Camera Support

Favorite Tripod and Head

This tripod is neither the largest, smallest, heaviest, or lightest - but the Bogen 3021 BN Pro is an affordable all-around solution for holding up Medium Format, 4x5, 5x7, or 8x10 cameras. It's built strong enough, and light enough. It's not made of carbon fiber, but unless you are a trekker... who cares !
Have a look at the Manfrotto 3275 410 tripod head. It lets you make geared fine adjustments in 3 directions, independently. It's small, light, and strong. It's a treat to make adjustments this way: there is no drift.
Here's a cold-weather tip: wrap some pipe insulation around the legs, and hold it down with some inexpensive duct tape. This will keep your hands warm when you carry the tripod. Pipe insulation is very inexpensive, but you will find this very helpful in winter time. It also helps if you want to carry the tripod on your shoulders: it's soft on the body.

Leveling Head - What a Relief!

A leveling head like the Manfrotto 438 sits just below the tripod head (see yellow arrow). You get a level platform without having to adjust the legs of your tripod. This piece of equipment doesn't weigh very much, but makes life much easier - especially when shooting in the field, where the ground is rarely level.
On the right you can see the leveling head in action. The tripod itself is not level - as the red line shows - but the tripod head is level, because we have adjusted the leveling head beneath it.
With such an arrangement, we can move the 3 gears of the 410 head in any direction we like, and we don't have to correct anything. To adjust the leveling head, just loosen the lever and use the bubble level. It's much faster than changing the length of the tripod legs. If you've tried to work with a tripod that isn't level, you'll appreciate this improvement.
by: Kenneth Lee