Tripod for hiking
Posted: Tue Dec 28, 2010 5:19 pm
In advance: my apologies for the longish story
If anything, I'm someone who likes to record the environment I'm in and try to capture the feeling I get when I look at some of the amazing things nature has produced on this earth. I mainly like to walk long distances in the many places I visit in all kinds of conditions, from blistering deserts to cold mountaintops.
Most of my pictures involve overviews of landscapes, seascapes and other natural formations as well as the odd flora and fauna captures.
The equipment I use for this are my trusty a390, 14mm Samyang, 30mm Sigma and 55-200 Sony lenses, where the short focal primes are used 80% of the time.
In the past, I mainly shot from hand, but I recently realised that a lot of my shots fail technically and artistically because of my 'hasty' shooting and my arms not being able to hold my camera steady. I want to change that and concluded I need to slow down my shooting and start using a tripod more!
Now, for that last part, I have a Hama tripod. However in the last couple of years it proved too unstable and of a flimsy build quality. Most of the plastic knobs now are broken, a leg is bend and I'm always strugling with the head. I concluded I need to buy a new tripod.
Now I'm looking for a new tripod which I can carry around on my travels and hiking trips.
I'm looking into buying a not-too-heavy tripod because of medical problems with the muscles in my shoulders and neck. If the bag I'm carrying gets too heavy (>8 kg) I'm in trouble. The problem using a lightweight tripod, I can imagine, is that it's not too stable, especially in slippery or windy conditions. This feels like a problem to me, especially for the stability I need.
Furthermore, I'm not too sure about using the tripod when hiking. Do I fully put it away every time I used it, or keep it in my hand for quick setup?
For a head, I like to use the ballhead, as it seems to be very flexible in usage and setup. The downside seems to be that when tightening the screw, the ball can shift and you have to start your carefully planned setup over again.
If anyone can help me with above questions/doubts or share some insight in how he or she uses a tripod in similar conditions, I appreciate it!
If anything, I'm someone who likes to record the environment I'm in and try to capture the feeling I get when I look at some of the amazing things nature has produced on this earth. I mainly like to walk long distances in the many places I visit in all kinds of conditions, from blistering deserts to cold mountaintops.
Most of my pictures involve overviews of landscapes, seascapes and other natural formations as well as the odd flora and fauna captures.
The equipment I use for this are my trusty a390, 14mm Samyang, 30mm Sigma and 55-200 Sony lenses, where the short focal primes are used 80% of the time.
In the past, I mainly shot from hand, but I recently realised that a lot of my shots fail technically and artistically because of my 'hasty' shooting and my arms not being able to hold my camera steady. I want to change that and concluded I need to slow down my shooting and start using a tripod more!
Now, for that last part, I have a Hama tripod. However in the last couple of years it proved too unstable and of a flimsy build quality. Most of the plastic knobs now are broken, a leg is bend and I'm always strugling with the head. I concluded I need to buy a new tripod.
Now I'm looking for a new tripod which I can carry around on my travels and hiking trips.
I'm looking into buying a not-too-heavy tripod because of medical problems with the muscles in my shoulders and neck. If the bag I'm carrying gets too heavy (>8 kg) I'm in trouble. The problem using a lightweight tripod, I can imagine, is that it's not too stable, especially in slippery or windy conditions. This feels like a problem to me, especially for the stability I need.
Furthermore, I'm not too sure about using the tripod when hiking. Do I fully put it away every time I used it, or keep it in my hand for quick setup?
For a head, I like to use the ballhead, as it seems to be very flexible in usage and setup. The downside seems to be that when tightening the screw, the ball can shift and you have to start your carefully planned setup over again.
If anyone can help me with above questions/doubts or share some insight in how he or she uses a tripod in similar conditions, I appreciate it!