Over the weekend I had a small win an that's always welcome, especially if there's a financial saving attached to it. I went in search of a cheap bicycle for my nephew and expected to have to search through several second hand stores to find one but was fortunate enough to find exactly what I was looking for at the very first. You can see the post about my nephew's bike here if you like. I lingered there, wandered the aisles a little as I'm always happy to find a bargain and thought I might get lucky. As it turns out, I did.
I'm not much of a photographer and my equipment isn't of professional quality; I buy good brands but tend to opt for the lower end of the range as I use don't get the use out of it and so figure it's best to save some money. That means the equipment isn't always user-friendly, and certainly this is the case with my tripod.
I have a Manfrotto tripod that works, but isn't high enough and has annoying features when adjustment is required. Again, it's not designed for professional use. I've put up with it though and for under $150 AUD it's worked fine. I've always wanted one that is easier to adjust and comes up to the height I need but haven't wanted to spend the $300+ on getting one brand new.
This is where we circle back to that second hand store from the weekend.
I found a Manfrotto tripod there that caught my eye. It has one of those pistol grips on the head which loosens off to change the angle of the camera and tightens easily with no messing about. It's not the trigger version, which I really want, it has a little rolling wheel instead which isn't as good, but it's way better than I have now. It also extends to the right height for my physical stature so no more bending down to the camera. It will take about the same to deploy and extend as the one I have now, but the additional ease of use with the head-section, the angle adjustment, will be nice.
I took a good look at the tripod, made sure it all worked and then saw the ticketed price...$39. That did the deal and it came home with me.
I'm not one of those people who always has to change things over to the new version; I tend to use something until it breaks or is ineffective then replaces it. In this case I didn't do that, but I've had over seven years of use from my last tripod and for the price of $39 for this new (old) one I thought it was ok to treat myself.
Shopping isn't something I do a lot, I just don't need much stuff usually and especially not on the weekends as there always something better to do. Last weekend though, I shopped and was happy to do so. I don't know if it was luck or destiny that provided those two items on Sunday but I picked up two good bargains at great prices and went home happy.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised so be humble and kind
Any images in this post are my own