You’ll see lots of discussions on various fora about which is the best tripod. Lets start off with my three immutable laws of tripods:
Every single tripod has to balance four qualities, you just have to decide which two are the lowest priority and therefore you can (or must) compromise on
When you buy cheap, you can end up paying twice
A good tripod will last
Qualities
Height. Weight. Stability. Cost.
More stable is heavier or more costly.
Cheaper is less stable and/or heavier.
Light or cheap is less stable and/or shorter.
Less height may mean less weight and more stability, but it’s also less useful (see why you may need a BIG tripod here). I always consider the height with the column down - raising the column usually reduces stability so I would avoid a tripod where you are having to raise the column frequently.
Once you look at all the compromises, you may realise that one tripod may not satisfy all your requirements - the most obvious one being that a big, sturdy one may be unacceptably heavy/large for travel.
Bargain vs Total Cost of Ownership
When considering tripods, I personally think most amateurs and enthusiasts dramatically under budget for tripods, because it considered to be an ancillary bit of kit where some money can be saved (see law 1).
But, a good tripod should last for years. A premium brand one will usually be relatively easy to obtain parts for. But, unless you are constantly drenching your tripod in sea water and/or don’t bother ever doing any maintenance (mostly cleaning!), a quality tripod should go on for years and years. Possibly much longer than some people will hang on to cameras and lenses.
I would say budget between £500 and £1000 for tripod(s) and head(s). Spread that cost over 5 years, it’s possibly a small part of your photographic budget.
Recommended Tripods
It would be easy to say anything by Gitzo, FLM or RRS and end it here.
But let’s be realistic, there are a lot of more economic options available that are worthy of consideration.
So lets talk about what I have, and what I would replace it with today.
The big tall heavy one. I love my Gitzo GT5543XLS. Yes, sometimes it seems a little too heavy, but it is just rock-solid and is seemingly un-phased by gale force winds or driving rain. Going tall is a very good quality that you will really appreciate over time.
But….I probably would not buy it today, instead I would get the Benro TMA48CXL.
Check out the online reviews. You get 90% the height (column down) for 80% of the weight, and you could almost buy three for the price of one Gitzo.
I think this and the Benro GD3WH geared head, which I review in another post here would be my solid recommendation for a landscaper. Shop around and you might even get the pair for less than my minimum £500 budget.
Incidently, I find Mindshift Gears’ tripod carrier to be the best way carry a large, heavy tripod. Although designed for their rucksacks, it can be easily adapted to almost any rucksack - you just need attachment loops on the shoulder straps (which most packs have) and to fashion a loop on the pack to push the legs through.
The light but stable travel one. Oh dear, another Gitzo. I have the GT2545T Traveller, which was a big step up from earlier travellers, it is very stable and light and compact when legs are reversed. A few years ago I would have recommended this as a universal tripod for those who don’t need to go tall or use lenses longer than 200mm equivalent.
Today though, there are quite a few options - I could easily slip another Benro, or a Sirui in here now and have done with it. But, I’m not, because I think Novo Photo make just about the best value product out there today. I have a MP20 monopod (essentially 1 leg of their T20 tripod), and it is excellent, it could easily be mistaken for a Gitzo product at first glance. Impressively, for such a budget range, spares do seem to be readily available on their website.
In comparison to the shorter Gitzo GT2540T, the Explora T20 doesn’t seem to me to be quite as rigid but at less than half the price, including a bag, spikes and five-year warranty it is impressive and great value. Perhaps though the smaller £210 T10 tripod fits the bill more closely for this category.
All Novo tripods are also available in kits with their ballheads - these are similarly excellent, but I’ll have more to say about that in a future post.
The super-light one. There are times when weight takes absolute priority, such as long hikes and when taking a second ‘pod for vlogging etc. Until recently, I would have recommended the Benro Slim Carbon Fibre Tripod with N00 Head (TSL08CN00), currently around £80. It’s comes with a basic but functional ball head with arca clamp, goes reasonably tall, yet weighs 1 kilo all-in. For a light camera, it can work very well, just don’t expect super stability in all conditions. But, crucially, it’s performance exceeds it’s price-point by some margin.
Thing is, Benro themselves made this tripod redundant in my eyes, by launching the Benro Slim Tall Carbon Fibre Tripod (TSL08CLN00), which often can be found for only £20 more. It comes with the same head but is about 12cm taller with the column down, and 18cm with the column up. That may not seem much but in practice it makes a real difference. The weight penalty for that extra height is just 100g.
The do-it-all one. OK, you read this far but still not convinced you need more than one tripod? Simple answer: if height is a higher priority than weight, get the Benro TMA48CXL.
If cost or weight are higher priorities, get the Novo Photo T20 tripod. If budget is really tight, get it in the kit with head for a £70 saving on buying separately.
If your budget can stretch to it, then the Gitzo GT2543L Mountaineer comes close to an all-round balance of weight, height and stability, but at a cost.
Disclaimer
Unless I explicit state otherwise, I do not receive any incentive or inducement from the vendor/distributor of any of the products mentioned.
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