When I first started planespotting I used nothing more than my iPhone camera. It was good enough for the times that I saw a medievac helicopter at the local hospital. But obviously would be pretty limited in almost every other scenario.
Most planespotters are photographers. However, I prefer the format of video because I enjoy watching the plane from beginning to end. I will watch the same Boeing 737 taxi a million times and not get bored with it. So I wanted to be able to capture that on my adventures.
Camera, Tripod, No Action
Thus I began researching camcorders. I wanted 4K and I wanted the most zoom that I could get. I felt like the best option was https://amzn.to/3yMTjLH
Once I decided on my camcorder I thought I was ready to go! I already had a tripod that I bought years ago at Walmart so tripod check! Welp, first time out testing it I realized that cheap tripod wasn’t going to be the ticket. I ordered another tripod that I had seen another planespotter using and it was about $100 so I thought great I’ll go with that! Again, total fail, this time I go with a ball head style tripod that was around $150 and again useless.
I gave up on the idea of a tripod and just learned how to stabilize it with my hands and positioning against walls, poles, whatever I could use to brace myself. It worked decently well but after a full day obviously you get absolutely worn out from that and tracking the planes for as long as I liked to.
Want to get good footage at an airshow? Forget about it. Want to film a full day in the summer? Go ahead and make an appointment for a heat stroke. Need less to say, going without a tripod was not going to be a long term option.
Coworker From a Decade Ago Saves The Day?
I reached out to an old co-worker from my days at Starbucks who is an absolute photography/videography legend and explained my use case and wanted some recommendations on a tripod because I was going to make one last ditch attempt at buying a tripod that suited my needs.
Luck would have it, he had an extra tripod that is an absolute beast of a tripod but he doesn’t use it because it is very heavy so not great when you’re on location and needing to lug it around. For me, that didn’t matter as almost always I am able to park at the exact location that I will be filming at. He was gracious enough to donate it to me with the only provision that if I ever upgrade or decide it doesn’t work well for me that I will give it back to him and not sell it on Facebook marketplace!
When I tell you this tripod is perfect I’m not exaggerating. It instantly boosted my filming quality. I still have a bit of a learning curve with it but feel like I get better each and every time I film. I don’t know the brand of the tripod, I don’t even know what an equivalent would be but I’m assuming at least 5x as much as the most expensive one that I had bought.
Morale Of the Story? Don’t Buy a Cheap Tripod
So in the end, the biggest waste of money my first year planespotting was on useless tripods. All of the marketing mumbo jumbo was worse than Yankee Gumbo. Don’t waste your money on any cheap tripod from BestBuy or Amazon! I don’t think you’re going to like the results.
