With the road trip to the Otways Redwood Forest this past long weekend, I realized I need to use more of my tripod. I know my style of photography is more geared towards Street Photography, where I like to capture the moment of people and reactions, but along the lines of me going to a beautiful place where THE SCENERY/LANDSCAPE is the main character of the photo I need to be more patient with low light.

In the Redwood Forest, there were a few photographers… all with tripods (except for me, of course).

My first reaction, upon reflection was: I need a lighter tripod for travel. As true as that statement is, I haven’t even had problems with my “big, heavy and clumsy” tripod. I did take the tripod to the trip, but not to the forest. True that one of the reasons was because it was “big and heavy”, but I would say that if I had an easier way to carry it around, it would reduce the barrier to take it with me. The bag in which my tripod came in is very flimsy. The rope/cord that you strap around your shoulder, not only is it thin and after a while makes your shoulder hurt, but it also is unreliable and undoes itself on one of the sides.

So I’ve decided to, as a starting point, buy a new tripod bag. It is a cheaper solution than buying a smaller, steady tripod.

But, at some point, I will still need to buy another tripod (and I’m still trying to convince myself of it) – which would be my fourth tripod more details below. First, because a newer tripod will be lighter (will make sure of it). Second, because the newer tripod will be smaller closed. The one I currently have is 63cm fully closed, the one I’ve been looking at is under 40cm. Why is this important? Because my camera travel bag is about 45cm high, which means that if I want to attack a tripod to it, it needs to be smaller than 45cm. I measured and the height limit, which was what I REALLY needed to know, was about 41cm.

The tripod I’ve been looking at is: 37cm fully closed and weighs 1.18 kg (600g less than my current one) and can hold up to 7.7 kg (by current one holds 5 kg, just enough for the camera and Big Bertha). So even IF it didn’t come with a decent tripod bag, I can still attach it to the side of the camera bag. The set back of the new tripod is that the maximum height it opens up to is 136 cm, almost 30 cm lower than my current tripod, I guess that would be the trade off for the more compact size for carrying.

Another reason I’m reluctant to buy ANOTHER tripod is because I have three tripods already: the official tripod, the tripod I inherited from my husband and my mini tripod (image below). Having said that, I will probably buy a new tripod that is lighter and smaller to use for travel, but first I will buy a good tripod travelling bag to help me on my hikes with the current tripod. It is currently on sale at Michaels Camera (in the city) at $38 for the size I need. Will pick it up tomorrow.

Update: I had to pick up the tripod bag today as the store is not opening on the weekends anymore. It is only online and as soon as they finish stock, they will close for good.