Manfrotto Tripod

[Nolan]

I am thinking of purchasing the MANFROTTO M-Y 7302YB TRIPOD W/BALL HEAD QR this coming week. However I am unsure the product because I have not used it for an extended period of time. I plan to use it for nature photographing, HDR, and portrait photography occasionally. Consequentially I would like your opinion on it if you have used it or had experiance with Manfrotto products. It would be nice if I didn't waste 150 bucks.

If want the details/specs go here MANFROTTO
Thanks for the help.

 

[KmH]

Well, consider what you need a tripod to do.

It needs to hold the camera/lens combo steady, damp vibration well, and have enough weight capacity to not only hold your heaviest camera/lens combo, but handle any additional weight you need to account for wind, camera shutter operation, etc.

So the larger the diameter of the legs, the fewer leg sections there are, the higher the weight rating of the head, the better the chances the particular tripod you are looking at will do the job.

For so varied a list of uses the tripod will need to get close to the ground and cantilever the camera/lens combo on the center colimn (for nature shots) as well as get high enough without the center column raised to do portraiture.


I look for essentials like:

• aluminum construction
• a weight hook
• multiple leg positions
• good working height without the center column extended
• all 3 legs padded

You might want to also take a look at the Giottos MT line of tripods www.giottos.com.


On the Manfrotto you linked to:

• the fewer the leg sections, the more stable the tripod. 4 leg sections will hurt the stability when all 4 are extended.
• Only 2 angles for the legs
• the largest leg tube diameter is only 26 mm.
• load capacity is only 3.5 kg.
• expect ball head creep

Overall, the tripod will be a marginal performer.

 

[Vinny]

KmH is right with his suggestion. The tripod is a little too light for a Nikon D90 with lens. The Nikon is probably a little less weight then what the tripod is made for; you also want something that will be usefull later as well. We all don't know what equipment will be on the tripod 3 years from now and it would be a shame to not be able to use it because the camera/lens combination is too heavy.

 

[orb9220]

Yep for my D90 setup would feel more comfortable with the 190xprob legs as a minimum or if weight isn't a concern then the 055xprob is a tad more beefier. Yep they cost a tad more but exactly how much is your equipment worth?

I have seen many cheap out on the lightest & cheapest to carry only to have their setup topple over to wind or slight bumping.
.

 

[KmH]

I look for a tripod capacity rating 3 time the most camera/lens weight I expect to put on the legs. That way I have the capcity needed to add my camera bag on the weight hook when it's windy, and/or a sand bag on top of my camera/lens to damp mirror/shutter vibration.