allows manufacturers to create a lightweight,
stable, and durable tripod. One downside to
aluminum legs is that they can be very cold to
the touch when shooting in cold climates.
■ Carbon-fiber. Carbon-fiber tripod legs are
made from layers of carbon fibers, creating
legs that are lighter than wood and aluminum
and can be as stable as, or even more stable
than, wooden legs. The downside to these tri-
pod legs is that they can be very expensive.
■ Other materials. Some manufacturers are now
creating tripod legs using newer and more
exotic materials such as basalt and titanium.There are many tripods available today in a wide
variety of materials, weights, heights, and price
points. Tripods are actually made up of two different
parts: the tripod legs and the tripod head. Some of
the less expensive tripods come as one piece, but
the more advanced tripods come as separate pieces,
which means you can mix and match the legs and
the heads to make your perfect tripod. You must
consider the weight that the tripod you choose can
support — will it be enough for your camera and
the largest lens you work with? For example, I need
a solid tripod to hold my camera, and the model
shown in Figure 3-17 is a great combination of
weight and stability. It is light enough to carry eas-
ily and still holds my camera steady.
Tripod legs
Picking out the perfect tripod should be a very per-
sonal experience. What is perfect for me might not
be the same for you, but there are some things to
keep in mind when choosing a new tripod.
Not all tripods are created equally, and it is often
a case where you get what you pay for. If you are
serious about taking long-exposure photographs
with the shutter open for seconds or minutes at a
time, then you need a very steady tripod. There
are a variety of tripod materials, all of which can
affect weight, price, and stability.
The first thing to consider is the type of material
that your tripod legs are made out of:
■ Wood. Wood is an excellent material for tri-pod legs because the wood has a natural abil-
ity to dampen any vibrations, which keeps the
camera very steady. You can still buy wooden
tripod legs, but they are not very common
anymore. The downside to wooden tripod legs
is that they are very heavy and expensive.
■ Aluminum. Aluminum is an inexpensivealternative to wood and is very common in
tripod leg construction. Using aluminum
ABOUT THIS PHOTO A tripod is only useful if you are willing to
carry it with you. This tripod is not so heavy that I never want to carry it to
the shooting location and it is still steady enough for my camera and lens.3-17