My husband is planning on carrying tripod in his suitcase for evening/early morning shots. He asks: "Is this a dumb idea?"

This is what I just posted on the Trafalgar Bulletin Board:
"I've just returned from my Insight tour and ended up taking the gimmicky QuikPod and a Giottos RT8000 tripod. I hadn't practised enough with the QuikPod and got much better shots of myself in scenes just by handing my camera off to a fellow tour member.

The tripod helped me get shots of Florence at night from the viewpoint. There was a sliver of a moon visible and I was able to include it in a shot of the city as well as the David copy in the square. I also took a few other night shots with it. The price ($20 CDN) made it attractive to me but you get what you pay for. It's not all that tall and has no quick release platform. I have finally learned how to operate the legs for closing it down.

What I take with on my next tour will depend on the itinerary description and how many tour activities will take place after dark and in low light situations."

I'm interested in a lightweight tripod; does anyone have any other suggestions?

Hi Colleen. I have two Tripods. I use both at home, but only take the smaller one O/S. The small one is a Nikon that goes from 160cm to 300cm. The larger one from 500cm to 1.6 metre's. Both are aluminium in construction. Another best Tripod or rest for a camera is the wheat bag that you might carry for a soar shoulder or limb that you microwave to heat up, thus serves a dual purpose.

Thanks Iggy. I'll investigate those. The wheat bag sounds useful too.

I use a Velbon Maxi tripod on my trips, which I regard as an essential piece of equipment as I do quite a bit of night photos. You actually get two types of tripods, the ones that you can carry, and the ones that work! I am however not prepared to take one of my Manfrottos, so I have to compromise with a light tripod.

When using a small tripod, try not to unnecessarily extend the tripod too high. You can also weigh the tripod down (especially in windy conditions)by hanging a bag from the tripod. When choosing a tripod, put a camera on the pod and determine the sturdiness. The legs of some tripods feel quite sturdy, but there is some flexibility in the shaft that you only feel with a camera on.

For the bean bag I use one sewn with a durable fabric and filled with the very light-weight foam pellets. This saves a lot of weight in the luggage. For a neat tripod try www.trekpod.com. Their product can be used as a monopod or a tripod and it is surprisingly sturdy. It is rather expensive at US $140.00 but is worth it. When not being used as a tripod it serves as a walking stick - and may get you into places that don't allow a tripod, or charge an exhorbitant fee for using one!

I like the look of that, thanks for suggesting it.

My husband has a 2kg carbon Manfrotto, he has decided to throw it in. He also has a table top tripod which he will carry during the day. He has a reasonably heavy DSLR to support. Thank you for your input. We are looking forward to lots of good photos and happy days processing them on the computer back home!

There is a new kind of mini tripod called the "Gorillapod" which became available some months ago in Australia. There are different ones according to the size/weight of your camera - from tiny compact to SLR/Zoom lens.

The beauty of these is that they are extremely light, but they also consist of three arms that are sectioned so you can literally wrap them around poles, fence posts, chair arms...etc - anything. Oh, and if you straighten the arms its also a mini tripod too... Fantastic for uneven surfaces, or where you want to place the camera on a fence railing... its not a full tripod, but it is smaller and lighter than just about all of the normal "mini tripods".

Note: its priced at the enthusiast level however - so only bother if night shots are something you enjoy playing with.

eg: I got a nice timed exposure of the Church next to the Doges Palace in Venice while Sitting at a cafe in St Marks square - the camera tripod was wrapped around the arm of my chair...