Finally got a decent shot of the Milky Way after my tripod broke mid-session

I was out at a dark spot near Boulder Creek last Tuesday, all set up for a long exposure of the Milky Way core. About 20 minutes in, one of the plastic legs on my cheap tripod just snapped clean off. The camera hit the dirt, but luckily the lens survived. I ended up wedging the tripod against a rock and using a 3-second timer to avoid shake. Managed to get maybe 10 usable frames before the moon came up. Has anyone else had a tripod fail on them at the worst possible time?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_dylan24d ago

Yeah the "plastic nonsense" part really hit home. I used to think cheap tripods were good enough for most stuff but after that night I totally get why people spend real money on them. That gorillapod idea is actually smart as hell for a backup, might steal that.

hayden46624d ago

yo thats brutal man but honestly you handled it better than most would. same thing happened to me last summer out in the desert, one of the leg locks just gave up and the whole thing folded like a cheap lawn chair. what i do now is carry a gorillapod as a backup since it can strap to trees or rocks if something goes wrong. also if you ever get a chance to upgrade look for aluminum legs with metal locks, that plastic nonsense is just asking for trouble on rough terrain.