Drove 3 hours to Cherry Springs for astro photos and my tripod leg snapped at midnight

I was set up at Cherry Springs State Park in PA, it was supposed to be a perfect clear night. Got my gear ready around 11pm, was adjusting my Sky-Watcher mount bracket and one of the legs on my $60 tripod just cracked at the joint. My camera and scope tipped over onto the grass. Thank god nothing broke on the equipment. I ended up using a log and some duct tape to wedge it upright for the rest of the night. The photos came out okay but I missed the Milky Way rising because I wasted 40 minutes fixing it. Anyone else have a cheap tripod fail at the worst possible time?

2 comments

2 Comments

rowanbennett14d agoMost Upvoted

That cheap tripod situation is the worst. A sixty dollar tripod is basically a gamble every time you set it up. You get what you pay for with camera support gear, learned that the hard way myself. Duct tape and a log is a classic astro photographer move though, glad the camera survived. At least you got some photos out of it even if the timing was brutal.

jesse_west13d ago

Put down good money for a "pro" mid range tripod once and watched it slowly sag during a 30 second exposure... ended up with star trails that looked like a toddler drew them. My cheap aluminum one from college actually held up better than the fancy carbon fiber thing I bought later, go figure. Now I just bring a beanbag and a rock when I'm shooting on the cheap, feels more reliable honestly. The older I get the more I just accept that some nights the gear fights you and you just have to laugh it off. At least now I have a good story about the time a tripod tried to commit camera murder.