question regarding tripod max loads
- Thread starter nho
- Start date
Kolor-Pikker
Well-known member
Ask any engineer, and they'll tell you to never exceed the max load of the weakest component in a chain. Even if the legs can support more weight, you will most likely wear out the head, which is more mechanically complex, by overloading it.
Actually, it's not a good idea to push hardware to the limit in general - just because your car can accelerate to really fast speeds, does it mean you have to drive that fast all the time? no... You always think about how much you need and then get a little more, because say you need to add something extra on the camera, and next thing you know, the counter balance gives out or something, it's just not worth it.
tl;dr: No.
Actually, it's not a good idea to push hardware to the limit in general - just because your car can accelerate to really fast speeds, does it mean you have to drive that fast all the time? no... You always think about how much you need and then get a little more, because say you need to add something extra on the camera, and next thing you know, the counter balance gives out or something, it's just not worth it.
tl;dr: No.
tnle2
Well-known member
The max load for the head usually refers to how much it will counterbalance. If you put more weight on it (or have the weight higher up from the tilt axis) then the head won't balance. An unbalanced head will affect how well you operate it because you will have to hold additional pressure throughout a tilt move.
It's unlikely you will physically damage the head by going over the max load by a small to moderate amount because the engineers typically put an additional factor of safety for material strength. Now if you grossly over load the head, then that's another story. But if you do that, the legs will likely fail and typically what happens here is the leg clamps start to slip or fail, causing one leg to slip or collapse and then the tripod and camera tips over. So the moral of the story is you don't really want to over load the head if you can help it.
It's unlikely you will physically damage the head by going over the max load by a small to moderate amount because the engineers typically put an additional factor of safety for material strength. Now if you grossly over load the head, then that's another story. But if you do that, the legs will likely fail and typically what happens here is the leg clamps start to slip or fail, causing one leg to slip or collapse and then the tripod and camera tips over. So the moral of the story is you don't really want to over load the head if you can help it.