Sturdy tripod on a budget

Question

One of my favourite types of photography is long exposure photography. I use a nikon D3100 with the kit lens. Unfortunately being the beginner I was, I decided to buy a cheap tripod from Ebay...I am looking for a good quality tripod for around £100 or less. At the moment I have looked at various different ones from amazon:

Manfrotto MKC3-H01 Compact Photo-Movie Kit - Black

Hahnel Triad 30 Lite Professional Aluminium Alloy 4-Section Tripod with 360º Quick Release Ball Head and Free Carrying Case

Velbon CX-888 Tripod for DSLR Cameras

I am fairly new to photography, so I am not sure which tripod is the best. I am mainly looking for sturdiness.

@user3731036 - Irrelevant. This isn't a shopping website and thus this question is off topic anyways. See Matt's comment above for a question that is on topic. — dpollitt, Jun 16 '14 at 17:28
Do consider that a good tripod will long outlast your camera. Spending a bit for a good leg set and head will be far more useful than something that breaks in a year. And don't forget to see what its like to be hunched over at 1.3m trying to take a photo through that viewpoint. — , Jun 16 '14 at 18:42
Dang. Now Amazon knows that I looked at your tripods, so now I see tripod ads everywhere... ;) — Guffa, Jun 16 '14 at 20:50

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 16 '14 at 17:35

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"Good quality" and "around £100 or less" are antithetical.

You can only have two of the following three things with any tripod: sturdiness, lightness, low-cost. You want it to be sturdy and light, it's gonna cost a bomb. You want it to be cheap and sturdy, it's gonna be heavy. You want it to be cheap and light, it's gonna be tippy. Them's just the breaks. Decide what your priorities are.

answered Jun 16 '14 at 17:35

inkista

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While I normally agree with this, if all the user has is a D3100 with a kit lens it is possible to find something that will work in this price range. If you add in a nice f/2.8 zoom or a telephoto of any kind then I would agree with your sentiment. – dpollitt Jun 16 '14 at 17:44
@dpollitt if I were to begin to do moon photography, will using a 55-300mm standard nikon lens affect using a budget tripod a lot? – Jun 16 '14 at 17:52
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@dpollitt, I think I was concentrating on the phrase "long exposure"--I use a cheap little $85 Velbon a lot myself, but rarely go over 30s with it with anything longer than 35mm; for longer exposures or the 400mm lens, I'm hauling out the Manfrotto. – inkista Jun 16 '14 at 18:00
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@user3731036--yes, especially at 300mm. The longer the lens, the steadier the tripod needs to be. Not only is the lens longer and harder to keep steady (can be mitigated by a tripod ring), but shake is magnified. VR can help, but only so much. – inkista Jun 16 '14 at 18:02

Sturdy tripod on a budget

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