No Tripod Skimping!
It pains me to see a high-quality spotting scope mounted on an inexpensive and flimsy tripod that has a lot of plastic parts. Locating birds through a scope can be difficult enough, but it's made worse with a poor tripod and unrealistic digiscoping expectations. When a bird provides an opportunity to photograph it, struggling with a scope on a wobbly tripod mount is the last thing you want to worry about. I can't emphasize enough how critical having a quality tripod and head is for the kind of digiscoping I do. The Bogen combo I use is by no means perfect; there are things about the 3130 MF/QR head I don't like (slight fluid drift, recoil, etc.). Some of you probably use something other than a Bogen, but my point of isn't to offer or obtain a list of recommendations. Here's my point: tripod skimping – don't do it! The extra money is a worthwhile investment and will return great views and help deliver stellar digital images when digiscoping. If you're forking over big bucks for digiscoping gear, expect to spend $250 or more for a quality tripod and head.
Scope image © 2007 Mike McDowell
posted by Mike McDowell @ 8:36 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Hi Mike - I completely agree with this! However, some of us, smaller women especially, find the "sturdy" Manfrotto (and other) tripods particularly heavy for lugging around any further than a short distance from the car, and so are likely to "skimp" on the tripod out of that consideration (the flimsier tripods are also lighter). Perhaps it's worth mentioning that the good tripod manufacturers usually also have a lightweight option for people who aren't up to carrying a 10lb scope-tripod combination on long hikes.
Good post Mike. It's not just digiscopers who should take note of this post. I see the same thing with traditional photographers as well. Why someone would trust a couple thousand dollars worth of equipment on the plastic head of a $25 tripod they got from a big box store is beyond me.
Here is a link to an interesting article that talks about the same thing.
http://www.bythom.com/support.htm
Mike
I heartily agree. I decided a long time ago to buy a quality tripod and it is worth every penny. I've heard horror stories of birders turning their backs just for a moment only to hear the crash of their scope hitting the ground due to a poor mount. Ouch! I like my Bogen tripod so much that I have preferred to rebuild it with new parts when the old parts wear out rather than buy a new one. It may seem silly but I see the scope/tripod combination as an extension of my birding experiences- lots of good memories and good birds found and watched with that gear. When I moved into the digiscoping realm I found it was more than adequate.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/almiyi/
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