Tripod on soft ground

I know that one can buy a set of tripod shoes for around $50 or less that may fit a range of diameters. But for someone like me whose career was in design, I like to tinker around with other options. Given that the total weight of my rig is about 15 pounds, whenever I'm shooting shore birds in soft and often wet sand, the tiny tripod legs always sink. Unless the ground is particularly soft or muddy, a very easy solution for less than $2 is tennis balls. With a sharp knife carefully cut a slit in through the rubber core of the tennis ball, gradually lengthening the cut until the tripod leg just barely fits. To install simply squeeze from each end of the cut to open it and push. And taking them off is even easier. This solution will also work for rocky and gravelly terrain. And if you don't care to make a "fashion statement" with bright colored booties, a thin coat of paint will solve that.

Thanks for writing this up, Bill.  An excellent idea.  I think I got some tennis balls for some other unconventional purpose a while back.  Now if I can just find them....

Brilliant idea! Thanks!!
Sandy

Tennis balls have been used on the non-wheeled feet of walkers for a long time, but I never thought of using them on a tripod. Great idea. 

I was looking for non-neon ones.  Looking under "walker Glides" gives you lots of color choices including black and brown.