Which Tripod should I buy

7 Building Blocks of Photography 2

This battered tripod of mine has served me well for the last fifteen years and is still going strong so it's been a fantastic investment.

But what should you look for when investing/ And I do mean investing because it's worth spending some money on a good one.

A cheap wobbly tripod simply is not worth buying. If you only want to spend £25 don't buy one. Spend the money in the pub instead because a cheap tripod Will be wobbly and completely useless.

There are all kinds of tripods on the market from the expensive, sturdy but light weight carbon fibre ones to big chunky monsters like my big Manfrotto.

Personally I prefer a heavy tripod because they won't go all wobbly when you stand them on heather or thick carpet.

Think about how easy it'll be to use. Do you really want to be fiddling with three clips per leg to set it up? Or would you prefer longer sliding legs like the ones on my old Bembo here. The advantage is there are only three screw lock on the whole thing so it's fast and east to set up.

Tripod heads vary hugely and ball heads are great. Again they're fast because there's only one lock and easy because you can swivel the camera through any plane without locking it, but the tripod still holds the camera steady. This is great for candid long lens photography at a wedding for example.

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