We have experience with about nine different tripods. One for every camera and for every kind of photography. In the studio you should use a studio stand or a heavy-metal tripod such as the G1501 MK2, with a geared tripod head (we like the big one from Manfrotto, model # 3263).

Out for long trips around the world or out on location our vote would be for a Gitzo G1348, because you need the extra height. But for photographing in your garden, or doing field photography where you need to photograph insects or flowers, try the Gitzo G2257 carbon fiber tripod.

I missed this tripod at Photokina 2006; I could only be at Photokina three days because SGIA wide format inkjet printer show was the same week in far away Las Vegas . But the week after I got back, I was having dinner with a friend and he pulled out his new tripod to make me jealous. This Gitzo tripod could be put in any and every position you can imagine. It looks perfect for photographing flowers or insects. The next day two tripods arrived for evaluation from Bogen Imaging, and it was a pleasant surprise to see precisely the G2257 tripod that my friend had bought the week before.

This is the most innovative tripod that I have ever seen. It is nice to know that engineers are still creating completely new tripod designs. Since this tripod is so unusual, it may take a while to get used to it. But I urge you to find a camera store with one or visit a camera trade show.

FLAAR is dedicated to photography in Latin America , primarily in museums and at archaeological sites. But we also do ethnobotany projects and photograph insects as well. Many exotic tropical insects appear in the art of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica.

If you look at our logo, you see a butterfly deity rising up out of a cacao pod. This logo shows our related areas of coverage: pre-Columbian art and archaeology, ethno-botany, and zoology.

Zoology is crucial because the Maya, Teotihuacan, and other indigenous people of Guatemala, Belize, Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, and Costa Rica revered and/or worshiped a diverse variety of flowers, animals, and sea creatures. Several kinds of insects and scorpions are also presented in Mayan art.

When I was an archaeology student, I did the best I could with whatever equipment I could scrounge up. But quickly I learned that using cheap equipment means rickety supports and imprecise results. So we worked hard for many years to reach a point of being recognized as the premier digital photography testing institute in the world for these fields (art, architectural history, archaeology, botany, zoology, and geology).

Our evaluations are primarily on www.digital-photography.org, with other reviews on www.cameras-scanners-FLAAR.org. www.FLAAR.org is our portal. If you wish to obtain our publications, these you can get from www.wide-format-printers.org (includes reports on camera equipment).

By mistake we did not request a tripod head with this tripod. Tripod heads are something you learn about when you move from hobby photography to pro-sumer and professional photography. Entry-level tripods come with a tripod head, so it is logical to assume that all tripods do. But most pro tripods come with no head. The idea is that you are supposed to select what head you prefer: they come in a bewildering variety of sizes, shapes, and prices.