Tripod question

[CG]

I'[ve heard that too -- and it seems like a load of bs to me., frankly.

As long as it holds your camera still, and you can manage the weight etc of the tripod itself, the material is irrelevant. Carbon fiber is lighter, wood is not. etc etc. but there's no inherent benefit to wood that will make a difference in the photos created by the camera placed on top of the wooden tripod.

Actually some materials are more perfectly elastic and will vibrate or "ring" for a longer period, and other materials tend to dampen vibration and vibrate for a shorter period. Think a bronze bell vs a lead bell ...

I don't know the specs for wood vs aluminum vs carbon ... but it is a credible theory at least. It would be interesting to see a good experiment to see if the idea really pans out.

C

[Toyon]

I'd prefer to use a bronze tripod - like the Greeks used. Schliemann found two at Troy, but alas, they are now lost to history.

[Peter De Smidt]

Remember it's not only the material that matters but the construction. I was once at a Calumet equipment fair. They had their carbon fiber tripods out. I rapped on one of the legs and noticed significant vibrations. One of the reps asked what I thought, and I said there was too much vibration, much more than my Gitzo aluminum model. He replied, "Carbon fiber dampens vibrations much more than aluminum." That may be true assuming fairly equal construction, but it doesn't mean that any tripod made out of carbon fiber will dampen vibrations better than an aluminum tripod. My Gitzo tele-studex was significantly heavier than the calumet tripod, and the gitzo had legs with a significantly greater diameter. The end result is that my Gitzo was better damped than the carbon fiber tripod at the cost of some weight and bulk, but also at a much lower price.

[weasel]

You know, this has got me thinking. I do a fair amount of woodworking, and use hand planes quite a bit. One of the things that make for a good hand plane is how well it controls "chatter" ( vibration) of the cutting blade. Lots of designs, lots of solutions, but none are perfect.
Mass has always been one solution, but the mass needs to be in the right place. I once made a wood bodied plane, and in an attempt to improve its' performance, I bored some holes through the body and filled it with lead shot, directly behind the blade bed.It did improve the cutting of the plane.
I wonder if the engineering trick with tripods would be to use lightweight materials wherever possible, but have strategically placed mass to stop vibration, and end up with the best of both worlds.