Weight Rating for tripods ~ what's the real deal?

[Brendan7]

Ok all,


I have researched some tripods and heads and I have a question:


What is the number behind weight rating?


What I'm asking is this: If a tripod is rated to 15 lbs, can it hold 15 lbs of equipment? Can that said tripod hold an 800 5.6 IS lens and 1D body? I'm aware the answer to that question is obviously no. But then if it can't hold 15 lbs, what is "rated to 15 lbs" supposed to mean? ugh... So, To what extent is weight rating deceptive?


thanks in advance for your help in shedding some light [I] on this for me.


brendan

[Oren]

Brendan, I guess that it can "hold" a 800mm lens + 1D = it won't break (hopefully), but how steady will it be? I guess it won't be steady at all (not even sure that it won't break).


That's just what I *assume*. We'll see what other people here, perhaps more knowledgeable than me in this regard think.

[Daniel Browning]

What is the number behind weight rating?

I don't know, but it doesn't work very well as a performance indicator; certainly not for comparison between manufacturers, and often times not even between different models of the same manufacturer.

If a tripod is rated to 15 lbs, can it hold 15 lbs of equipment?

Yes. It can "hold" the equipment. That may be useful to know if you're shooting timelapse or something that doesn't require that you ever touch the equipment. But if you actually plan to "use" the equipment, that's a whole different matter altogether.

Can that said tripod hold an 800 5.6 IS lens and 1D body? I'm aware the answer to that question is obviously no.

Actually, the answer is "yes". The tripod will hold it just fine. In fact, it will be very stable as long as you don't touch the camera or lens. [] Of course, most photographers care about how it will actually perform during use. The weight rating doesn't tell us anything about that, unfortunately.

But then if it can't hold 15 lbs, what is "rated to 15 lbs" supposed to mean?

It means that you can put that much gear on the tripod (day in and day out) without worrying that the tripod will break and send your gear crashing to the ground. It doesn't tell you anything about the performance during use (necessarily).

ugh... So, To what extent is weight rating deceptive?

Some of the expensive tripods have weight ratings that more closely correlated with performance during actual use, but even for the $5000 tripods it's best to use about 1/3 the weight rating.

[Brendan7]

True. I don't have a 1D or 800, I was just making a comparison. How much weight rating do you need for every pound of equipment?


Would you say that, maybe, 6-7 pounds of weight rating for every pound of equipment is accurate?

[Daniel Browning]

Would you say that, maybe, 6-7 pounds of weight rating for every pound of equipment is accurate?

Unfortunately, there is usually no meaningful correlation. For a given vendor, price is a much better indicator of performance than weight rating.