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Is there any program or online website that can recommend tripods based on a given lens and camera body?

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2  
Many of the features of tripods are subjective and thus cannot be displayed using a calculated formula. You might be better suited with a tripod review site. I am not familiar with a comprehensive one though. – dpollitt Dec 3 '12 at 18:07
I understand that they are subjective, what I wanna know is if a tripod can hold a specific lens and a specific camera body. I tried to search for one but I couldn't find it. – akram Dec 3 '12 at 18:13
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It might be worth noting that whether the tripod legset can hold the load is quite different from whether the head can hold the load. – Dan Wolfgang Dec 3 '12 at 18:38
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@AkramMellice - The problem is that a manufacturer might state a certain load handling figure, and in use you really don't get that amount. So you might find a calculator or program that gives the manufacturers specs, but not real world usage. If you are not interested in real world usage then maybe this website would be useful to you, but I don't see why that would be. For example - the tripod holds 10lbs, but if a slight wind occurs the unit falls over. The MFG specs won't note this. Thus, I find subjective reviews of tripods more useful then spec sheet filters. – dpollitt Dec 3 '12 at 18:55
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+1 to all the previous notes on how subjective 'can hold' is, also consider that 'can hold' and 'can hold well' aren't the same. Besides the obvious problem of the tripod falling over or the head drifting, the camera can wobble a lot depending, defeating the point of a tripod. – Shizam Dec 3 '12 at 20:17

3 Answers

up vote 2 down vote

Manfrotto has one for (obviously) its own line-up of products. It is pretty sophisticated but any subjective decisions are set by their own programmers.

Some other manufacturers have a simple search based on weight and height (among some others maybe) requirements which you have to figure out yourself.

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up vote 1 down vote

I would not want to trust a profound programming blackbox to recommend me what tripod is right for me. There are just too many variables beyond lens and camera body:

  • What and where do you shoot: A tripod used for studio shots with flash will ideally be quite different than one used for nature photography with the same body/lens
  • Your shooting technique: Do you have to be fast, or do you have time to set up everything as sturdily as possible? Do you use mirror lockup, cable release etc.?
  • How sharp is sharp enough for you?
  • What tripod head do you use?
  • Does it happen that you shoot verticals with a ballhead by tipping the camera over so that the tripod is no longer centered under the camera?
  • ...

Apart from that there are just too many useful combinations of tripod legs, heads and accessories out there to be handled by a piece of software.

If you photograph seriously I would like to recommend reading Thom Hogan's article "Serious Support". If it looks expensive, try to buy used.

If I look at the shelves of fellow photographers (and mine), Photography is not about cameras, only little more about lenses, but mostly about camera support and camera bags. And about taking pictures, of course... ;-)

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up vote 0 down vote

B&H Photo has criteria you can select for narrowing down tripod choices. Remember to add the weight of the head to your camera when looking at legs. I would start with a head that can hold 2 to 3 times the weight of the heaviest body and lens you'll be using. Then get legs that cab hold 2 to 3 times the weight of the body, lens, and head.

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