What factors should I consider when choosing a tripod for my digital camera?

What factors should I consider when choosing a tripod for my digital camera?

Mark Comon (Vice President, Paul's Photo, Torrance, CA) gives expert video advice on: What factors should I consider when choosing a tripod for my digital camera?; How do camera monopods differ? and more...

When choosing a tripod, I have to tell you that I'm a tripod fascist. I believe in big, expensive tripods to give me the ultimate stability. I do a lot of landscape photography, high quality photography, so I use a high-quality, carbon fiber tripod. My tripod and the tripod I recommend for most of my customers generally will cost many times more than the digital camera you're considering buying. So if you're looking for a high-quality tripod, come to me or come to any camera store and we'll show you what a high-quality carbon fiber tripod costs. They're between two hundred and a thousand dollars apiece for a tripod. For most of you looking for a tripod for your digital pictures, it's generally a small tripod in the sixty to a hundred dollar price range so you can run around and get in your own pictures with the family for an occasional fireworks or low-light city lights picture. Sixty to a hundred dollar tripod will generally suffice. But if you want to get better, look for more stability, better-quality tripods.