Ever have one of those moments that result in a “Home Alone” abandonment scenario? Yep, me too, but luckily it involved our trusty tripod and not a child! I had a major oversight while packing to come home from the in-laws last Christmas and accidentally left our tripod behind. In my defence, it was hiding!
We were leaving the next week for Miami and were gutted that we wouldn’t be able to take a wide spectrum of photos. Gutted at least until we managed to rationalise the purchase of an upgraded tripod! Our old tripod is travel-sized and has only let us down once (when it wasn’t tall enough to clear a railing!) but there comes a time when you have to go heavy duty.
After extensive research we decided on the Manfrotto 190XPROB (nicknamed Probie in honour of our friends at NCIS!) with the 498RC2 midi ball head. This head appealed to us over the 496 since we liked the idea of being able to easily pan in order to take panoramic images.
When fully extended, the tripod and head reach a height of some 166 cm (142 cm with the centre column not extended). This is a whopping 20 – 40 cm difference over our previous tripod…suddenly we’re wondering how we survived all these years!! The 190XPROB also has some neat features like legs that open to practically 180º for those low to the ground shots and a centre column that pulls out and rotates to easily photograph straight down to the ground.
A tripod is such a fundamental piece of gear for a photographer (especially those who enjoy HDR as much as we do!) During those spectacular “golden hours” of sunrise and sunset, having a tripod can really help with creativity and composition – no light is too low! And not to mention the necessity of a tripod for night shots. It’s one thing to hold a camera still for one second or even half a second, but once you enter the territory of star trails, complete darkness, and 10 minute and upward exposures, a tripod is the only way to go.
So far we have been enjoying the stability and ease of using the 190XPROB and the 498RC2. It doesn’t mess around!! Ah Probie…where have you been all my life?