Do I need a tripod, and which one should I buy?

Almost everyone buys a cheap tripod, finds it wobbles and slips, and concludes tripods are not for them. The failure is nearly always the head and the leg locks rather than the idea.

Step by step

1. Decide what you actually need it for.Long exposures of water and traffic, night and astro work, exposure bracketing to merge, macro, product and food photography, self-timer group shots, video, and any picture where you want to compose carefully and repeatedly. Low light hand-holding is only one item on that list.
2. Set the height requirement.The viewfinder should reach your eye with the legs extended and the centre column down. A raised centre column is the least stable part of any tripod and using it routinely defeats the purpose.
3. Set the load requirement.Take the weight of your heaviest camera and lens and double it. Stated load capacities are optimistic, and a head that just holds a load will still creep downwards after you have framed the shot.
4. Choose the head deliberately.A ball head is fast and compact and is the general answer. A three-way or geared head is slower and far better where you need to adjust one axis at a time — architecture, interiors, copy work, product photography. A fluid head is for video panning and does not lock hard enough for stills.
5. Check the leg locks by hand.Twist locks are compact and quick once you know them; lever locks are faster to see at a glance and can work loose. Either is fine; both need to hold firmly with a hand's effort. This is where cheap tripods fail first.
6. Weigh aluminium against carbon fibre.Carbon is lighter for the same stiffness and damps vibration better, at a considerable price premium. Aluminium is heavier and cheaper and perfectly rigid. If the tripod lives in a car boot, buy aluminium; if it goes up hills on your back, the weight saving is what gets it carried.
7. Get a quick-release plate system you will keep.Arca-Swiss style plates are close to a standard and work across many brands, which matters when you replace the head or add an L-bracket. Proprietary plates lock you in and get lost.
8. Use it properly once you have it.Spread the legs fully, put one leg towards the subject, hang your bag from the centre hook in wind, turn off stabilisation on lenses that require it, and use the self-timer or a remote so pressing the shutter does not shake the whole thing.

Tips

• A cheap tripod with a good head is far more useful than an expensive one with a bad head. Buy them separately if the budget is tight.
• For a phone, a small tabletop tripod with a phone clamp does most of what people want and fits in a coat pocket.
• Optical stabilisation can fight a tripod on some lenses and introduce blur that would not otherwise be there. Check what yours advises.

Common mistakes

• Buying to a price with no load headroom — A head at its limit creeps after you frame the shot, so the composition you set is not the one you take. Doubling the stated requirement is the cheapest reliability you can buy.
• Using the centre column as height — It is a single unbraced tube. Raising it converts a rigid tripod into a spring, and it is the commonest reason people conclude that their tripod does not help.

Alternatives

• Monopod: One leg. Takes the weight of a long lens and buys two or three stops of stability, does not free your hands or allow long exposures. Common at sport and where tripods are banned.
• Tabletop or mini tripod: Small, light and enough for a phone, a compact or a light mirrorless on a wall, a table or the ground. The most-used tripod many people own.
• Beanbag or clamp: A bag of rice on a wall or a clamp on a railing steadies a camera for almost nothing, and travels flat.
• Whatever is already there: A wall, a fence post, a rucksack on the ground and the self-timer will get a sharp two-second exposure. Technique first, purchase second.

Questions people ask