How to choose the right tripod?

Choosing a tripod depends on your needs, mainly combining these four aspects: shooting needs, height, equipment and budget. Shooting demand

Photographers mostly belong to outdoor photography, and indoor photography is mainly studio and portrait shooting. There are also some special types of photography, such as sports news shooting. Male users are generally stronger than women, so male users can choose a heavier tripod. After all, the weight is related to the stability of the tripod. Female photographers need a lighter tripod, which won't be too hard to use. If you are afraid that it is not stable enough, you can hang a heavy object on the hook under the central axis to increase stability. Please pay attention to the load bearing of the hook and tripod to avoid being overweight.

travel

In recent years, with the improvement of people's living standards, the demand for tourism has greatly increased, and tripods have become more and more popular as photographic equipment. Coupled with the introduction of carbon fiber materials with stable molecular structure, light positioning tourist tripods have become the mainstream. Travel generally uses a tourist tripod and an octopus tripod. The tourist tripod is a relatively light tripod, and the octopus tripod has strong adaptability and can be coiled on railings and other objects.

Choosing a travel tripod depends on your travel frequency and scope. Generally speaking, the higher the frequency, the lighter and more portable tripod is needed, and the carbon fiber tripod of about 1kg can meet the needs of rich scenes. Because the travel scene changes rapidly, the tripod needs to be unfolded more conveniently. The tripod with eccentric tube locking structure has the fastest speed, and the whole foot tube can be unfolded and locked at one time. There is also a quarter-turn screw locking structure, which can be unlocked and unfolded only by tightening the lock sleeve for a quarter turn, which also meets the rapid demand. In addition, there are factors that are convenient for storage. Generally, the storage length is 30cm to 40cm, which supports the folding function and is more helpful to put into the backpack conveniently.

For friends who often take pictures by plane, it is even more important to consider the convenience of tripod. Generally, the size of the suitcase that can be boarded is 20 feet, that is, 22*36*5 1cm, so if you want to put the tripod in, you need to have a storage length of less than 50cm and put it horizontally within 35cm. Some regional planes have more stringent size requirements, and even a 20-foot suitcase can't board the plane, so it needs to be put into a bag. The storage length of the tripod is preferably less than 40cm. If it doesn't meet the standard, it needs to be checked. It is worth noting that a few airlines have very strict security checks on boarding items, and even tripods cannot be brought. Small tripods also need to be checked, so it is best to consult the airline in advance before traveling.

scenery

You need a light and stable tripod to shoot the scenery. You can choose a tripod with the corresponding diameter according to your own camera equipment (see the back).

Photographers who shoot landscapes for a long time need to set up tripods according to their own shooting scenes. For example, if the ground is loose, they need a tripod with feet. On the ice, it is better to use a tripod with feet perpendicular to the ground, which will be stronger.

If you need to shoot in water, the requirements for tripods are higher. You can choose the tripod made by hard anodic oxidation process, which has stronger corrosion resistance and wear resistance and can resist the worse climate environment. In addition, the foot tube lock sleeve had better have sand prevention function.

In windy environment, the camera bag and other heavy objects can be hung on the hook at the bottom of the tripod axis to increase the stability of the shelf. When buying a tripod, it's best to weigh the camera bag you usually bring first, and consider whether the tripod and its hook have enough load-bearing capacity.

In addition, carbon fiber tripod can reduce travel weight. Compared with previous materials such as aluminum alloy, it has the characteristics of lighter weight and higher strength, but it is relatively expensive.

In the field of landscape photography, there are also fans of starry sky photography and mountaineering photography.

Star photographers should pay more attention to the stability of tripods than the portability of tripods. Because it takes a long time to expose the orbit of a star, a large-diameter tripod is usually used. If you want to shoot a panoramic view more accurately, you need a 360-degree panoramic spherical pan/tilt.

In addition, the convenience of deployment is also one of the important considerations.

Mountaineering photographers can choose a tripod with variable trekking poles, that is, they can disassemble a foot tube and connect it with the central axis to form a monopod, which can also be used as trekking poles.

For professional landscape photographers, sometimes more than two tripods are needed, such as taking scenery with the main tripod, taking tidbits with the portable tripod or taking selfies.

Pat a bird.

Photographers who plan to shoot birds for a long time should choose a large-caliber tripod according to the focal length and weight of the telephoto lens. With hydraulic tripod, spherical tripod or cantilever tripod with handle, there is also a new tripod. Futubao's Golden Eagle tripod with the new cantilever tripod can make the shooting angle more flexible and rich.

Climb up the building

Climbers generally use mini-brackets, and mini doesn't mean small diameter. It is also necessary to match the mini bracket with the pipe diameter according to the camera equipment. The key is stability, and a larger diameter has advantages.

business

Commercial advertisements often need a lot of high-frequency shooting, which requires a more durable and stable tripod. The tripod forged by large-diameter hard oxidation process is more suitable, and the spherical tripod with handle is more flexible and fast to shoot. Generally, there is no great requirement for the portability of tripods.

special

For example, when shooting fashion shows, sports events and other crowded scenes, it is even more necessary to have a fast-unfolding monopod to quickly capture wonderful moments in a relatively stable way.

Photography and camera

If you are a friend who usually plays photography and videos, you can choose a tripod with a spherical tripod and a two-dimensional tripod head that can rotate. Pay attention to the shock absorption smoothness of the tripod, and also consider the portability and stability of the tripod.

The height of the tripod needs to match its height. If you shoot for a long time, you don't have to bend over for a long time.

To calculate the height of the tripod, we need to consider whether the positions of the eyes and the camera can be consistent.

Height-the distance from the eyes to the top of the head (generally 10- 13cm) is the height of the eyes.

The tripod (including the tripod head)+the height of the camera itself (6-8cm) is the viewing height of the camera.

In this way, the height of the tripod (including the tripod head) = height-the distance from the eyes to the top of the head-the height of the camera itself.

The height of tripod (including tripod head) is about height minus 16~2 1cm. If your height is 165cm, then the height of the tripod (including the tripod head) you need is about 144~ 149cm.

Of course, it is best not to raise the central axis to reach this height, because it can be more stable. But it is not only the unilateral pursuit of stability, but also the lightness of its own needs, that is, weight and storage length.

Equipment According to your equipment: camera and lens, choose a tripod.

Generally speaking, the micro-single can be equipped with a small-diameter tripod, and the SLR depends on the specific situation.

Generally speaking, the tripod is chosen according to the price of your camera. If it is expensive equipment, it is best to equip it with a relatively reliable and stable tripod.

When choosing a tripod, you need to consider your greatest demand for photographic equipment. For example, if you plan to buy a telephoto lens, you usually need a tripod with a large diameter according to the total weight of the camera and lens.

In addition, telephoto lenses generally use L-shaped fast-mounting plates or larger fast-mounting plates, and large cameras also need large fast-mounting plates. If there is cork structure on the fast assembly board, the shock absorption effect is better and it is more conducive to telephoto.

Budget can be said to be the most important because the price directly determines the type of tripod. When buying a tripod, you can't be arrogant if your budget is not enough to meet your needs.

For example, it is often necessary to shoot outdoors with high frequency, so the weight of the tripod is very important. General carbon fiber 1000 yuan or so. If your budget is only 500 yuan, it is not recommended to buy it, although there are tripods with similar price and weight that can meet your needs, because the lower price than similar products means that the quality will be discounted. If the budget is small and the weight requirement is not high, you can choose aluminum alloy.

If the budget is reached, there is no need to blindly pursue high prices when the parameters of several products are similar. Still have to combine yourself. If you are a novice, there is no need to choose an expensive one, because on the one hand, you may not have formed your own shooting habits, and you may find that it is not suitable for your own habits after buying it for a long time. Then even a durable tripod may not mean much to yourself. On the other hand, the enthusiasm for shooting may not be so high in the future. In addition to photographers, many married people are busy with family life and gradually reduce their interest activities, so tripods have become furnishings. If the tripod bought in the early stage is too expensive, it will be wasted, and the quality of the tripod will become worse if it is not used for a long time. For example, the smoothness of the tripod will become worse.

Generally speaking, it is enough to choose a well-known brand because it can provide long-term and perfect after-sales service.

The internal logic of tripod When choosing a tripod, you should be clear about the internal logic. In many cases, you can't have both. You can only find a balance between two aspects and see which one you need more. For example, if it needs to be portable, its natural stability is not so strong. You can refer to the following internal logical relations about tripods:

The larger the diameter of the tripod, the greater the bearing capacity and the more stable it is.

The larger the diameter of the spherical platform, the greater the bearing capacity and the more stable it is.

The more legs, the shorter the storage length and the more portable, but the stability will also decline.

The diameter of each foot tube is reduced by 3 ~ 4 mm between two sections. The less the decline, the smaller the gap and the more stable it is.

An integrated tripod without a central axis will be more stable.

Generally speaking, combining the above four factors and the internal logic of tripod, do you need portability or stability? If portability is needed, portable tripod is preferred, and stability is taken into account, and vice versa.