I've been doing my best to not ask questions that I'm sure have already been asked, and I think I've done pretty well, but I've finally have a question that I've struggled to find a good answer to:
How do you pick a tripod?
Specifically, I did my due diligence and decided that the cheapest mount that didn't trigger the response, "You shouldn't buy that. Save up for an HEQ-5" was... Well.. an HEQ-5.
Well, I found one on the classifieds here, but the seller didn't want to part with the matching tripod.
So I figured I'd buy a tripod.
While plenty of places sell the HEQ-5 head either alone or bundled with a tripod, NOBODY seems to sell the tripod for the HEQ-5 by itself, (nor for its sister mount, the Orion Sirius) in the United States! On eBay, they run about $300 after shipping, which seems awfully high, considering I can order one from the UK and pay for international shipping for £212 (~$260US). But is that really the best option?
The HEQ-5 lists its fully-assembled weight (with counterweights) as 30 lbs, and another up to 30lbs for the payload. Am I going to run anything that heavy?
Probably not?? But should I size the tripod for it just in case? Should I get one with some room for even heavier options?
I've read people suggesting surveyor mounts, but most of them don't seem to even list a weight capacity, and when they do, it's too low.
so tl;dr: How much weight should the tripod support, and how to do you figure out whether the mount is compatible with it? Can anyone suggest anything preferable (lighter, cheaper, sturdier, etc) for an HEQ-5 to importing a heavy steel tripod from the UK?
I'd really appreciate some advice with this! Thanks!