New Tripod Suggestions?

kbphoto615

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Hey guys. I am a freelance photographer shooting mostly people but on the odd occasion nature as well. I don't have very heavy equipment. I own a Nikon D300 with a battery grip, and SB900, and a Sigma 17-70 lens. My longest lens is a 70-200 Nikkor. It is also the heaviest lens I own. I do not know the weight of the Nikon or the lenses and flash combined but I imagine it wouldn't be over 12 pounds. I am wondering how I go about finding a good set of tripod legs and a head. I am most interested in the Joystick Pistol head's from Manfrotto, but I was wondering if someone could give me some suggestions on legs and maybe some other heads. I used the pistol grip on a job a fw wks ago and fell in love with it, but I am open to suggestions. My price range is under $300 and the cheaper the better, I'll be asking for it as a Christmas present from friends and family. haha Also, this sounds like a really noob question, but I've always bought sinlge piece tripods, if I by a head seperate from the legs, how do I attatch them? Is it simple to do? How do I know what is compatible with what?
Oh and btw I should mention I am 6'2 so It would need to be a pretty tall and sturdy set of legs.
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Thanks in advance for some suggestions and advice guys! :)
 
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I have both the 190 legs and the 055 legs (Manfrotto) and like them both very much. Have your friends look on Craig's List and other used 'sites; tripods are a GREAT thing to buy used. Attaching the head is as simple as threading it onto the legs (exactly the same as you do the camera to the head) and then "locking" it on with a second screw.
 
I have both the 190 legs and the 055 legs (Manfrotto) and like them both very much. Have your friends look on Craig's List and other used 'sites; tripods are a GREAT thing to buy used. Attaching the head is as simple as threading it onto the legs (exactly the same as you do the camera to the head) and then "locking" it on with a second screw.

Hi tirediron, thanks so much for the response.

Do you have carbon fiber or the aluminium version of the 055 series legs? I am very interested in these legs but I do not know which to go for, the aluminium or the carbon fiber. Also when it says 3 and 4 section, I assume this means how many sections there are to the legs that can be adjusted? What is the advantage of having 4? I would want 3, less hassle right?!? :D haha
 
3-leg section legs offer more stability than 4 leg sections, but 4 leg sections collapses to a smaller size. Leg section diameter also affects stability and 3 section legs generally have large diameter leg sections.

Part of the stability of a tripod comes from it's weight. Aluminum tripods are somewhat more stable than the same tripod as a carbon fiber version, because they weigh a little bit more.

Depending on the layup, cabon fiber may not offer vibration damping that is as good as what aluminum offers.

I prefer the Giottos brand over the Manfrotto brand, because I think Giottos offers a beteer value. www.giottos.com I recommend you look at the MT line of Giottos tripods (MT 9361).

You can put a Manfrotto head on Giottos tripod legsm, but Giottos makes some sweet heads too.
 
I use the Manfrotto 190 as well and love it. It isn't as light as a carbon fiber tripod nor is it as stable as a Gitzo or RRS but then I didn't pay a fortune for it either. I have a couple of other lighter aluminum tripods and the difference is night and day between them and the Manfrotto.

Heads are pretty standard. Most of them have 3/8" threads as do the tripod legs. As mentioned it's just a function of threading them on and, in some cases, tightening down some supplementary locking screws.

I have two heads for mine, a Manfrotto 410 geared head and a Giottos ball head. I've used both with my D90, vertical grip with 2 batteries, and a 500mm Sigma lens (pretty heavy combination) with no problems.
 
Thanks guys so much. I appreciate all the feedback. I'll take a look at the suggestions and post back on what I end up going with. :)
 
While weight is *part* of what makes a tripod "stable", it's certainly not a primary part.

Stability (in a photographic sense) is the combination of the dispersion of the weight/mass of the item to be stabilized over a larger area plus resistance to both integral/internal and external dynamic movement/(harmonic and other) vibration sources. Weight *does* help with deadening harmonic vibration, but not necessarily with external dynamic force - think wind howling against your camera - it would remain vibration-free to the extent your tripod/head unit can resist the amount of force present in the wind.

For the best weight/vibration dampening ratio, carbon-fiber (for now) reigns supreme (though it comes at a higher price - and not all carbon-fiber is created equally nor layed-out the same). Another good dampening material is good 'ol hardwood (ash is a common species in this category), but it's heavier than carbon-fiber (CF). There are also other materials which strive for an excellent strength/weight ratio (basalt is one such material - others will continue to evolve).

I suppose an all-steel or cast iron tripod could work, but they would be prohibitively heavy.

So, nowadays most pro's use CF. Which CF 'pod is another question, but the knee-jerk, (almost) everyone's default is Manfrotto. They're fine tripods, but trading on a bit of legacy for the price (other CF 'pods for the price are better). There are much, much better 'pods with much, much, much larger price-tags - think Really Right Stuff and Gitzo (as well as some custom-made 'pods, but prices are astronomical).

Tripod legs are only maybe 1/2 the way to the stable platform... Next comes the head unit. There's a *huge* variety to these puppies in type/strength/quality/material/etc. For what i shoot a ballhead works nicely and Manfrotto offers a reasonable quality head at a good price (especially in the used market). However, if someone wants the very best of the best there are many excellent manufacturers - Kirk Enterprises, Really Right Stuff, Arca-Swiss, Graf, Burzynski, Photo Clam, Linhoff, etc.

Now, all the fanboys/girls may have a cry-fest 'cause i didn't mention their pet brand or whatever, but that's more about emotional connection than fact-based.
 

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