What's wrong with a forty dollar tripod?

[marie1128]

I was window shopping on Amazon, looking at tripods. I selected four star reviews and up, and no price range. The first few tripods are 50 bucks or less....and yet have rave reviews....so what is the big deal about having an expensive tripod?

 

[ronlane]

$50 tripod holding up your $2,000+ gear. Most cheap tripods will only allow the legs to go apart a limited distance which makes the base really weak in comparison. Also the legs are usually flimsy and weak. The expensive ones will typically will move each leg independently and have thicker more stable legs.

 

[Derrel]

A $40 tripod can be equated with a $500 car. YES, it's a car, buuuut....

Lightweight tripods that are small and have multi-section legs with cheap locks....hmmm...well, they move around in the wind or breeze, tend to tip over quite easily, cannot hold heavy camera/lens setups reliably, safely, or sturdily. Tend to not go very high, or very low. Often have fixed, non-interchangeable heads, and may or may not allow the use of quick release plates.

$40 TRIPODS, HMMM..... Maybe they're more like $19 jeans, versus $249 jeans...yeah, sure, they're both "pants"...or maybe they're more like $10-a-case generic beer...I dunno....$40 TRIPODS are "cheap" tripods. If all a person needs is three legs and a platform to hold a small camera up for the occasional selfie, then they're okay.

 

[tirediron]

Check out Craig's List or your local used gear shop. Tripods are a great deal used, and you can often save 50% or more buying used. Look for brands such as Bogen, Manfrotto, or the higher end Sunpak and Velbon units. As a rule of thumb a tripod & head, bought new that cost less than $100 is probably NOT a wise investment. If you can't afford that now, save and wait 'til you can.

 

[wyogirl]

nothing is wrong with a cheap tripod... they are manufactured with a certain demographic in mind.
However, if you want a tripod that will stand up to wind, hold heavy equipment at any angle, and many other bells and whistles... well then you will probably pay for it.

I have a decent tripod that cost around $75 when I bought it, its now about $40. Its decent, but it wont stand up to some of the wind we have here in Wyoming, I can't take it apart to clean it and I expect I'll be replacing it within a year or so just due to the fact that it isn't made to hold up in some of the environments that I have it in.

 

[ronlane]

A $40 tripod can be equated with a $500 car. YES, it's a car, buuuut....

Lightweight tripods that are small and have multi-section legs with cheap locks....hmmm...well, they move around in the wind or breeze, tend to tip over quite easily, cannot hold heavy camera/lens setups reliably, safely, or sturdily. Tend to not go very high, or very low. Often have fixed, non-interchangeable heads, and may or may not allow the use of quick release plates.

$40 TRIPODS, HMMM..... Maybe they're more like $19 jeans, versus $249 jeans...yeah, sure, they're both "pants"...or maybe they're more like $10-a-case generic beer...I dunno....$40 TRIPODS are "cheap" tripods. If all a person needs is three legs and a platform to hold a small camera up for the occasional selfie, then they're okay.

I was thinking more like a 5-point racing harness verses a bungy cord seat belt system.

 

[marie1128]

If all a person needs is three legs and a platform to hold a small camera up for the occasional selfie, then they're okay.

Or perhaps the once a year Christmas card photo? Lol. Sorry, I wasn't trying to make it sound like I want to go the cheap route, I just don't get how something can be so cheap, yet have great reviews on it....

 

[robbins.photo]

I was window shopping on Amazon, looking at tripods. I selected four star reviews and up, and no price range. The first few tripods are 50 bucks or less....and yet have rave reviews....so what is the big deal about having an expensive tripod?

Depends a lot on where your using it, how your using it and how much gear you're putting on it. You can use an inexpensive $40 tripod indoors without too many problems, though I still don't generally recommend them because of many of the problems others have mentioned. The build quality on the less expensive tripods normally leaves a lot to be desired. But if your using it indoors, have older equipment or equipment that doesn't weigh much you might be able to make use of one for a while.

The more expensive models will have better features, much higher build quality, will last longer and you can usually use them in a lot more situations because they are built to stand up to those sort of conditions. Like most everything else in life you get what you pay for, so really you need to evaluate what you'll be doing with the tripod and how often you'll be using it before deciding on a budget.

Me, I don't even own one. I don't do landscapes, and while I do have a fairly nice monopod I rarely if ever use it either. I do mostly wildlife photography and since my telephoto has VR, well the days of carrying a tripod or monopod with me everywhere are pretty much over for me. I do occasionally pack the monopod if I think I might run into a situation where I might want to do a landscape or two - but for the most part most everything I shoot anymore is handheld.

Flickr: robbins.photo's Photostream

That's my flickr account if you'd like to take a look and judge the results for yourself. Hope that helps.

 

[wyogirl]

If all a person needs is three legs and a platform to hold a small camera up for the occasional selfie, then they're okay.

Or perhaps the once a year Christmas card photo? Lol. Sorry, I wasn't trying to make it sound like I want to go the cheap route, I just don't get how something can be so cheap, yet have great reviews on it....

Because the demographic it was built for loves it. If that is all you are going to do and the weight limit will hold your gear then yeah no need to drop loads of cash. But if you want it for more adventurous things, save yourself some money in the long run and buy something better.

 

[ronlane]

If all a person needs is three legs and a platform to hold a small camera up for the occasional selfie, then they're okay.

Or perhaps the once a year Christmas card photo? Lol. Sorry, I wasn't trying to make it sound like I want to go the cheap route, I just don't get how something can be so cheap, yet have great reviews on it....

If you are putting your point and shoot on it, i'm sure that it is great and get rave reviews. The rest are from people that just aren't informed.

 

[Rachel1786]

I came on here intending to ask pretty much the same thing, since I seem to have misplaced my tripod(which was a cheapy from walmart anyway). I started reading the reviews on amazon and became leery of going cheap again. So now I'm trying to scour ebay for used ones and look up their reviews(and price) on amazon, not going so well since I really don't know what to look for trying to pay attention to the brands someone listed above, but even used those seem to be pricey

 

[HughGuessWho100 15]

Product reviews on Amazon are pretty much useless, especially if you are going strictly by the number of stars. The vast majority of those giving the reviews are generally clueless. Just MHO.

 

[480sparky42 42]

Look up the weight rating spec of that $40 'pod. Meaning: How much weight can your camera & lens total and the tripod will still be sturdy?











Oh, wait.... there won't be one.

 

[goodguy]

I had a very, very old and very, very cheap tripod, got it for free from a family member.
I used tripod very scarcely so for me it was all that I needed, it did the job and that's all I cared about!
The handle that brings it up and down just broke so I bought a new one, cost me 100$ and with the amount of times I use it it will probably out last me.

Depends what is you expectation, how much you use it a tripod and what for.
If you are like me use it once or twice a year then a cheap one might be ok and if you plan on using it a lot and taking it with you on trips maybe its better to get a good one.

 

[SCraig]

A good tripod and head you buy once. A Cheap tripod you buy today, and again next month, and again a few months after that, and again a few months after that, and again a few months after that ......

You get what you pay for.