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should one bring tripods - have one that collapes

calicali
in Kenya & Tanzania
We are going on the June 22nd trip and was just wondering if I should bring a tripod or not? Any advice from all you photographers - would appreciated hearing what you have to say! Thanks

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    cantravellercantraveller
    There is no room on the safari vehicles for a tripod. What I did was rest my camera on the top edge of the vehicle when you stand up as the top in most cases is opened up and I got excellent shots. You will find with 6 people jockeying for a shot there is not a lot of time or space to fiddle trying to get the perfect shot. This is a life time experience and you will enjoy it and will have the opportunity to get the best pictures of your life.
    Gary
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    debbie6299debbie6299
    I did read a suggestion to use a small bean bag to stabilize your camera.
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    andyiandyi
    I am bringing both. A beanbag would allow for stabilization from within a vehicle. There may be situations when not in a vehicle that would require a tripod (i.e. sunrise on the rim of Ngorngoro or group shots). If you are shopping for a tripod, I suggest you go to your local camera shop and bring your camera with you to try out various tripod models to test for stability and portability. These are things that are hard to assess from the internet. I found a large selection of beanbags on B&H photo.com which are probably not available at your local camera store. There is a beanbag called "the Pod" which has many configurations one of which probably will work for you.
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    cantravellercantraveller
    I tried the bean bag tripod and it does not work well on safari.
    Gary
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    calicali
    Thanks to all of you for the helpful tips and great advice! I will pass these along to my husband. B&H is where he goes for some of his camera stuff!!!
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    calicali
    Handy Andy what trip are you going on?
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    andyiandyi
    I am going on the June 15 trip.
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    JohnDJohnD
    debbie6299 wrote:
    I did read a suggestion to use a small bean bag to stabilize your camera.

    It all depends on your interest. I take the tripod with me. It isn't small but enough to fit into my suitcase. So I only have a camera backpack as carry-on luggage and the tripod, cloth and the rest in the suitcase.
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    sm1218sm1218
    Just returned from this trip last week.

    Yes, bring one. Get a short one, like 5 inches or 6 inches in height one. If you're using a zoom greater than 300mm you'll need it. If your zoom is less than 300mm then you don't. I brought three cameras and my new Cannon Powershot 50x zoom (i.e., equiv. of 1200mm) was the best - but you needed a tripod for the long zooms to get the clear shot.
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