Well, I wouldn't say tripod is a matured product although the idea of a support with three-legs is an age-long idea. There are a lot of innovations in tripod design and manufacturing. Take my favorite Gitzo example, Carbon 6X (material), G-locks(locking-mechanism), Anti-Leg-Rotation (Deployment ease) are all very innovative stuff you don't see in normal cheaper legs. There is always on-going engineering in making tripods stronger, lighter and ease of deployment.Not just the tripod is overpriced, infact most of the photography items are way overpriced. Tripod is a matured product which exist for ages and there is no rocket science involve in it. Minimal R&D is spent on improving the materials used, the bulk of the profit goes to the manufacturers' pocket for its marketing and branding. Unlike DSLR, the early adoptors pay for the premium, but for photography accessories, the price held on quite well.
If you ever checked for the price of a Nikon flash sync cap, it cost more than $10 for a small piece of round plastic. ::bigeyes: The same goes to the few strands of wire in the flash sync cable.
Photography is never a cheap hobby , make do with what you have and enjoy the shoot. What we can do is to balance our budget and weight the cost vs value of items and let the market force determine its price as there are always ready buyers who are willing to fork out cash for the best photography equipment. Just like in audiophiles, there are people forking out thousands of dollars for a pair of speakers wires.
Not really...just have to see what is the tradeoff for the price you are willing to pay and the features you need.Oh dear, I just blew my budget of $400 on tripod + ballhead combi. Guess am lovin' it though, the Velbon Neo Carmagne 640A Carbon Fibre and Manfrotto 488RC2 (Heavy though) couldn't be any sweeter for the price I paid for. Am even already thinking of getting their line of monopods. The Inner Jut Pipe system in Velbon's twist-lock line of tri/monopod is denfinitely one of the deciding factors for me - Gitzo style. Slik doesn't have this - the brand I contemplated with.
OK OK, fine...you have to spend to get a good tripod. You can't run away from that.