How To Choose A Tripod

 

A tripod has two parts: the legs and the pan head. The camera attaches to the pan head, and the legs support the head.

You can buy a tripod with any of three pan head types. Friction heads are the simplest, least expensive, and most popular with still photographers. Fluid heads are desirable if you’ll also be using your tripod for a camcorder, as they smooth out panning and tilting. They’re more expensive than friction heads, but are well worth the money if you’re after a professional look to your footage. Finally, geared heads are big, heavy, expensive, and difficult to use.

 

Tripod Head: friction - fluid - geared

The tripod’s legs may be made of metal, wood, or composite. Metal is light and inexpensive, but easily bent or damaged. Wood and composite legs, which are sturdier and much moreexpensive, are better for heavier professional broadcast and film equipment.

The bottoms of the legs have rubber feet, so they won’t slip on hard floors. Good tripods also have spreaders that prevent the legs from spreading apart and causing the entire apparatus to crash to the ground. If your tripod doesn’t have spreaders, put the tripod on a piece of carpet, which prevents the legs from slipping apart.