Read the three parts as three purchases and the figures start to line up.
The legs carry the picture
Stiffness comes from tube diameter, wall thickness, section count and the locks. More sections pack smaller and flex more; six titles here print aluminium and one carbon, which is lighter for the same stiffness and damps better. None of that is published as a stiffness figure, because no agreed test exists.
The head holds the aim
Rated separately from the legs, and the choice is about the movement you need: a ball head for speed, a geared or tilt head for precision, a fluid head for video. Thirteen products here belong to the head family, and the declared load on a head describes a static mass over its centre — not a long lens tilted forward, which is a moment rather than a weight.
The plate is the part that fragments a kit
Choose one profile and buy plates for everything. The widely copied dovetail is accepted by most clamps and published by nobody, so widths and safety lips vary between makers: two titles here name it, and a published width in millimetres is worth more than the name.
The two threads are the only fixed points
The smaller under the camera, printed in eight titles; the larger between legs and head, printed in three. Both are standardised as tripod connections. Neither carries any load rating, and a bushing between them changes the diameter and nothing else.
What to switch off, and what to check
On a rigid support, read what the maker publishes about a tripod mode for stabilisation — some systems detect it, others can act on their own residual signal and soften the frame. Then remove your hand from the equation with a remote release or the self-timer, because pressing a shutter button moves the camera at the moment that matters.
Where the money goes first
Into the legs. The head can be replaced on the same thread later, and the plate after that. Legs bought too light are replaced entirely.
What people ask before they commit
What does a declared maximum load actually cover?
A mass at rest, in the maker’s own test, for one part of the support. It says nothing about wind, nothing about the impulse of a shutter firing, and nothing about the torque a head holds when tilted forward with a long lens. It is used as a proxy for stiffness, which is exactly what it is not.
Should I buy legs and head together or separately?
Separately, if the budget allows, because a good head on soft legs is still soft and the two are rated independently. They join on a published thread — the larger of the two sizes — so a head bought now fits legs bought later.
Last reviewed 13 September 2026