How do you choose the right tripod?

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

I once bought a second-hand camera and a Gitzo tripod with the first money I earned. That expensive tripod really cost me an arm and a leg, but it was so solid!

Eventually, after about 35 years (!), I had to admit last year that the tripod was worn out. One of the legs was 'slack' and kept sinking down. Unfortunately, the repair service could no longer fix this either.

And then it begins. The search for a new tripod. I know Gitzo, of course, but I am especially curious about what is currently available outside Gitzo.

The requirements I have for a new tripod are: reasonably light but still robust and free from vibration, so carbon, sufficient height to comfortably look through the camera's viewfinder while standing, and legs that can be folded upwards for macro photography.

Light and robust because I want to take my tripod on treks in conditions that are not always easy. You do not want to carry a heavy tripod, but you do want to have a sturdy tripod with you.

Snowshoeing in Lapland at -40, standing in the middle of a river to photograph waterfalls, bivouacking at night in wind and blowing sand to capture star trails, light painting at urban locations, whatever the conditions, the tripod always comes along.

Light and robust do not really go together, of course, but despite its relatively low weight I have not had any problems with my Gitzo, including no vibration blur. This Gitzo weighs around 2.5 kilograms including either the Novoflex Magic Ball tripod head or the Really Right Stuff ball head.

I find that perfectly manageable, so the new tripod may also weigh up to around 2.5 kilograms including the ball head. Less would of course be nice, but the whole thing does need to remain sturdy. That may mean making concessions, finding a middle ground between stability and weight.

I would also like the tripod legs to extend using rubber rings. Rings lock better than clamps. Clamps also have screws, springs and hinges that can break, and knowing me, I would keep getting my fingers caught in them.

Another disadvantage of clamps is that they catch on everything, and although you can take the legs apart for cleaning, it is difficult to put them back together afterwards. With rings, that is no problem at all, slide them together, tighten them and you are done.

Eventually, positive experiences from my students lead me to Leofoto. A brand with a very wide range of tripods. I choose the Urban LX-324CT with the XB-38 ball head. This carbon tripod feels solid and weighs 2 kilograms including the ball head.

The tripod legs are 32 millimetres thick, so they are nice and stable when you are standing in the wind. The load capacity is 15 kilograms, which I will not come close to with my mirrorless camera system.

Not even if I divide this by two, which is the rule of thumb for optimal stability: the maximum weight of the camera and lens should be half the load capacity of the tripod.

Of course, I already had a ball head, but because you fold the legs of this tripod upwards when storing it or attaching it to your backpack to make a compact whole, 48 centimetres, it needs a slimmer ball head that fits between the folded tripod legs.

The Leofoto tripod comes with a suitable ball head as standard, so that is not a problem. As long as the ball head is good and user-friendly, of course.

The fact that the legs can fold upwards was one of my requirements for a new tripod anyway. Since I swapped my heavy Nikon D4s with equally heavy lenses for the much lighter Sony equipment, I also have a flip-up screen on the back of the camera.

How did I ever manage without one? I can now hang the camera upside down from the centre column of a tripod while seeing what I have in the frame on the screen. Brilliant! This is also how the photo below was taken.

The tripod is also tall enough: 1.71 metres including the ball head when you raise the centre column.

I would not quickly raise the centre column outdoors because of the loss of stability, but without raising it, the tripod measures 1.44 metres including the ball head, with another approximately 10 centimetres added by the camera.

My eyes will be at around 1.55 metres, which means the tripod is tall enough for me.

The centre column can be removed and optionally replaced with a macro adapter, a short centre column, so you can work very close to the ground. The tripod legs can then be laid almost flat.

You will understand from the above that I am unlikely to use this very quickly because my current camera can be hung upside down from the centre column.

So much for the theory. How does the tripod work in practice? I decide to take it with me on two location-scouting trips through Friesland for my workshop 'Lightpainting in nature'. Into rugged areas full of mud and rocks.

What immediately stands out during the practical test is how easily and smoothly the four leg sections extend.

The rubber rings are nice and wide and provide a good grip. One turn and the lower leg slides easily out of the upper one, without falling out all at once. And tight is tight, one turn is enough to lock the legs again, very user-friendly!

I notice that I unconsciously keep quickly shortening the legs of this tripod whenever we move. Whereas I previously soon found that too much effort, the legs of this tripod move so smoothly that the barrier to doing this has disappeared. That is useful!

I find the operation of the small release buttons at the top, which allow you to spread the tripod legs further apart, less pleasant. You first have to fold the legs in slightly, then push the button down and keep it pressed (!) while unfolding the leg.

If you release the button, the leg stops unfolding at the next fixed angle at which the tripod legs lock into place, 85, 55 and 23 degrees. I feel like a real acrobat trying to do all this at once, especially when the camera is on the tripod. Perhaps it is just a matter of getting used to it?

The legs have nice wide rubber feet that keep them stable on the ground. If you need them, metal spikes are also included to provide even more grip on certain surfaces. That is useful on a frozen lake or on a sloping hillside, for example.

The spikes are accompanied by a carrying case, a set of Allen keys, a multitool and the macro adapter mentioned earlier.

So far, I have no regrets about choosing this Leofoto tripod. But it is of course equally important to test whether the tripod head works well.

The question of whether I want a ball head or a three-way tripod head is quickly answered. A ball head! I spent far too much time fiddling with those levers on the three-way head in the past.

At first glance, Leofoto's ball head looks like a slim version of my Really Right Stuff ball head. A brand I once chose because it was the only brand that neatly held its position after being adjusted. Very useful when you have just framed something precisely!

With all the other brands, the ball would sink a few millimetres downwards with my heavy Nikon on it, which we call 'creep'. You therefore had to take this into account when framing.

And it was completely unworkable if the 'creeping' did not stop after a few millimetres. So I am very curious to see how this works with the Leofoto ball head.

First I put my Sony A9 on it with a 70-200mm lens. The ball head does not budge and remains neatly in position. Then the real test: an old heavy Nikon D3 with a 70-200.

I am genuinely amazed, the ball head really does not drop a single millimetre! I think that is a superb performance for this ball head, and even more so for a ball head in this price range.

The Really Right Stuff ball head currently costs 879 euros, while the Leofoto tripod WITH this Leofoto ball head costs 479 euros. For just over half the price of the RRS ball head alone, you get a solid tripod AND a good ball head!

Why do I like this ball head? Firstly because it keeps your camera in the position you set, and secondly because the ball head is so easy to operate.

You set the position of the ball with the large knob. This also allows you to position your camera vertically using one of the notches. There is another smaller knob inside the large knob for adjusting the resistance of the ball.

You then rotate the camera on the plate using the lower knob, so you can position the camera in any direction while it is vertical without having to move the tripod.

You attach the camera to the ball head using a quick-release plate that slides into a wedge and is tightened with a knob, just as with my Really Right Stuff, the Arca-Swiss system.

This works less easily and quickly than the Magic Ball's quick release, which locks the camera solidly in place with one click. But there is a reason why the Arca-Swiss system is used universally, it has certainly earned its reputation.

The only drawback I have encountered is that when I screw the quick-release plate under a student's heavy Nikon D5 and position the camera vertically, in portrait orientation, on the ball head, the camera and quick-release plate rotate relative to each other.

The camera therefore sinks downwards. Even when you tighten the quick-release plate as tightly as you can. So you run into the same problem as the one described above, with a ball head that cannot hold its position.

This can of course be solved by using an L-bracket. Note: when you buy an L-bracket, make sure that you can replace the battery and memory card without first having to remove the L-bracket!

When I disconnect the Nikon D5 and put my much lighter Sony A9 on the ball head with the same quick-release plate, everything works fine. The camera stays neatly in the set position.

Conclusion

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