beginners tripod

greenbrightly wrote:
Can any of you guys recommend a good begineers tripod for someone
wanting to get steadier shots? I mainly taking nature type pictures
quite close up and low down to interesting features such as tree roots
and stumps etc. I was looking at one of the SLR gorillapods but not
sure how good they are. I've read you need to spend around £100 to get
something half decent.

Any advice would be great.

I know it sounds a daft question, but have you tried turning up the ISO or
using better illumination? A 'good' tripod isn't something I would want
to carry in the field all day.

David

David J Taylor wrote:
greenbrightly wrote:

Can any of you guys recommend a good begineers tripod for someone
wanting to get steadier shots? I mainly taking nature type pictures
quite close up and low down to interesting features such as tree roots
and stumps etc. I was looking at one of the SLR gorillapods but not
sure how good they are. I've read you need to spend around #100 to get
something half decent.

Any advice would be great.

I know it sounds a daft question, but have you tried turning up the ISO or
using better illumination? A 'good' tripod isn't something I would want
to carry in the field all day.

For low level work close to the ground you don't need a big tripod. A
small good quality tripod is much lighter than a big one. The cheapest
way of getting really low with a tripod is to have one with a double
ended (or invertible) column, so that you can mount the camera between
its legs. The cheapest way of all of getting really low is a bean bag.

--
Chris Malcolm DoD #205
IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
[http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]