How to choose a tripod: Photographer and Videographer
- First: Find a carbon fiber tripod—they are usually lighter, stronger and provide vibration reduction.
- Second: Find a tripod that’s easy to set up. Tripods with automatic leg angle lock mechanisms are a good choice.
- Third: If you must, take one photo hand-holding your camera so you don’t miss a shot. Then, take some time to set up your tripod. In the end, you’ll realize that the photos you took while using your tripod are sharper and better composed.
- Stability: Stay away from wobbly tripods that will shake with the slightest breeze.
- Construction: The perfect tripod should be made of good materials; wood, aluminum or carbon fiber.
- Versatility: Find a tripod that allows you to get close to the ground. However, make sure it can also extend to a comfortable shooting height.
- Ease of use: Look for a tripod with a fast set up mechanism. Also, if the legs can be adjusted independently, it will allow you to work better on uneven ground.
- Redesigned spider provides increased stability and load capacity.
- Lightweight 10 layer, 100% Carbon Fiber legs provide significantly increased stability and vibration reduction.
- Flat platform can be replaced with a 75mm bowl for use with SIRUI and other brand video heads.
- New leg angle locking system makes selecting one of the three angle positions fast and reliable.
- Three-point locking platform makes converting from a still to video tripod fast and secure
(the locking channel on the platform/75mm bowl adds stability and greater locking integrity). - R-5214XL can extend up to 6.6 feet (2 m) and as low as 3.9 inches (100 mm)
- For speed and convenience, each leg has an automatic leg angle lock mechanism.
- Built-in bubble level makes horizontal adjustments fast and easy.
- Replaceable rubber foot/stainless steel spike.
- Hanging hook is also an allen key tool.
The photography industry is evolving. Every day more and more photographers are becoming videographers. In order to improve the quality of their work, photographers need to use a stable tripod. The process of finding the right tripod can be complicated. However, if photographers want tack-sharp images, the hassle of finding a tripod shouldn’t stop them from getting one.
WHY DO YOU NEED A TRIPOD?
Like any other professional photographer and videographer, you need a tripod to achieve professional work. There are two main reasons why you need a tripod—even when your camera has image stabilization:
1) You need a tripod to get better images: If you are a photographer, a tripod can improve the quality of your photos. Your images will be sharper and better composed. There are many reasons why photographers don’t use a tripod. For instance, tripods tend to be heavy and bulky. Hence, they are inconvenient to carry around. Also, tripods can be difficult to set up. Therefore, tripods could slow you down. There are solutions for these minor inconveniences:
Now, for a videographer there is no way around it; shaky videos will degrade the quality of the video and may make the viewers dizzy.
2) You need a tripod to support your equipment: Your hands cannot provide a stable shooting platform to support a heavy DSLR camera with a long telephoto lens attached. Thus, you need to choose a sturdy tripod that can hold your equipment in place.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR WHEN BUYING A TRIPOD?
It seems almost impossible to find a tripod that can fit your photography and videography needs. However, there are options that can help you shoot both still images and video. For instance, the Sirui R-X series are 2 tripods in one. They are tall, strong and stable; designed to support the heaviest cameras and telephoto lenses. Even though they are tall, they can be adjusted to get close to the ground.
Something great about these tripods is they come with a flat platform that allows you to attach a ball head or gimbal head that is designed to support long telephoto lenses. These tripods can easily be converted into video tripods by replacing the flat platform with the included 75mm bowl, for use with SIRUI Professional Fluid Video Heads.
Check out its features listed at http://argraph.com/Sirui-RX-Broadcast-Tripod-Series.html :
