Tripod or No Tripod

FreeAnd..

Im in a bit of a fix as to whether I should get myself a tripod or not. I am heading to Thailand for 2+ months in Sept and have been debating over this for a while. I am weighing up the hassle of carrying one around vs the necessity of having a tripod at certain times. If i go to small to hold the 5D then its a waste, has anyone used those small fitted head tripods, cant remember the name. Will these give any kind of sturdyness? At the moment Im leaning more towards not getting one and waiting until I get to Oz and more settled but i'd hate to regret not bringing one to thailand (or to regret bringing one)..any wisdom to share would be appreciated..

Valentia

What about one of those beanbaggy things that Fajitas uses? Jessops I think and versatile to boot.

FreeAnd..

do tell more my good man, beanbaggy things? you have my attention

Valentia

I'm sure Al will be along soon . It's a small bean bag with a screw in for a camera. I only saw it once and it was awhile ago but it looked like exactly the boyo for your trip. The camera rests on the bag and can be moved to any position. It could be placed on the ground, a wall, table...anywhere that there is room. Solid too.

FreeAnd..

I'm definitely liking the sound of this...i think i heard bean bags being mentioned before but i had assumed they were for lying on i.e. getting shots from close to the ground, never occured to me they would be for the camera (and i did have a mental picture of a big bean bag being carried around...dismissed it as crazy i did)..

I shall wait for Al to enlighten me on the life and times of a bean bag...only on a friday..

rgiller

I'm looking to get a small tripod for my prosumer camera and an online search threw up the Joby Gorillapod amongst other things. Looks really interesting, anybody have one?

Website: www.joby.com

Valentia

rgiller wrote:

I'm looking to get a small tripod for my prosumer camera and an online search threw up the Joby Gorillapod amongst other things. Looks really interesting, anybody have one?

Website: www.joby.com

Interesting. And at €50 here for the strongest one, not bad value.

EDIT: It seems to be sent from the US though!

rabbitinlights

I just did 5 months backpacking around asia with a tiny "Silk" tripod that I picked up for €20 before I left, I can truly say that I used it about 3 times (Angkor temples and a few night shots of cities) Its pretty pointless bringing one really, and if you get really stuck you could pick one up in most small/medium towns. On my last day in bangkok before I flew here I picked up a Manfrotto which was pretty much half price compared to home.

I did meet a few people who had full-on 4/5KG tripods and they were hating it, pretty pointless when the sun is splitting the rocks and you can be at f10 @ 1/2000 during the day!!

Hearvee

I bought one of these (via eBay) a couple of months back, including shipping
for £15 sterling. A relatively cheap alternative!

http://www.cam-pod.com/

I'll admit I haven't used it much yet, not been out with the camera as much as
I'd like recently!

But it's very light, folds up to about the size of an average lens, and does what
it says. It doesn't have a screw to attach to the camera though, but it has
a number of folds so you can mold it arround the camera/lens.

Edit: sorry, should point out it's a beanbagtypeofthingy!

FreeAnd..

I did meet a few people who had full-on 4/5KG tripods and they were hating it, pretty pointless when the sun is splitting the rocks and you can be at f10 @ 1/2000 during the day!!

exactly but what about evening/night time? I do hear you though and there is no way i would be taking a big manfrotto especially since i sold it, ill definitely wait until bangkok if i do decide on one but Fajitas bean bags need more investigating first..

Fajitas!

Right, I got mine in Jessops for 25 quid, not bad, it's decent enough size, but dosn't like the 5D with grip. It holds it without grip & the 300D no problems. It definitly wouldn't replace a tripod, but is useful. It's also great for your longer lenses so you can balance them off a wall etc.

Because it's a bean bag, you can kinda mold it to whatever you're putting it on too, giving extra balance. Wouldn't replace a proper tripod, but better than one of those 5 inch sh*tty tripods!

ThOnda

I prefere this one. Well, I will prefere this one. It has a velcro band so you can tight it to road signs and so.

http://www.pedcopods.com/specsup2.htm

Funny goody toy. Very useful.

Fey!

Aldi (at least the Westside one in Galway) have pretty good tripods for about E15. I think that they have a good few left; they may be left over from an offer.

digitalage

That grillapod looks the business, might have to get one now

Fajitas!

I've heard quite a bit that the Gorillapod is unstable (Yes, even the SLR sized one).