Should i get a tripod or a monopod

While tripods can be very heavy and unwieldy, monopods are very lightweight. This makes monopods ideal for photographers that have to shoot on the go. You can collapse down a monopod and stick it in your camera bag without taking up much space. And if you plan to do some sort of long photographic adventure in the wilderness, a monopod is much less of a burden than a tripod. Instead of carrying a heavy tripod into the field, you can take a small monopod.

It can even double as a walking stick if you get tired! Monopods are great for sports photography, because you can follow the action across the field. Instead of shooting from a single position, a monopod-laden sports shooter can walk back and forth, taking photos from different angles and directions.

With a good tripod, you can capture perfectly sharp shots in wind and rushing water. You can capture beautiful star trail images at night, silky waterfall shots during the evening, and more. Whereas a tripod can stay steady for literally hours while you shoot a single long exposure shot.

Want to capture a nice self-portrait shot? Or want to create a beautiful long exposure in your backyard at night? Tripods, on the other hand, are designed to stand, and to stay standing unsupported for hours on end. But a low-down tripod with a solid material can withstand a lot, which is why you can use them comfortably in plenty of situations, unsupported. That way, you can safely capture a shot, change the point of focus, capture another shot, change the point of focus, etc.

By the way, the same is true for landscape photographers shooting bracketed exposures. If you decide to blend several images that are carefully exposed for different parts of the image, your camera must stay absolutely still. As I explained in an earlier section, monopods are portable and flexible. Which means that you can run from one end of the field to the other with a monopod.

You can follow the action, capture different angles, and weave in and out of people as you get your stunning images. Wildlife photography involves getting low to the ground to capture images of birds, mammals, reptiles, and more. In many areas of photography, tripods are far more popular than monopods, primarily thanks to their use in long exposure images. For this, a tripod is absolutely necessary.

Have you ever seen a beautiful nighttime street photo? One that has long strings of car lights winding through the scene? As with astrophotography, nighttime street photography tends to rely pretty heavily on tripods, especially when capturing images of cityscapes and architecture.

This is in spite of the fact that landscape photographers frequently go on long trips in the wilderness. So which one do you need? If you need to be mobile, a monopod is the best bet.

And you can support the weight of big lenses and offer some light protection against camera shake. What a tripod lacks in mobility it makes up for in stability. You can shoot sharp long exposures and shoot with the biggest, heaviest lenses. But if you need both, you may not have to actually buy both a monopod and a tripod.

Some tripods are two-in-one. They convert from the more stable system to the more mobile one with just a few adjustments. Convertible tripods typically work in one of two ways. The first kind converts the center post of the tripod into a monopod. The twist locks necessary to make the center column small enough to work with both tend to be less stable than flip locks.

Other types of convertible tripods work by removing one of the legs and reattaching it to the center column. This creates less of a height restriction and allows for more stable locks. It may be more time-consuming when switching from a tripod to a monopod and back again. Buying both may be easier than taking the time to convert back and forth.

But a convertible option will take up less space than packing both on a photography trip. And of course, buying a single convertible tripod is often cheaper than buying both a tripod and a monopod.

Some monopods also have small, pop-out support legs at the bottom called a support base or folding base. Ready to buy? Check out the best monopods and tripods to buy on a budget here. Monopods and tripods have a similar purpose, but with vastly different perks and features. Tripods are more stable, while monopods are more mobile. Tripods are ideal for long exposure photography and macro work.

Monopods are great for steadying long lenses while on the move sports photography. You might need both stability and mobility. They can be heavy to carry around and take some time to set up. Depending on which head you are using, tripods can also be very limiting for quick camera movements which you may need when photographing moving objects.

Everything about using a tripod is slower. They too come in different sizes and will support different weight limits. Monopods also offer much more versatility in movement as you now have only on one leg, not three, and they are much quicker to set up than their three-legged brethren.

But if your arms get tired from holding your camera up all day, then a monopod may well be very suited to your needs. While tripods and monopods offer extra support and in some cases, stability for your camera, there are times when one is more useful than the other and one cannot always be used in place of the other.