Chapter 03: Additional gear
A solid tripod is essential for landscapes, long exposures, astrophotography, macro work, and can be for video. A monopod offers lighter, more mobile support. This is also perfect for sports, wildlife, and events where you need stability without losing speed.
Tripods are often either made of aluminium or carbon fibre. Carbon fibre is a lighter material and therefore lighter to carry around. Its weight is something you should consider if you are buying one and planning to bring it around. Tripods have somewhat various height, and if you are a tall person you should look into that as well when buying a tripod.
The column you mount the camera on when using a tripod often has a hook underneath where you can attach a backpack, a bag or other weights. This increases the overall weight of the tripod and makes it more stable when you take photos. The heavier tripod the less movements when you take pictures. This is a function not many persons know about, but it is very handy to know about.
It is fairly normal to buy the tripod and the head independently, even though package deals from the same brands are normal. Heads used to videography be somewhat different from the ones used in photography, and the main difference is how they pan and tilt. Something you should take into consideration is how much weight the head can handle. If the head is too weak the head can tip over and the tripod can drop your camera to the ground. This can be an expensive repair. I have experienced that one myself.
Buying normal sized tripods, you often get along a quick release attachment plate that you attach underneath the camera house. These are used to attaching and detaching your camera easily on and off the head of the tripod. The most popular attachment plates are Arca swiss and Manfrotto RC2. The later one is proprietary to gear from Manfrotto, while basically everyone else makes plates according to the Arca swiss standard. The difference is how they attach to the head, and the systems are not compatible. Many full size tripods have the possibility to attach articulating arms for attaching additional equipment, but that’s down the road when you have become more advanced photographer and have more equipment.
Thinking of tripods most people think about normal size tripods. Tabletop tripods also exist, and as the name suggests you can use them to put your camera on a table, on the floor or basically any other surface whilst taking pictures. In addition to camera or other photography gear it is possible to attach mobile phones or tablets. This is an example of such a holder.