Tripod Purchase

Sturdy and a good ball head

 

No no no, go with a fluid head and preferably a pneumatic center post.

 

Why get a center post? Its like mounting a monopod on a tripod. It completely cancels out the point of having legs. Any vibrations will be magnified throughout the post

 

You need to provide a budgetary range, tripods and heads can go for as little as $30 to well over $1000. Also when you say outdoors, do you mean backpacking or do you mean within short range of car or studio/home? Generally, if you don't care about the weight, you want the biggest, stiffest tripod you can afford; if you do care about the weight, you want the heaviest lightweight, stiffest tripod you're willing to carry around (a tripod is useless if you leave it at home because it's a pain to haul around); particularly if you put any long lens on it. If your budget can afford it, you might also buy the head separately from the legs.

Whether your tripod has a center post, reversing post, ground-level set, multiple leg angles, heavy weight capability and other features depends on the kind of shooting that you do (macro, flowers, scenics, big telephoto, wedding, portrait, group, etc). If you do macros/flowers then you probably want a reversing center post. If you do groups, then you might want the center post to elevate high enough to get the back rows. If you don't do these things, then center post is usually a weak spot. Choice of head also depends on your shooting (ball, fluid, pan, etc). If you mostly shoot still and shoot infrequent videos than a fluid head can be a pain due to the control handle sticking in your chest/chin; but if you shoot a lot of video then a fluid head gives you better motion control.

I have a medium heavy aluminum Bogen with pan head for indoors and I just picked up a light carbon fiber Gitzo with ball head for travel (which was expensive, but worth it in the end as I never noticed its weight throughout a 10-day trip).

 

For video, you want a fluid head with a half bowl. The half bowl allows you to level the head no matter what angle (to a certain degree) the legs are at. Makes it real easy and quick to level the head when shooting video from ground that is not flat. And more often than not, it's not going to be flat at all. Center posts are bad for shooting video. With tripods, you usually get what you pay for. A "cheap" video tripod is about $300. "Good" video tripods start at around $800 and skyrocket up. Those tripods they sell at Best Buy and such are totally worthless.


Requirements for still photos may be totally different.

 

Just about any Bogen or Manfrotto will do, I suggest something with spreaders for rigidity. The spreaders also take the load stress of torsion off the joint itself. Even this Velbon will work for your needs http://www.opticsplanet.net/kowa-velbon-videomate-tripod.html Load rating when using camcorders is essential. A camera pod may not be able to handle the video camera weight and thus vibrations or excess wear on the head locking mechanisms will follow.

A side suggestion is to look for ones with a bubble leve in the head. You would be surprised at the vertigo inducing effects of unlevel heads. Then again, a little bubble level that fits in a pocket is only a couple of bucks (under $5)

 

I have a carbon fiber Gitzo tripod with a Manfrotto ball head. I probably paid around $600 for the pair but I really like them.

Weight matters if you will be carrying it a lot, and also a slightly heavier tripod will be less susceptible to movement from wind and such. I am a big fan of ball heads... I think they are pretty much the best universal head out there, provided you are not shooting video and panning (which I don't do ever).

The Gitzo is just designed nicely. It's a few years old now and has held up very well. I can throw it around and it stays in nice shape and the adjustments have never gotten loose or sticky or anything.

I wouldn't spend a ton on a ball head - even a decent one will be plenty rigid. Only spend more $$ if you need the features - like the one-handed adjustment/locking mechanism on the new Manfrotto hydrostatic ball heads. But definitely spend as much as your budget allows on a good stand. It will be worth it in the long run

 

http://www.joby.com/products/gorillapod/

This is a cool toy. Don't know if this is what your looking for as you want to attach a video camera also. But for outdoors, put it round a lamppost or stop sign (likely to get stolen that way but just suggesting)

Never mind:
Heavy duty setups including SLR cameras with zoom lenses, video cameras, tripod heads. Thats the 6.6 lbs one.