Out shooting the Lunar Eclipse with an assortment of cameras and tripods.
For the last couple of months I have been doing a lot of research on better tripod solutions for what we do. I don’t tend to use a tripod often when doing nature/bird photography but I have been trying to slow down and concentrate a bit more when I’m doing landscape work. We travel a lot, mostly by car these days and we hike out to most of the locations. What I have been trying to do is find a good main tripod system that can easily go from video to landscape to wildlife use. Once I have that I will take what I have now and make them more adaptable so that we can have multiple camera/video setups available quickly and easily.
A little History first
We own a few tripods, my first was an adequate aluminum tripod with a ball head by Vanguard (Alta pro 264AT) that we picked up at a photography show in Toronto probably close to fifteen year ago. At a little over $200 this was definitely better than the cheap tripods that were in all the camera stores at the time but not one of the expensive brand names of the time.
My first tripod purchase, and still a sturdy tripod although I have switched up the head and legs with other options now.
As I moved more and more to longer lenses and nature in action, I found that a ball head was not the optimal design for following any motion. I had bought a Sigma 120-300 f/2.8 lens which was hand holdable for a few minutes but really was the cause of many sore neck and backs while trying to wait for owls to hunt in the cold Ontario winters. I picked up a Jobu jr. gimbal head and for a number of years kept that head on the Vanguard tripod.
Jobu Jr. Gimbal style head. I have used this for years with the Sigma 120-300 and then later the Canon 500mm f/4 II. Great for those times that you are waiting for action and hand holding is just not going to do the job.
As my photography started taking me on longer and longer hikes, weight became more of a deciding factor in whether I would take a tripod on a given day. I found a carbon fiber tripod on sale that cut a pound or two off the carry weight of the Vanguard and now had 2 tripods. As so many stories go for me, this was just the start of trying to find the best tripod for what I wanted….almost like the game of trying to find the right camera bag, a seemingly never ending search for that “perfect” single setup that is never likely to exist.
First video head, did the job but I really did not like the quick release plate.
On that route, as we started to do some video work, I picked up a Manfrotto MHX-PRO Video head with the rc2 quick release plate, and then a Sirui monopod and Sirui two way head. Salwa also got a travel tripod by meFoto that is quite small and packable but not sturdy enough for many uses.
These purchases were over a 15 year period and each one we found useful at the time and then found that they were all limiting or not working well in one way or another. The video head was ok, but I really disliked the rc2 quick release plate. The ball head was adequate for holding the camera steady but it wasn’t ARCA-SWISS compatible and was not able to hold an L bracket. I started to hate the center columns on both tripods, as they weren’t very tall without raising the column and then they were not steady enough once the column was up.
Sirui monopod. Another good tool for when the big lenses get a bit to heavy.
This brings me back to a few months ago, I decided to start looking for a better solution as we were doing more video, more landscapes and since we were starting to film ourselves we needed to have a few tripods out with multiple cameras. I know, just another excuse to buy something new. I think it was a pretty good excuse.
So what were the things I was looking for in a new tripod?
Sturdy, tall, relatively light weight sticks.
No center column.
Half ball for leveling
Easily removable heads so that I can change from a video head to a lighter ball head quickly.
A sturdy video head that can handle up to my 500mm f/4 with extras like a monitor.
A lighter weight but very solid head for landscape that is arca-swiss compatible.
Both head should be capable of panning for easy multi-shot panoramas
Seems easy enough, right? Now we go down the rabbit hole of tripod reviews on web sites and youtube.
Manfrotto 504HD Video tripod head with 75mm half bowl
I first started looking at video tripods and heads. I reviewed fluid heads by Manfrotto, Benro, Sirui, 3 legged Thing, Sachtler, Miller, and Cartoni. I looked for anything between $300 and $1000 and then started to look for reviews of each. There are many reviews of “top 10” video heads out there, some are quite good. In the end I narrowed the search down to the Cartoni Focus 8 Fluid Head ($675), the Sachtler Ace XL ($546), the Benro BV6 ($355) or BV8 ($589), Manfrotto 504HD ($363), 502A ($208), or 608 Nitrotech ($577), and the 3 Legged Thing AirHed Cine-S ($350).
The Cartoni and Sachtler heads were the cheapest in the line for those brands, and they go up quickly for the more professional models. I read a few comparisons between those two and the manfrotto 504 and the benro BV8 and in most cases the less expensive heads kept up with the manfrotto, seeming to get consistent reviews of great value for the money. The BV8 also got a number of good reviews in terms of capabilities but in each one they always had something that was holding it back in terms of quality control.
Side view of the Manfrotto 504HD Video Head, it is bigger than you think when looking at it on the web sites.
Comparisons of the different Manfrotto heads always seemed to come back to the 504 as the sweet spot for capability compared to price.
The one odd ball was the 3 Legged Thing head. It peaked my interest because it was quite a bit lighter than the other options, but I had a hard time finding reviews that compared it to any of the other heads. I had heard really good things about the company, but had no experience myself with any of their products.
Since the video head is not what I will be using on long hikes, weight was less of an issue as I felt was the ability to manage the long lenses smoothly. In the end, I ended up picking up the Manfrotto 504HD.
top view into the 75mm half bowl
What about those legs?
Stage 2 was to look for tripod legs. This one turned out to be a bit easier as I had been watching a number of landscape photographers on YouTube to get ideas for a trip out west (Canada and U.S.) and came across Nick Page and later a post he did on Tripods. Not only did I really like his photography, he did a video on the tripods that he uses. Pretty much everything Nick was looking for matched up to my needs so when he landed on the FLM legs, I decided to go take a look. In the end we (actually Salwa bought me this for my birthday) picked up the CP34-L4 II carbon fiber legs at $683 which was higher than I was originally wanting to go but I think these will easily last me 10-15 years.
The final component was to get a tripod head that I could switch up easily with the video head for those times that I would be doing pure landscape work. Since the Manfrotto head was quite a beast coming in around 5 pounds, I was also looking for something a little lighter to hike with.
The problem here is that I want something sturdy, with an Arca-Swiss plate, that is easy to use and easy to get that precise positioning. Leveling was not going to be a problem since I have the 75mm half bowl adapter . This also meant I can change heads in about 20 seconds without any tools.
Full height of the FLM 34-L4 II tripod.
So what kind of head do I get for Landscape?
Going back to a bunch of the landscape photographers I was watching, almost everyone was using ReallyRightStuff heads. For a ball head the BH55 is a beast and seemed to be the one to beat, but the price was significant and I have been disappointed by ball heads in the past. I started looking at alternatives both in price and in functionality. Ball heads that seemed to compete well with the Really Right Stuff (and are not quite so expensive) are out there and there are many reviews and comparisons both on the web and on YouTube. I narrowed down the search again to some similar brands to when I was searching for fluid heads and one other. Benro, Sirui, 3 Legged Thing, had good options and Acratech caught my eye with their open ball head design. The reviews of Benro all seemed good again except they always found one or two things that were lacking. Sirui had a very good option at an excellent price and most people had no complaints as it was often labelled as the best value for the money. 3 Legged Thing again had people who really seemed to like it, but for some reason none of the models appealed to me. The Acratech models were very intriguing but a number of reviews seemed to find issues in build quality. It seemed like they were addressed but in the end I went with the cheaper option with the Sirui K-40X ball head and have attached it to a 75mm half ball adapter.
Sirui K-40X attached to a 75mm half bowl found on Amazon
The great thing is that we now have 4 usable tripods, 2 for each of us to shoot and two others for capturing videos as we learn to take videos of what we are doing and seeing. Plenty to learn before we head out on what we are hoping will be a bit of a life-altering photo road trip. More to come on that as we start to document our preparations and then the trip itself.
Sirui K-40X attached to the FLM 34-L4 II tripod
I bought the stuff, so am I done?
Once I start researching things I often find options I never new existed. One of those things that I have found are 3 way geared heads. These heads are precision oriented heads that you can turn in each of three directions. A tilt forward/backwards, tilt side to side and pan horizontally. At the moment I’m going to see if the ball head allows me to be precise enough in positioning the camera for those landscape compositions. If I find I’m struggling to get the camera to stay in that one spot or if fine adjustments become a major challenge, I think I will take a look at one of the more affordable options in this class. Benro seems to have a great option at a price point (GD3WH 3-Way Geared Head at $210) that may be worth trying out and most reviews are very positive. The downside is that these heads are not very compact for hiking but at least they are not very heavy.
I have managed to get 2 new quick-release plates by Andoer. I have replaced the plate on the Vanguard ball head with one of these so that I now have an Arca-Swiss compatible plate there. These have a lever clamp which is very quick.
Andoer quick release plate on the old Vanguard ball head. Giving new life to this tripod head.
I attached the second one directly to a Manfrotto rc2 plate so that I can continue to use the same Arca-Swiss plates on all cameras and switch quickly between all the tripods (except the big video head that uses a bigger Manfrotto plate).
Manfrotto MHX-PRO Video head with the rc2 plate and Andoer Arca-Swiss plate on top.
Last, I took the old Jobu Jr. and attached it to an Arca-Swiss plate. I got this idea from another company on the web who is starting to sell a gimbal head that can be attached to the top of a ball head. With the strength of the Sirui Head I can attach the gimbal directly to the ball head and continue to use the big lenses in seconds rather that needing to attach it directly to the tripod. This gives me 3 different combos that I can use on the new FLM tripod that I can change in the field with no tools. I also now have four different tripods all with Arca-Swiss plates that we can switch cameras on and off for video or photo work. We have 2 L brackets and a couple of standard plates for all of our cameras now.
Jobu Jr, on top of Sirui Ball head. Once locked in this is very stable, and means I can use the gimbal head within a few seconds with no need to remove the ball head.
Give me a few months to get some good use out of my new tripod combos. I’ll either do a review here on the blog or try to do a video review.
This is where we ended up. 4 tripods plus 2 extra head set ups for the new FLM tripod that can be changed in the field quickly. Notice that just about everything has ACRA-SWISS compatibility so that we can switch any camera onto any tripod (except when using the big Manfrotto 504).