ol' cell phone with you and when you find something, google the hell out of it to find reviews, complaints, and any issue with it.

ac12 · May 12, 2019

Thrift shops, Craig's List, Estate sales, etc.
But the CF tripods, being newer, are less likely to be in these sources, unless you are lucky.

stevet1 · Aug 3, 2019

Ash Telecaster said:
Hello all,

I just bought a Canon M50. It came in a kit with a bunch of stuff. One of the items was a tripod. It seems pretty cheezy to me. I don't trust it. When I do a web search I find millions and millions of tripods. Can you recommend a stand that is decent and appropriate for an M50 class camera?

Thanks in advance for you thoughts!

I bought a Geekoto. I've been very happy with it.

JoeW · Aug 3, 2019

Most kit tripods are crap. If a tripod won't do what you want it to do, it's worse than useless. They're a hassle to carry around (some more than others) and a hassle to set up. So be clear about what it does well and how well that suits your needs.

If you're going to fly with it, it needs to fit in carry-on luggage (because you will not want to check your camera equipment--ever!). If you're going to hike with it, it needs to be light-weight. If you're going to shoot food or macro photography than you want one that allows the center pole to come out or reverse or tilt and legs that allow you to get the camera inches from the ground or subject. If you're going to shoot sports, you'll probably want a mono-pod.

I have multiple stabilization devices I use. I've got a heavy manfrotto to big to travel with but great when I'm setting up and staying there (like astro photography or fireworks or especially a studio). I've got a light travel tripod--light, folds up well but takes 2 minutes to set up and could easily blow over in a stiff wind. I've got a platypod (which I took on my trip to Vietnam--only used it for about 10 shots but it was worth it). I've got a gorillapod which works well when I'm going hiking. I've got a really cheap REI 6 inch 3 legs that fold together and will fit in a back pocket. I've got a bean bag that I can throw on top of a car to stabilize my camera. I've used every single one of them this year (but I shoot a lot of diverse stuff and I travel and hike a lot). And I used different devices for different situations.

As others have said, there is no such thing as the tripod that is perfect at everything. Every tripod or stabilizing device is a series of compromises. It's perfect only if you don't care about what it's compromising on. If you're not planning on traveling with a tripod or going hiking with it, I suggest you look for something that is very stable, maybe a bit heavier, not so easy to travel with (you'd probably throw it in the car and then drive to the scenic point to shoot that sunset or blue hour). But it will be rock-solid stable (which is what you need). If you're going to travel a lot, you actually should consider alternatives to a tripod (like bungee cords or a platypod or beanbag). Even a great travel tripod is a hassle to haul around, it's weight and sucks up space with a backpack or luggage (yeah, I know some camera bags allow you to tie it at the bottom of your backpack--so you can advertise "expensive camera gear inside--please try and steal me!").

Without seeing your tripod (but knowing what tends to come with camera kits), I bet the most useful purpose you'll find for it is to use it to put a speed light on if you shoot any studio work or portraits.