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Great price, good value, well worth the occasional lightweight user like me. It is easy to use, easy to level, and can be set up and collapesed in seconds. I have filmed 3 weddings (one was my own) with this so far, and more are to come. This model is the closest one to The 5800D model that I have owned for 3 years now. You should find it useful too. It also works for my olympus digital photo camera. I use it for my HI-8 sony camera. It's price is the same, and looks built in very much the same style.
If you have never regularly used a tripod before, I would HIGHLY recommend getting one- particularly for outdoor shots. I won't call this a cheap tripod, even though it's only thirty some dollars, because the features on it are pretty good. Long exposures at low light levels can have some wonderful colors, and the jump up in sharpness even for shots with decent light will be apparent once you try it out. When I mount my MF camera with its 300mm lens (mount by the lens and not the body) its precarious. I bought this tripod after many years of using a small tabletop tripod- when I upgraded to a more expensive digital camera body I figured it was not too wise to have a high grade camera, but a low grade surface to shoot from.
I would recommend this for the beginning non-professional photographer. Do I have a thousand bucks or so for it. No. Without a tripod, this would be impossible.The pro tripods can really set you back financially, and at the time of my tripod acquisition, I really didn't have a big budget (having blown it on the camera).
So I decided to go for a low cost tripod, with a couple of nice features. I also found that as I advanced more and more into photography (and started doing more landscapes) I wanted to go beyond getting shots that were "in focus" and work towards getting shots that were really, really sharp. It still works well, after some minor repair ( a 2 minute job).Parts, though plastic, are durable good quality plastic.You can buy replacement quick release plates.The head has a pretty decent range of movement.The parts are not terribly shiny, so its well suited for wildlife photography.It's light, which is a blessing for the traveler, but has the drawbacks mentioned above. Using superlong telephotos with this means you have to be extra careful.In high winds the tripod tends to move, due to its lack of weight, so sharp telephotos in high winds are difficult.Keep in mid that these "bad points" really are asking a lot from a $30 tripod.The good.It has quick release plates. Even after a year I have to think about which bit to turn to stop the camera from tilting forward.The levels are completely useless- on the quick release plate they are covered by the camera, and the body level is not placed well for easy viewing. (I don't really mind this- eyeball your shot for framing and you'll be OK).The tripod is not suitable for larger Medium Format Cameras; its too light to absorb the larger mirrors "slap", and tends to be topheavy.
Overall, for $35 dollars its a great accessory. Let's examine the good and the bad that is this tripod:The Bad:The rubber "covers" for the foot spikes tend to rotate up, revealing the spikes.
Yes. You will see marked improvements over hand held shots.
Would I prefer the latest manfrotto ballhead system. So I began looking around for a full scale tripod that would be good outdoors, and capable of traveling.
These are extremely useful, particularly if you switch between film and digital with two bodies (as I do).The top elements of the tripod are rubberized, which makes accidental contact with the camera less damaging.It has foot spikes for secure placement in soft ground.It has rubber foot spike "covers" for indoor use.I have beaten the crap out of this by carrying it to three continents in checked and carry on baggage. You have to be careful when you first set it up indoors to make sure you don't scratch someone's wooden floors.The levers that lock movement are counter-intuitive.
One of the best shots I have ever taken was of the Brooklyn Bridge at 3 AM, a 30 second exposure with a relative tight aperture. Even if you plan spending $1000+ on a super-high quality Bogen, its probably wise to fool around with one of these less costly version so you can figure out through use the features you have but don't need, and don't have but would find very useful.
Neither seems useful or accurate. For this price, it's a great thing to have around for those times you need a tripod. This is a good starter tripod. Furthermore, extending the legs all the way and setting the tripod on a level surface doesn't cause the camera to be level - you still have to fiddle around with the individual leg heights to get things properly level.Having said that, it's usually not much of a hassle to get it set up the way you want. I got to actually be in the Christmas photos by way of my camera's timer and this tripod. It's lightweight, is generally well constructed, and comes with two quick-release camera attachments (handy if you're using it with more than one camera). There is a bubble level on the camera mount and a dome-like bubble level on the base where the legs attach.
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