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Archive 2013 · Tripod suggestions for landscape photography

  
 
Roland W
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p.2 #1 · p.2 #1 · Tripod suggestions for landscape photography


For a tripod head for landscape, I would strongly recommend a good ball head over a geared head. A ball head allows faster and easier composition of a shot, and you can purchase a good ball head all ready set up with an Arca Swiss clamp. The Really Right Stuff BH-55 ball head is great, but is indeed expensive. I have a gear head, and use it occasionally for special setups, but a ball head is my go to head for landscape.

A good L bracket for your camera allows quick change of orientation, and keeps your camera centered over the tripod. If you ever want to consider using a lever release clamp, I would recommend going with a Really Right Stuff L bracket, to be fully compatible with all Arca Swiss clamps, including the very good RRS lever release clamps.

For tripod legs, adding weight there for stability is not very productive. It is the small vibrations caused by wind or the camera mirror or the photographer that are the most important to control. If there is enough wind to worry about tipping over, it is likely too windy to shoot, or you can add weight hung from the center. You can also grab two legs and use your body weight to add stability, and still shoot with a remote in your hand. For serious tip over stability in wind, you can widen the angle of the legs, and the new angles make a tip over nearly impossible. The camera is of course much lower, but with live view and a remote release, the system is very usable. By the way, some wood tripods and some metal tripods may not allow wide leg angles, so watch for that.

Limiting the small vibrations that really kill sharp landscape shots is first best done with a larger more rigid tripod. The details of being rigid are in the detailed design of the tripod and the way the legs are attached and the way they "lock up" when they are angled out against the leg tilt stop. The way the leg sections lock together when extended are another place where you can keep or loose rigid performance, depending on design. You can not easily evaluate that part of a tripod function by looking at it, so you need to use some recommendations from others. My main experience is with Gitzo carbon fiber tripods, and Really Right Stuff carbon fiber tripods, and they are excellent. There are other brands that are likely great also, but I do not have experience with them.

Getting vibrations to damp out after they are created is a big factor to consider. Metal tripods are not good for damping things out. A good wood tripod can be very good at damping, but you pay the penalty of extra weight for the same stiffness compared to carbon fiber. The internal properties of the material make carbon fiber tripods much better for damping compared to metal, and that difference is fundamental to the actual materials. The internal damping of carbon fiber is a big reason why they are now common for landscape, and of course they also can offer light weight with good performance. In your case you do not care too much about weight, but you still should consider carbon fiber. The draw back is of course cost, and that may be more important right now for you.

You mentioned use in water, but did not say if you wanted to include use in salt water. The carbon fiber tripod is better in water than wood, and also is a better choice than metal for salt water use. Wood can swell and potentially even warp with water exposure. Aluminum legs can suffer from long term deterioration due to corroding from salt water exposure, even if you try to clean them out well after use. The fairly strong and moderately light weight aluminum used for tripods is very sensitive to salt water corrosion. The aluminum alloys used for marine products are different, and are better around salt water, but still can have issues.



Jun 21, 2013 at 11:26 AM
lukeb
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p.2 #2 · p.2 #2 · Tripod suggestions for landscape photography


Shopping for a tripod is like shopping for a replacement heart for transplant. Get the very best you can afford, as it is truly an investment !


Jun 21, 2013 at 11:46 AM
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