looking to purchase a tripod for night/long exposure stuff.
ideally something rigid but not too large , hopefully collapsible so I can carry it on the bike at times.
any I should be looking at or steering clear of ?

thanks in advance

I’ve been failing to ask this question for about a fortnight. Mind if I ride shotgun on your thread?

jump aboard 😀

I have a bomb proof Gitzo tripod and ball head. Brilliant bit of kit but far to heavy to carry around much by hand let alone in a back pack.

My dad has just bought a hama traveller compact pro. I was pleasantly suprised by the quality. Nice large ball head means it is easy to adjust and will take a reasonably heavy camera. Hook on the central column means you can hang your backpack on it to improve stability. Best bit is you can pick them up on Amazon for £36. Bargain.

What size camera/lens combo are you using?

If you have a serious SLR, this is worth a read
http://bythom.com/support.htm

I ended up with a Feisol – very cometetivly priced and great quality, holds my Nikon and 70-200VR lens nicely. Remember to add shipping and allow for the possibility of import duty on prices.
http://www.feisol.com/

For portable stuff I’m currently using a gorillapod and Canon S95 and getting some excellent night shots – easy to pack in the camelback. There’s a range of sizes so might be a suitable one for your camera.

I recently bought a Cullman one, it’s very nice and wasn’t expensive at all. Io’ve got the one with the rotatable centre column that means you can swing it down to the ground for macro work.

Don’t think you can get them here though. But make sure you budget for the right ball head to suit what you want. It’s probbaly more importat than the tripe.

If it needs to be fairly portable, you won’t find much that is massively rigid.

I’ve got a Velbon Lixi L tripod, which is pretty stable unless you have the legs opened right up to full extension, when it gets a bit flimsy (the bottom section of leg is quite thin).
But, full height is pretty tall.
It is a pretty versatile tripod and packs down pretty small, considering how tall it will go.

EDIT – meant to put a link in….
http://www.velbon.co.uk/products/photo/ultra_LUXi_L.html

My thoughts so far.

Budget. Realistically, I’m looking at an upper limit of about £200. If I can get it nearer £100, I’ll be happy.

I want something portable. The best tripod in the world is no use if it’s in the boot of the car.

I want something that actually works. I’d like a bargain, but I don’t want to have to throw it out and buy another after I find it’s made out of trifle. Conversely, I’m not a ‘serious’ photographer and have no need for military-grade professional kit.

I want something that’ll serve for macro work; so, splayable legs and ideally a centre column that I can reverse.

I think I want a ball head, but I’m not overly sure.

I was looking at that Hama above, the Hahnel Triad and also the Vista Voyager. The Three Legged Thing also really appeals. The cheaper ones sound too good to be true, so I’m kind of assuming they are.

Camera is a 450D, largest lens I have is the 55-250 and I’m unlikely to be fitting anything heavier for the forseeable future.

I can recommend Manfrotto, as they are proper tough and well made. Large range of tripods, although they don’t really do the ‘small lightweight’ type thing tbh. Gitzo make lovely lightweight carbon fibre tripods but they are very spensive. Cullman and Ham etc do some decent smaller tripods, have a look in Jessops.

Pends on the weight of yer cam. A big cam and lens will require a big meaty tripod. A compact won’t need more than a basic lightweight jobby.

Worth spending a bit if you intend to keep it a while; I’ve seen quite a few cheaper plasticky tripods fail cos they’re not up to any proper abuse, and lightweight ones can be a bit spindly and wobbly.

Aye. Not so long ago I had the misfortune to find out what a cheap tripod feels like, so I’ve got a reasonable idea of what I -don’t- want.

The cheap ones on Amazon ^^ appear to be of sterner stuff though, and the reviews are all “why pay four times as much blah blah” so, it’s all very confusing.

I have a nikon d90 which usually has an 18-105 lens on it so not overly heavy but not compact light either.
thanks to everyone for the info so far

I’ve got a Vista Voyager. Well made and reliable in use, and excellent value for money (I paid £59 for mine).
It comes with a carry case that you can have on your back which I’ve used when walking, though not on the bike.

Another vote for Manfrotto kit.

Still using my 055, which must be 20+ years old now, not that I would want to cary that one on my bike 😉

Go for the heaviest, best built one you think you can carry.

Well, my Manfrotto (190 with 141RC head) has seen some proper abuse, fallen down stairs all sorts. You can get replacement parts for them though, quite cheaply. I’ve got a dent in one upper leg what makes telescoping it a tad tight, but all I need to do is find a bit of suitable aluminium tubing cut to the right length, worst comes to the worst. Local engineering place can do that.

I like that in a product; servicability. 🙂

Another thought – Jessops used to do a vacuum cushion camera support, which you could use to protect your camera in as well, I used to use one instead of a tripod for hiking with, many many years ago?

Rusty > can you reverse the centre column? It doesn’t look like it from the pics.

You mean upside down ? Camera below the apex of the tripod ?
Yes, you can. The hook and cap at the bottom unscrew.
Or is that not what you meant ?

I have a manfrotto too, can’t fault it.
I believe it’s the 055 Pro, not the carbon jobbie though and I paid about £100 from Amazon last christmas.

Bulletproof bit of kit. I have a450d and the biggest (heaviest) lens I use is a 70-200 f2.8L

I have a tripod and a monopod.. which is better than any tripod for portability and very good for say long zoom lens wildlife stuff. Also surprisingly versatile for bracing against things and so on to get a proper steady hold.

Or is that not what you meant ?

No, that’s exactly what I meant. Very helpful, thanks.

I have a tripod and a monopod..

One of the selling points for me on the 3 Legged Thing is that it converts into a monopod.

For portable I bought an SLIK Compact II from a local shop based on the very unscientific method of wobling each of the lightweight tripods in the shop and buying the least wobly one within budget.

It’s not rock solid, and the head is a bit of a faff (only 2 way adjustable) if you want the camera at an angle or portrait, but it was £20 and light enough not to notice on my backpack.

manfrotto or gitzo carbon if you can afford it. i had my MFrt carbon stolen but didn’t want to replace it with the current model as it has the crappy split center column which i hate so went for a gitzo, wasn’t a fan of them before but they have increased the pitch of the leg locking thread so it’s much quicker.
giottos make some decent ball heads for the money, not in arca-swiss territory but fine for a small dslr.

I recently received one of these http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-manfrotto-732cy-m-y-carbon-fibre-with-a3rc1-3-way-head/p1527040 as part of a camera deal, was going to sell it on but it’s proved too useful and the wife uses it with a 300mm lens just fine. very stable for it’s weight and so you tend to have it with you more often.

One of the selling points for me on the 3 Legged Thing is that it converts into a monopod.

Not the same though. Monopods are very light, small, robust, rapidly erected (one set of clips instead of three) etc.

Definitely worth the small sum of money they cost.