No really. Go ahead. I won't scream.
Because if you feel it and it seems loose, I can tighten it. The maker of my photo tripod included a natty little Allen spanner that can firm up the leg lock. If I have lost the spanner, the technician at
Camera Electronic can do the job for me - and check out all the other things to which a tripod may be prone.
a. Corrosion - With the exception of very few specialist tripods, they can all go manky if you stand them in salt water or chemicals. This may not be evident from the surface but can affect the joints.
b. Sand - And other particulate matter. This also gets its entry into the sliding joints of a tripod as well as the locks and screw parts. Enough grit and enough wear can loosen or jam any tripod. They don't mention this in the advertisements but lots of the beaches in Western Australia are made up of
sand...
No problemo on the south coast of England or on the Abrolhos...
c. Overstress - some people think that if tight is good, tighter is gooder. Err, better...In any case. for them the best of all is so tightly screwed up that the lock knob or lever breaks off.
If you cannot bring yourself to trust the legs on the 'pod do as the technician does. Lock them gently and press down on the leg. If it'll hold a firm press, it'll hold a camera.
d. Pan/tilt or ball heads - some designs are prone to stripping of the threads that enable the heads to grip and lock. The old Tilt-All was classic for this - you might have great legs but the integral pan/tilt head could go loose on you as the soft material of the threads cut out. Maybe the users of this tripod in the 40's and 50's were not gorillas or perhaps the cameras were lighter.
I'm sorry to have to jigger up any shop sales that might be held in contemplation, but the design principle of simplicity does really apply to tripods as much as it does to any mechanical device. When you look at something that you hope will last a long time, look to see if it tries to do the job with 3 parts or 13 - and whether those parts are thick enough, dense enough, and well made enough to work repeatedly all that time.
Ron Frank frequently explained this to customers - and he was also right on the mark when he told them to buy something that was expensive enough...to be well built enough...to last long enough. Buy once, buy well.
