UKC

I did my research and dug deep to pay good money for a tripod that well disappoints in some ways but seem a quality product..

My existing tripod of old is a £10.00 job with plastic spider and pan head, crank up centre post. Legs are 3 oval section alloy tubing. It doesn't come come anywhere near eye level and you have to nudge the camera into position and hope it all holds together. However ive taken my best shots with it.

Wise words say get the best you can afford, my budget was £200.
I cant afford carbon so opted for heavier alloy version. My theory of the extra weight will aid stability and many a good photo was taken on alloy legs before carbon came along.

After much research I landed on Induro as a manufacturer, and the AT214 tripod with BHD0 ball head. The whole combo fit the budget.

On arrival I see and feel that it is a well made quality product, but when set up find it wobbles a lot. Nothing loose, just wobbles or oscillates when you knock it . It settles down but its a bit disappointing. I guess the reason is its long 4 section round cross section legs. I imagine the carbon version would be the same. It has a centre hook for adding weight, which I may need to use. Its ok when the legs are 50% retracted. But my concern is, when at full height on a wind day, 10 stop filter catching cloud movement, the camera may as well be hand held!

So my questions are
Is this to be expected?
Should i have spent more money?
Or could I have saved a ton by buying from ebay what looks to be a copy?

In reply to mikehike:

I've never heard of that brand but I had a manfrotto and It was rock solid. For lansacpes I've never been a fan of a ball head though. I had a three way which was decent - not amazing.

In reply to mikehike:

I suppose anything will move given enough wind.

It seems to get rave reviews, so you've probably got a good bit of kit for your budget, be happy with it, but learn its limitations.

I assume you've read the bythom article http://www.bythom.com/support.htm

I've not tried the more expensive options (so I don't know what I'm missing!). However with similar kit, even in moderate wind I've got successful long exposures and timelapses by;
never extending the centre column.
using shutter delay.
not having the legs fully extended - use the thickest tubes first, and keep some overlap at each joint.
Using a slack angle on the legs.

I've personally not found hanging huge weights off the tripod helps -in high winds the bag just swings in the breeze.
Also I'm now a bit skeptical about mirror lock-up after reading this and others http://improvephotography.com/9442/mirror-lockup-is-a-conspiracy-sort-of/ although I do use liveview a lot.

In reply to mikehike:

With just the tripod and the ballhead locked down, legs fully extended, pushing the tripod towards any of the legs should raise one of the other legs without 'wobbling' first. Check you have the leg locks adjusted to snap firmly, like a trekking pole, and that all of the screws in the construction are factory tight or better.

Ebay has a good reputation if you are the buyer, so it is worth checking if you can get a refund, whether or not the tripod is 'defective'. If it's from China, well, you might have to pay return postage to get your refund.

Buy a Manfrotto, Giottos, or some other respectable brand; though that is not to put down "Induro", which I have only ever heard about online, because you might have a lemon which is nobody's fault.

Jon

In reply to mikehike:

You have only described tripod wobble. You have said nothing about the photographs (OK maybe you haven't taken any yet, due to your initial findings)

Maybe some test shots will reveal whether this thing is a duffer or not.

Just a polite suggestion.

In reply to mikehike:

send it back and get one of these - http://www.wexphotographic.com/buy-manfrotto-mt055xpro3-tripod/p1549518

In reply to mikehike:

I have an £80 Manfrotto and happy with it. I owned a ball head tripod for a day but realised theyre not great for landscapes, I changed it for a 3way head as these are far easier to fine tune your composition, also pretty essential for panoramas. You can move/ pan the camera horizontally without the risk of knocking the composition out of line.

In reply to Blue Straggler:




He described the tripod wobbling while on a long exposure therefore the pictures wont be as good as they could have been on a sturdy tripod. The pictures wont be in sharp focus or may even be completely blurred.

In reply to mikehike:

Little trick for steading in winds. Like Dan said, a weight can swing. So, get a sling and adjust it to just above the ground, hang it off the hook and put your foot in it then as you push your foot to the ground this will be more sturdy than a swinging weight.

In reply to Joss:



Actually he described the tripod wobbling, and then gave a hypothetical example of a long exposure

In reply to mikehike:
I would send it back. I brought a Giottos MTL9351b and ballhead for £130 and it is solid as a rock in high winds with full leg extension, so no it's not expected and you don't need to spend more money.

If you want a lightweight and compact sturdy tripod then you need to spend a lot of money, but you shouldn't need to if your prepared to lug around a large alloy version.

In reply to mikehike:

When you use the central column to hang a weight, don't let the bag or weight dangle and swing about. Sit it on the floor and use a piece of cord to attach it to the column while still sitting the bag on the floor. Tension the cord using a guy knot or a plastic guy line tensioner. Dont let the bag lift off the floor. Works a treat.

In reply to Joss:

An update.

I ended up keeping the Tripod but had the Ball Head replaced with the same companies 3 Way Head.
I changed my opinion of the tripod after checking out my mates Manfrotto, Legs retracted and then legs extended to give say chest height, they were both as steady as each other. It was only setting mine to the max which the Manfotto couldn't reach that mine became more reactive to knocks.

I originally went for a ball head as "that's what you need" these days. Well for Landscape, 3 Way gets my vote and the one ive ended up with seems fine, but again expensive for what it is. Probably still paid 30-40 quid. over the top for the whole package. Time will tell though as it may outlast me!

mh