Manfrotto 055 Pro B

I saw one of these tripods a few years ago and was suprised at the lack of vibration at the head when fully opened.

It is not one for those wanting whistles and bells.

in my opinion it is still great value and will last a lifetime

I spent a long time wondering whether to spend this much on a tripod as I am only an enthusiast, but I am pleased i did. This has took my photography to another level, giving me the ability to use my manual settings on my eos 350d. It can do everything i can imagine il ever need. Don't waste your money buying a cheep one then wishing you splashed out the extra money in the first place.

People who say one tripod is the same as another have clearly had no experience of a proper professional tripod. A sturdy tripod is on the absolute essentials list for any budding photographer. Cue the Manfrotto 055 range. There are about 4 or 5 different models in the range, priced from just under £100 for the 055 to about £130 for the 055 PRO B. The basic model will do everything you ever want it to do and more, but paying a bit extra will get you things like foam grips, matte black finish, vertical column shaft and so on.

At 2.4kgs, it's no lightweight, but the weight of it pays dividends when it comes to stability. It is an incredibly stable platform for which to use long shutter speeds and to minimise, and in most cases eliminate camera vibration. I use mine with the 322RC head, which is fantastic. It can extend to an enormous 6ft without even touching the centre column, and hit around 7ft with that extended. What this means for the photographer is that there is no bending necessary, you can remain totally upright whilst taking a picture, which makes things far more comfortable. With all the legs splayed it can go down to floor level very easily. The PRO B model has the facility to remove the centre column from the vertical shaft and secure it in to the horizontal position, which makes it incredibly versatile, and I have not found a single position it cannot get into. It obviously has a built-in spirit level, as does the head.

Build quality is top notch! It feels sturdy and reliable. It has a hook at the top to hook your camera bag onto to provide extra downforce for stability, but I have found that a better way to do it is to buy a small karabiner and attach it to the bracket on the base of the shaft and hang the bag from that. The feet can be interchanged from the provided rubber soles to spikes, and a whole host of other from the Manfrotto accessories range.

After sales support is top notch! The website is especially useful, and it has full diagrams of tripods and all the part reference numbers if you were ever to need anything. It has a 3 year warranty too. It's a tripod that does a fantastic job and doesn't make any fuss or create any compromise. It just works, and it works well.

All in all, a brilliant piece of kit. So, one tripod is the same as another? Think again.