Can One Tripod Do All?

Gitzo 5540LS w/Whimberley

I had an interesting call the other day asking a question that comes up more often now that money is tighter. Can one tripod do all? You are probably saying that’s not a new question, you might have already found the answer, but I think you’ll find this has a twist you might not have considered. Can you buy the BIG tripod and use it for your big lens with the Whimberley Head and then use the same BIG tripod (5540 pictured here) with the smaller Really Right Stuff BH-55 for all your small lenses?

My BIG tripod is the 5560SGT and is one BIG tripod. Many times I’ve spun the Whimberley off and attached the BH-55 and it works great. When space is tight and I only have space in the luggage for one tripod, this is the only option. Now when working in the field, the 5560SGT with a idy bidy body and 16Fish on top can be hard to maneuver in a small spot. It can be done, but it’s just not fun.

I much prefer to have two tripods along, the 5560SGT for the 600mm and the 3540XLS for everything else. My bud Joe McNally uses the 5560SGT and nothing else, doing exactly what the caller wondered if was a smart thing to do. He uses it with the BH-55 whenever he does use a tripod. And that’s part of it as well, with proper handholding, you don’t always need a tripod, a small one at least so the one BIG tripod will do a fine job.

One last food for thought. Which ever tripod you do or don’t go with, using the proper technique makes all the difference in the world in getting a sharp image. And that’s the whole goal. The Moose Video Library has all the sharpness videos, here’s the da Tripod video for ya.