Monopods and Tripods for Wildlife, What I Look for... 

Good job Scott and I can back all of your comments. One thing I've learned when comparing the 'twist lockouts' vs the 'flap type'. With the twist type, one never knows if they are all locked. With the Flap type, one just needs to look, no time wasted with a collapse. No, I'm speaking about more than for just wildlife photography.

I've kinda given up on legs anymore, I'm using the Whistling Wings Speed Shooter exclusively now with a Jobu monopod and head. It is a game changer, gives you stability near a tripod with the mobility of a mono, can sit or stand and be equally stable. Love it should try to get one from Ron to add it to the list.

I would love to see a video of portable tripods for wildlife. There are so many different opinions out there about this. Peak Design, Heipi, Ulanzi, Sirui etc.

Aluminum tripods and monopods draw heat from your hands in cold weather. I went to the Sax-Zim Bog in northern Minnesota in January to photograph owls and the mornings were -25 deg F or colder. After three days in the cold, when I got home in North Carolina, I bought a carbon fiber tripod and monopod and never looked back again.

Subscribed. Thanks for making this video! Im a field biologist and i wanted to get into a more advanced level of wildlife photography! Cant wait to watch your other videos.

Another GREAT and Informative Video ! Scott just has an easy going manner about him, combined with his orating ability and pleasant voice, and his knowledge, makes for great content! Thanks Scott! 👍✌😊

When talking about the strength of a leg section, you have two different forces to resist. There is compression, and there is bending force. The difference between a 36mm tube and an 18mm tube in compression strength is pretty small, the difference in bending strength is huge. With a taller tripod that has more leg sections, the loss of strength or load capacity comes from the bending forces as the legs tend to splay outward under load. The use of a spike or anchor reduces the splay and increases the stiffness. I have a LeoFoto 364 which does fine with the rubber feet, but when I add 2 sections to be able to shoot over a crowd, I need to use the spikes. For bringing the camera to ground level, the LeoFoto CEX tripod has the leveling base built into the apex, which is as good as it gets. You should consider doing a video about tripod feet, because it’s a small expense that makes a huge difference…

Scott - great video. Robus make great equipment. pro Media Gear makes outstanding equipment!

Very informative, but late for me. I purchased Benro Tortoise tripod last week. I've just started a wildlife youtube channel and i wanted a tripod for my Nikkor 200-500 for video. Let's hope I made a right choice.😄😄

We are in great times for photography gear. Throughout the film days and even into the start of DSLR's, pretty much the only real solid option and industry high standard was Gitzo (Manfrotto made good professional grade video tripods).. then RRS came along and joined gitzo...but now theres so many good options at a lowe price tag My heavy duty RRS tripod set up with Leveling base and Manfrotto 502ah with Kirk arca swiss bridge ran me around $1600 total I just recently purchased a Leofoto just to see and though its not "as good" and the quality difference is apparent, its still pretty dang close for an 1/8 of the price of the rrs or gitzo. There's still some things that do require the high price tag bc its just that much better.. but theres a lot of stuff out there now for much cheaper and still get it done.

Super useful. I am looking for a new tripod as I made the typical mistake of buying something cheaper first. Lesson learned. I now understand better what to look for and this video was very helpful for that. Look forward to the other one on when to use a monopod vs. a tripod. Still struggling a bit with that (and wondering whether I need a monopod at all). Don't do much wildlife but need to keep my load light due to back issues.

Just a note that if you have a center shaft for your tripod that is reversible, you can essentially 'hang' your camera between the tripod's legs and get *very* close to the ground while maintaining excellent stability. Very useful for macro photography.

Just ordered a Robus RC-5570 series 3 tripod from B&H after watching your videos. Got a 9+ used one for a good discount. I shoot Olympus cameras so the lenses are much lighter. Any suggestions for a good gimbal head that wont kill my budget? Ive seen your under $400 video but those seem to be more for heavier lenses.