This is a good point. I do a fair amount of manual focus (MF). I do this on a lot of my landscapes, and 100% of the time at night. I find the heavy sturdy tripod to be far less frustrating when zooming in 10X on a star to MF.Originally Posted by jrw
Plus, if it gets windy I can hang a weight from the center column and the legs do not splay out a all. I also regularly set up the tripod in 5 feet of water and let the camera sit about 8 inches above the water for extended periods of time... the reason I now use a wireless remote (my wired remote took a fatal bath). I would not hang that much money of the water if I did not trust the tripod.
Having said all that... I am not a small person and I usually have my wife with me and she does not seem to mind carrying my gear (mostly lenses). Over the years I have learned to bring less with me... filters, remote, 2-3 lenses (a couple are quit heavy), 1D X, and tripod/head. If I want a monopod... then I do not open the legs of the tripod. So with the help of my wife, the heavier gear is not that big of a problem. But if I was by myself a lot or was hiking 8+ miles, then I would re-think this.
For this shot, I hiked a difficult/rough 7-8 miles with everything I owned on my back and around my neck because I was not sure where I would be able to shoot from. I had just injured my heal and was limping around when we decided to go to Spray Falls... I was never so happy to get back to the car, and I probably did not stay and shoot as long as I would have if I was not so beat. This is one of the cases that I would have loved to have a lighter load.
Spray Falls by Pat Conroy, on Flickr
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