Tripods are essential for many kinds of photography because they hold the camera still during long exposures – and when you’re using telephoto lenses where the slightest wobble will blur the picture. Tripods are also useful for slowing down the pace of your photography, for holding the camera so that you have both hands free […]
Carbon fiber (tripod)
Carbon fibre is very light and very strong, so it’s popular in the tripod market, where balancing weight and rigidity is especially important. Carbon fibre is expensive, however, so many tripod makers offer both aluminium (cheaper but heavier) and carbon fibre versions of their tripods. Usually the carbon fibre is used only in the legs. Even on carbon fibre tripods, the ‘spiders’ (the plate where the legs are joined at the top) are usually cast from metal alloys, as are tripod heads.