Newbie Tripod Question

hoodwinked

My aunt asked me to get her a tripod for Christmas,

she has a Nikon D3200 camera, and my budget is around the €50/£40 (if its on amazon) mark she will use it i would guess mostly indoors, (family portraits...etc) but may be used outdoors too.


so far i am looking at this:

Velbon DF-61

and this:

Hama Star 62


but i am clueless as to what she'll need/whats the best quality for the money i am spending... they vary in price so much, the Hama Star one i saw in a store today that the guy told me was the best at that price around the €70 mark and it was £18 on amazon?? and the Velbon Ex-530 i was told by another store was the best again around €70 but was £41 on amazon...

so now i am utterly confused,

can anybody please help as it is a time sensitive issue christmas wise

cnocbui

I would get the Velbon.

Velbon make tripods - Hama makes all sorts of stuff and is a photo jack-of-all-trades

dakar

+1 on the Velbon, I got sold a similar Hama tripod (for 60-odd quid) in my local camera shop when I was young and foolish and it's pretty unstable, which is pretty much exactly what you don't need in a tripod.

hoodwinked

which do you of the two Velbon's would be better? the Ex 530 or the DF-61?

they are both similar in price?

puddles22

they all very poor choices as tripod in the first place, i understand you are on a budget and its a present but they are terrible tripods , after a beginner has done one of my courses the first that everyone who has one of these type of tripods does is usually upgrade straight away as they are very limiting, if you are stuck to that budget try this link out here

its fairly basic but will give a little more room to manoeuvre and def better option than the other 2

vintagecosmos

i had the hama and am replacing it after less than a year. plastic is cracking and legs are failing.

Alltherage

Of the two the df, I couldn't find it in the velbon catalogue but have found some online listings claiming it's max recommended loading is 4kg compared to the 2kg for the ex. that'd be enough to sway me right there even if I can't find a manufacturer source for the info.

pixbyjohn

Have a look here>>>>
http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/1078055/Trail/searchtext%3ETRIPODS.htm
You might have a few Argos vouchers to lighten the load

adox

pixbyjohn wrote: »

Have a look here>>>>
http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/1078055/Trail/searchtext%3ETRIPODS.htm
You might have a few Argos vouchers to lighten the load

Thats a tenner cheaper in Currys. Picked one up as a second compact tripod with a voucher I had from their current scheme.

ablelocks

puddles22 wrote: »

if you are stuck to that budget try this link out here

its fairly basic but will give a little more room to manoeuvre and def better option than the other 2

i got this during the week as part of the canon deal. Its far better than the hama star 61 that i had. Much sturdier, better quality.

(before that canon offer, I had intended buying the manfrotto posted above, but from amazon, where it's £37)

hoodwinked

thanks guys for the advice, there was no thread for budget tripods when i searched these forums (everyone was agreeing on the manfrotto ones but they were out of my price range)


either way i went with the Velbon ex530, and i will update how she got on with it after christmas for anyone who comes across this with the same question,


if she wants a more expensive one, or sturdy, or one to use outdoors then she can upgrade her self, as a gift this will hopefully just take some photos, not destroy her camera and show her what she needs in a tripod,



thank you everyone for your inputs it really helped me,