Reccommend me a tripod? Please? (for a 500D)

Inspector Gadget

Hi all:

I'm new to SLR photography, and have picked up a 500D. As part of that, there's a half day of training included, and as part of that is some night shooting in Dublin; according to the e-mail I got, a tripod is vital; I haven't invested in one yet, so I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for a floor standing tripod under (say) 100 euro that I could get for this job.

While I'm at it, I'm guessing I'll need a remote shutter release as well to stop me moving the camera while hitting the shutter. Any suggestions on this? Wired vs wireless? If wireless, is there anything that'll also trigger my P&S Canon A710IS?

Cheers,
Gadget

pullandbang

If you have €100 to spend on a tripod you should get a half decent one for that money. Sheldon Photo have Slik tripods and they are the bees knees for the money.

A cable release will do fine, no need for all the fancy stuff - get them on ebay for little or nothing. If you don't have, put your camera on the 2 sec timer.

Keep on eye on adverts.ie too - always a bargian to be had there.

pixbyjohn

I would suggest the wired remote shutter release, look on Ebay.
As for Tripod, my advice is that you buy a good sturdy one cos it will last longer. I have a Giottos and its great. But Slik and Manfrotto are very popular.
http://www.giottos.com/

Slidinginfinity

If you are really just starting out, you might consider trying to borrow one from a friend for the night.

Fenster

Slik tripods are solid for their price (~50).

macnab

I use a slik pro340DX tripod, it was €100 i think. Its fine for my Nikon D3000 which is a similar weight and size. It might be worth spending a little bit more though in order to future proof your investment. Manfrotto seem to be the popular choice. I will upgrade my camera at some stage and buy larger lenses, I am not 100% certain that my current tripod will do the job. As for the remote, yes do buy one but a 2 second timer will suffice until you do.

Inspector Gadget

Slidinginfinity wrote: »

If you are really just starting out, you might consider trying to borrow one from a friend for the night.

Well, I do want to do this properly, and I know that my attempts at HDR will work better if I don't shoot handheld. Thanks for the suggestion though.

I'll have a look and see what I can get on those tripods. I'm looking at something light and portable that I can use without stooping too much (I'm 6'2") - ideally, something I can put in a day sack.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

cnocbui

Use the self timer on the camera. The sort of tripod you have suggested is going to be wobbly. Some cameras - not sure about Canon - have an aperture pre-fire when the self timer is employed. I know from 35mm cameras that this can significantly cut down on vibration as the aperture is stopped down when the shutter release is pressed. The vibrations from this action die down by the time the shutter fires.

eightcell

I got the SLIK PRO 400DX tripod with the SLIK SH-705E head. It is rock solid and can deal with a good bit of weight easily. It was bought in a camera shop in Dublin for €100.

Inspector Gadget

Aperture pre-fire sounds interesting and is new to me; must check this out.

thebiglad

Just make sure that the tripod has independent legs - they are much easier to place when taking photos.

Also it is a very useful feature if the tripod can be lowered to virtually ground level - legs angle outwards to virtually 90 degrees.

I have a Slik Pro 700dx and find it excellent - slik v manfrotto etc has been well covered here before.

Another thing to consider is the head - I find the head which came with the 700dx to be perfect for my needs but, you can upgrade the heads (and spend nearly as much again as you did for the tripod) to get more manoeuverable kit.

just head into the camera shops and try them out - prices of course vary greatly - Berminghams have a good selection on display so good place to browse even if don't buy there.

j191

Try Velbon tripods if you can find them. They were always good quality and well priced. Never cheap but you get what you pay for.