Any serious photographer will at some point find a good tripod extremely useful. Zoom and low light shots often need to be stabilized to prevent image blur, and the single best tool to accomplish that is a solid, high quality camera tripod. So how do you choose a good tripod? There are a few different things to keep in mind.

One is height. All tripods have a maximum and minimum height. How high (or low) do you want your pictures to be? Eye level is fairly standard and is offered in most full sized tripods. Another consideration is the type of head your tripod has. Most tripod heads allow some range of movement. Cheaper tripods usually use the pan and tilt style common in video work, while some more professional still photography models use a versatile ball and socket joint.

Weight is an important consideration, as well. Do you plan on carrying your tripod around with you, or will it stay close to your home or vehicle? Heavier tripods are usually sturdier and better quality, with more height range and versatility, but are harder to carry around. Size is important, as well – most full size tripods are fairly large and unwieldy, while it is possible to get tabletop models or unipods that fold up small enough to fit into a backpack or hang from a belt.

Then too, there’s cost. Camera tripods can range anywhere from twenty or thirty dollars to several hundred for some of the higher quality professional models. While an expensive pro model will be useful to anyone taking thousands of shots for money, it may not be the best for an amateur or hobbyist. So decide what is most important to you, and make your decision based on what you’ll use most.

Commercial Tripods: In the world of photography, there are all sorts of tripods for all sorts of photographers in all sorts of situations. There are unipods and tabletop tripods and lightweight aluminum tripods for the mobile photographer and plastic amateur models and a host of other options to fit more or less any need.

But for professionals, a higher standard of quality is required. Professional photographers depend on having solid, crystal clear images – and with heavy SLRs and telephoto lenses, the only way to get a perfect image is to use a good commercial tripod. Commercial tripods are usually more expensive than amateur or cheap models, and can range in to prices in the several hundreds.

The most common style commercial tripods are built in is the heavy duty full sized tripod. Built for stability and durability, full sized professional tripods allow a smooth, full range of motion and a rock-solid base – perfect for the telephoto photographer. The downside, of course, is that these tripods are usually also rather heavy and large, making them difficult to carry from shoot to shoot without a good carrying bag or, of course, a vehicle.

Whatever you decide on in terms of a tripod, keep in mind that the commercial versions will be more reliable and last far longer than the lightweight amateur models – though both have there uses. Many photographers keep a heavy commercial tripod for studio and still shoot use, but also keep a lighter, cheaper model for those times when they need to move fast and can’t worry too much about damaging their tripods. Ask yourself what your needs are, and make your purchase based on that.