Wired magazine’s Gadget Lab has a very appropriate article about the use of tripods.  Unlike an article you would read in a Photography magazine, this article is written with the casual photographer or videographer in mind.  The article discusses the basics, the head and the legs, of course.  But it gets into a lot of the add-on features that you might find with higher end tripods.  That’s right, there is actually a basis for the price of high-end tripods.  But knowing what you need and what you don’t is always tricky.  That’s where this article tries to educate its reader.  As it points out, “Both [legs and heads] are equally important, and both can have a lot of extras, some of which are very handy and some of which are useless.”

This is a good read for anyone looking to buy a tripod any time soon.

Read the full article:  Three Legs Good:  A Guide to Tripods