I had my camera all set up to take a time-lapse of the eclipse this last week and I was going to edit all the photos together to show you the different transitions. I was pretty excited at 12:20 am when I went to bed, I practiced a few times up to this point and was confident that when I woke up I would have what I needed.

The next morning I looked at my shots and right before the transition of the eclipse started I only had black photos with zero pictures of the moon. What happened? My trusty Oben CC-2310L tripod did me in, I have had issues with this tripod since I got it and I have to say this was a major disappointment. I have had bad luck with the leg sections becoming loose and not holding the weight of the camera on numerous occasions. I have had rust issues and the joints becoming so tight that I was afraid I was going to break them. This is the fist time the main part of the tripod that holds the head broke off. Luckily my camera did not fall on the floor and break. This is the part of the tripod that should be the strongest, I was surprised to see only glue holding it together.

Oben tripod fail which prevented me from getting my shot

I am afraid that the $349.99 Oben is not that much better than the tripods you can get at your local Best Buy, I suggest you stick with my friends at Manfrotto, where I have always had great success. Hopefully the next eclipse I get to try this again but this is a good lesson: stay awake when photographing these events even if you have work at 6am like I did. Lesson learned on my tripod choice and desire of sleep.