Quote Originally Posted by ricktas View Post
I think something is going to have to give in your equation. You want strong, cheap, lightweight. You are going to have to work out which one of those you want to fore-go first, then seek a tripod that meets the other two. My suggestion would be forego the cheap, save up some more and get THE tripod you want, and it will last you a lifetime. If you compromise now, you will just spend more money in a year or two (see Arthur has had 4 tripods), as you again try to get the tripod you want.
Just quickly before I have to scoot....

Thom Hogan has a very good tripod suggestions writeup on his pages and (for me at least) it's 100% true and accurate.
As photographers we're always looking for something that cheap and good(and then better) .. as you progress, you learn more about the requirements you want or need.

In general, (and primarily as a landscaper) .. I believe that any tripod will do as you generally tend to use wide angle lenses, but as you tend to use more magnified lenses(whether that's macro or long focal lengths), the tripod and head become more and more important.
You simply can't get cheap and lightweight and perfect stability in the one unit.

Apart from one tripod(now I have three here with me, as I gave the lowest quality one away) .. I still find uses for the other two that I rarely use.. whether that is as a flash stand(overkill I know, but that's what I have) .. or as a stand for my tablet(dodgy, but it works).
One day I'll get a round to making up a proper bracket for the tablet, but it's not a priority, and the tripod I use for that is the weakest tripod I have .. being very flexible, but it has a very neat trick.
it takes literally 1/3rd of the time to setup from fully closed to fully extended, compared to any other tripod.
This is my preferred tripod for 99% of landscape work where I'm using the 10-20mm lens at 10mm. At this lens setting, vibrations are basically not an issues even in strong breezes. I may get one shot in 12(a rough estimate) missed due to vibration with that tripod.

But the issue is that not all photography is UWA based, and at a moments notice I may go from 10mm(landscape) to a 500mm(wildlife) shot and this preferred tripod(Manfrotto NeoTech) simply doesn't cut it.
So I tend to use the Gitzo, which is an OK alternative for both speed and rigidity when needed.

But with all of this the cheapest tripod(Manfrotto 055 Aluminium) is the one I don't use, other than for holding speedlights now. It's too heavy and not as rigid as other, more appropriate leg support.
The fact that it was also the cheapest tripod I still have may be an important point to consider .. so as Rick said, a priority should be placed on at least one of the deciding factors involved(price/quality/weight).