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I recently had a discussion with a university photography teacher. He told me about one of the biggest problems he has with his students is that they start off without enough support for their cameras. Then, when they finally realize that they need tripods, end up spending way too much because they make the wrong purchase decision. Here is how he summed up the experience of buying tripods.

First, the students always try to hand hold their cameras and shoot. They will do their best to avoid buying tripods by holding their breath when gently tapping the shutter button, propping the camera on steady objects, and so forth. After developing a lot of really blurry shots (he makes them shoot in film for the first year), they go and buy one of the cheapest tripods they can find. Of course, these cheap tripods can’t support the cameras which they have saved up to buy and they still get a lot of shakiness. For about 50 pounds, they can get a decent amateur tripod but it isn’t going to cut it when going for the professional shots. Before long, they realize that the amateur tripods aren’t going to cut it and they purchase upgrades. In the course of a year, the students usually go through 4 or 5 different tripods and heads before they buy a quality product.