Tripods

I am feeling excited as I will be joining a group of IR Photographers for an outing at Sentosa on Sunday (12th Feb 2006), those photographers are really professional, just take a look at their works in Clubsnap.

For IR Photograpy, you will need a camera is that capable of doing IR, lens (Telephoto or Wide Angle), IR filters (Hoya R72) and tripod. The tripod is needed because the IR Filter filtered off all the visible lights hence a long shutter speed will be needed for exposure. Unless you can really control to prevent handshake, if not, a tripod is very much needed.

For the last few days, I was quite troubled with the thought of bringing my tripod out for the photo shoot because the weight of my tripod and tripod head can really wear me down.

My Tripod Head, Manfrotto 141RC, is a Basic Pan Tilt head



with Quick Release Plate with 1/4" Screwing mounting for camera attachment.



The weight of the Tripod Head alone is about 1.00kg.

Next is my Tripod, Manfrotto 190B, Mini Pro Tripod Black without Head, with Rapid Centre Column



with a 3/8" Screw mounting for Tripod Head attachment



The weight of the tripod is 1.90kg which is quite heavy, but good because it can withstand vibration and prevent unwanted movement with its heavy structure.



So, if I am to bring my Manfrotto 190B together with 141RC Tripod Head, that is going to weigh 2.90kg (close to 3.0kg) which is really heavy if I have to on foot and moving around.

So, I went to TK Foto to pick up a cheap Nikon Tripod, those that are usually given out as freebies with kit set purchase.



The Nikon Tripod Head is something like a 3-Way Basic Pan Head mounted together with the Tripod itself as a single unit, but the interesting thing is that it come with a Quick Release Plate.



The overall weight of the Nikon Tripod is about 0.4kg - 0.6kg which is very light and suitable for my use. But the problem is, when I mount my D70s on it, the whole horizon was tilted, which is to say, it cannot withstand the weight of the equipment. This is really a disappointment as I hope to get a suitable tripod before the outing.

Well, luck has it. I saw a post in the Clubsnap's Buy & Sell sub-forum by Skyes Tang (known him when I order my Nikon 105mm through him) which is offering out a Manfrotto 714B Tripod, Digi Mini Tripod Black.



The Manfrotto 714B has a 1/4" Screw Mounting for camera attachment



and an integral ball head that retracts into the main shoulder casting for an even shorter folded length in transport.



The weight of the Manfrotto 714B Tripod is 1.15kg which is light and yet can withstand a maximum of 2.5kg of equipment load. It is clearly the choice for me to bring out for the outing on Sunday. Anyway, I will post up the pictures taken during the outing in the next few posts. So do keep a look out. Thanks for reading this long story. Cheerz.