Tripod suggestions please - around £60

[Mrs NucSquash]

Hi all,

Can anyone suggest a good tripod for around £60. Needs to be lightweight and easy to carry. Also it would be good to have a quick release for ease of use.

While I am at it, can someone also suggest a good all round filter to go on both my 18-55 and 70-300 lens for shooting landscapes. I dont know alot about filters so I dont know which one i need but I want to make sure the sky, sea etc isnt over exposed.

Thanks in advance.

Nik

[ian in lancs]

Filters can be seen as either

1 protection for the lens with minimal impact on the image; a skylight 1b or UV. Both slightly warm the image but its hardly noticeable. It is good practice to have one on each lens. Repairing a scratched lens element is far more expensive than replacing the filter - I've had to do that twice now.

2 produce an effect. This can be to

soften the image - soft focus,

change the colour; orange-ish filters to warm up or enhance a sunset for example or blue-ish to cool an image. In the days of film they were used to correct tungsten or fluorescent lights to sunlight but only used creatively now on digital cameras and anyway the effects can be created using editing software.

reduce the amount of light entering the lens/camera without altering the colour. These are neutral density filters. They can be a consistent shade across the filter or graduated. Consistent would be used to allow slower shutter speeds for a given aperture or a wider aperture for a given shutter speed. It's mainly used in very bright conditions and is a bit like changing the ISO setting. A graduated filter where half the filter is clearer than the other half is used in say a landscape to underexpose the sky relative to the land or in a snowscape to underexpose the snow relative to the sky. Whilst on holiday the seas and sky were blue/green and deep blue and extremely bright and even though I have a graduated filter I've hardly ever used it preferring to bracket difficult shots (slight exposure changes) rather than faf with filters.

You say you want filter advice to correct exposures. I personally wouldn't bother and just bracket shots.

[miniman]

If you can run to a Manfrotto then that would be my tripod recommendation, but you will be spending nearer £100 once you have bought the tripod and a head for it. At the lower end, this looks quite good:

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/product/default.as...

[Bigdrift]

[quote]

a skylight 1b or UV. Both slightly warm the image but its hardly noticeable.quote]

since when did a uv warm the image ??

anyway , you may need a polariser for more detail in the sky and deeper colours , will also control reflections on glass and water

if you want to control over exposure in skies then a graduated ND flter will do the trick

as for a tripod i think this would be a better choice on a budget

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/product/default.as...

HTH

[windandwave]

Bigdrift said:

as for a tripod i think this would be a better choice on a budget

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/product/default.as...

HTH

+ 1. Not the lightest but solid & capable of taking bigger bodies & lenses.

[C&C]

If you can go to £100 for the tripod, I'd recommend this one at £50:
http://www1.clikpic.com/Redsnapper/photo_1036442.h...

with the ball head also at £50:
http://www1.clikpic.com/Redsnapper/photo_2019865.h...

I have the head and it is a quality piece of kit but at much lower price than the manfrotto equivalent. It is very smooth, has a "variable drag" control, and has no problems handling a heavy lens/camera combo (Canon 40D + Sigma 120-300 f2.8 + 1.4x TC). Also very sturdy quick release plate.

Redsnapper are well liked on the talkphotography.co.uk forum. I also recently bought one of their bags:
http://www1.clikpic.com/Redsnapper/photo_2504515.h...
and was (again) surprised at the excellent quality for the price.

If you call them and speak to Joe, he's very helpful, and if you sign up to and mention the talkphotography forum, he'll give you an additional 10% off.

I've ordered my stuff over the phone with no problems, and it arrives very quickly.

I have no association with Redsnapper apart from being a very satisfied customer.

Cheers,

Conrad.

[Jenx]

^^^Bl00dy hell! Some of that stuff looks like excellent VFM ^^^

[Mrs NucSquash]

Thanks for that. I am already a member of talk photography website. I shall have a look into that. Thanks

Edit to say - I was considering this http://www.bristolcameras.co.uk/p-slik-sprint-pro-...

Any thoughts?

Edited by Mrs NucSquash on Thursday 4th September 20:59

[C&C]

This is only my personal opinion, but since getting the ball head, I far prefer it to a 3 way pan and tilt head, as I find it easier to adjust, and much quicker in use. I currently use the ball head on either a monopod or my old Slik 88 tripod, and would never go back to the old 3-way head on the Slik (although things may have improved with 3-way heads as mine must be 20 years old now). The ball head also does allow you to pan, as it has a separate, lockable rotation control which can be operated even if the ball is locked (hope this makes sense). All this obviously IMHO, and there will no doubt be people who prefer the 3 way heads.

Cheers,

Conrad.

[GetCarter]

I have both a 3 way and a ball head tripod. Ball head is way quicker, but way less stable if the camera is heavy. (My camera weighs a ton). Depends what you use.

2p's worth.

Also to the OP: if you get a square filter, (gradated grey etc) you'll probably only use it on the wide lens... and in any case the fitting will probably be a different size for the two lenses. A cokin setup is about £25.

[VxDuncan]

On a budget I'd say keep an eye on ebay for really old tripods. I bought one of ca. 70's vintage for £2.50, that is all alloy, sturdy as yorkshire lass who's just joined the TA and will cope with a 70-200 F2.8 and 1.4x tc hanging off the body without slipping (that's mounted on the camera not suppored from the lens - my old nikkor didn't have a tripod mount). Granted it stank of cigarettes and needed a damn good clean, but worth it for a few quid. Think the reason why it went so cheap as it was listed with a really blurry photo as a "camera stand"!

[C&C]

GetCarter said:

I have both a 3 way and a ball head tripod. Ball head is way quicker, but way less stable if the camera is heavy. (My camera weighs a ton). Depends what you use.

Good point, although I haven't noticed any problems with stability of the particular ball head I mentioned above. It seems very stable with a fairly heavy camera/lens combo of 3.48Kg - Canon 40D (740g), Sigma 120-300 f2.8 (2600g), 1.4x TC (143g).
The ball head is apparently specified to handle a maximum load of 10Kg.

Having said that, looking at your photos, they are stunningly sharp, so you probably do have a point!