Tripod: What should I look for in online shopping

Lez325 · Dec 16, 2021

I think I understand

I have a Gimbal head with a swiss arca plate- this fits to the base of your camera on in this image on to my battery grip, allowing the ti[pod to stay form and yet giving both horizontal and vertical movement of the camera and lens this image shows the camera in the rear most and lowest positions- Gimbal heads are not really suited to a monopod though

Here is one of my Sony a7Riv with a Sony 200-600mm lens attached- its suitable for all camera's and lenses

sorry about the image- shot with my phone on a foggy morning

Les

mathbias · Dec 16, 2021

I did the testing with my heavier lens. The pano axis is about where my crude earlier measurements put it (near the back of the lens, in contrast to my 28-70 which has it near the front of the lens). As near as I can measure the weight balance, it is in the same place as the pano axis. The big volume of the front of the lens makes it look like the weight balance would be further forward. But it isn't.

Continuing to play with the new tripod (bad weather outside and no good subjects inside for more real use of it), I am finding some flaws. Not close to enough to make me wish I had gone with a significantly more expensive one, but flaws:

The legs have angle locks at just 3 angles, narrow, wide, and very wide. The narrow is a bit narrower than is comfortable for normal use, but is the angle lock I'll be stuck using most of the time. The wide is too wide to be comfortable for normal use. The very wide likely only makes sense when swapping out the center column for the mini center column and then using the tripod super low. I'll need some experience to get a feel for when it is safe to not lock the leg angles, just set any desired angle between the narrow and wide. In all cases (even a smooth floor) it feels safe. The feet have a lot of traction and don't slip. But I probably won't do that on hard surfaces. On carpet and outdoors on grass or dirt, I think the feet won't slip and getting a better angle will be better than using the lock. But I'll need to play with it more to be confident.
Either the shape of the central part is cast a bit off or one of the leg lock mechanisms is a bit off, because one of the legs locks a just tiny bit narrower angle than the other two. So on a perfectly level floor, with all legs the same length, the center column is a tiny bit off of vertical and the plane of rotation a tiny bit off of horizontal. For perfect panoramas, I'd need to adjust that (by setting that leg a fraction of an inch shorter) and there is no built in level below the ball for getting that perfect. Other than perfect panoramas, that whole detail would be invisible because tilt and elevation would be adjusted anyway with the ball. For panoramas under normal conditions (on a surface that isn't perfectly level) I'd be adjusting tripod leg length anyway to get the rotation plane level.

The head easily removes (such as for moving the head to the tiny substitute center column). BUT putting it back before learning its problem led to a difficult to correct situation and close to a disastrous problem that I still don't fully understand. A double ended screw screws both into the top of the column and into the bottom of the head and it seemed OK to do both at once. That caused the screw to go too deep into the head, leaving not enough threads to hold right in the column (that part I understand and now know how to avoid). It led to the head being able to jump when just slightly bumped from feeling totally tight to allowing massive wobble (and maybe fall out). Glad I'm learning all this before real use. Misunderstanding and trying to tighten better led to the whole thing stuck: wouldn't unscrew from either the head or the top of the column. Careful application of more force unscrewed the top of the column from the rest of the column (which isn't designed to come apart). Somehow that took the stress off the threads so that top bit could unscrew from the screw, and doing that took other stress off (understandably because a grip part acts like a lock nut) so the other side unscrewed easily from the head:
Bottom line (at least so far as I think I understand): First screw the top of the column tight to the column (loctite it if it come apart again), then in normal assemble first screw the double ended screw tight to that top piece. It can't go in too far. Last step screw the head onto the other side of the double screw. The only thing stopping it from going in too far is that it is done last.

Lez325 · Dec 17, 2021

Sounds like you have a rather cheap set up

Nothing supporting a camera and lens should wobble, no way

Buy cheap- buy twice is the saying

Les

mathbias · Dec 17, 2021

Lez325 said:
Nothing supporting a camera and lens should wobble, no way

I agree. But the problem was bad instructions, not bad parts, and fortunately no significant harm was done.

If I wasn't clear, the issue was entirely in the handling of a double ended screw during a (likely to be rare) reconfiguration (such as moving the head from the full center column to the mini center column).

If you tighten the double ended screw into the center column BEFORE adding the head, everything comes together correctly and really is firm.

It was not initially clear why you should not thread the double ended screw into the head and then screw that combination into the center column. That looks like everything would end up in the same place as doing it the right way. But when you do it in that order and tighten enough to feel firm, it isn't actually firm.

This fairly low cost tripod had terrible instructions written by someone who clearly knew zero English and was using some crude translate software with no review by an English speaker. But it didn't take me long to reach the point that I know everything that instructions should have told me. I certainly prefer spending $69 (including tax) and taking some time to sort out bad instructions to paying $420 for maybe better.

I still might find out that you're right and I should have spent more. But so far, I haven't learned about any feature I'd get by spending more that is worth the price difference.

Lez325 · Dec 20, 2021

mathbias said:
I agree. But the problem was bad instructions, not bad parts, and fortunately no significant harm was done.

If I wasn't clear, the issue was entirely in the handling of a double ended screw during a (likely to be rare) reconfiguration (such as moving the head from the full center column to the mini center column).

If you tighten the double ended screw into the center column BEFORE adding the head, everything comes together correctly and really is firm.

It was not initially clear why you should not thread the double ended screw into the head and then screw that combination into the center column. That looks like everything would end up in the same place as doing it the right way. But when you do it in that order and tighten enough to feel firm, it isn't actually firm.

This fairly low cost tripod had terrible instructions written by someone who clearly knew zero English and was using some crude translate software with no review by an English speaker. But it didn't take me long to reach the point that I know everything that instructions should have told me. I certainly prefer spending $69 (including tax) and taking some time to sort out bad instructions to paying $420 for maybe better.

I still might find out that you're right and I should have spent more. But so far, I haven't learned about any feature I'd get by spending more that is worth the price difference.

The tripod I mentioned and the Gimbal- need no screws to tighten - I have had mine for some 6 years and all the maintenance needed, was to re- grease the internal gearing on the Gimbal head once a year
Good luck with your present one

Les