| Author | Thread |
|
|
01/10/2006 09:37:57 AM · #26 |
I use mine when it's appropriate.
|
|
|
|
01/10/2006 09:39:00 AM · #27 |
Originally posted by Spazmo99:
I use mine when it's appropriate. |
That is probably the simplest and best response I have seen. |
|
|
|
01/10/2006 09:42:06 AM · #28 |
| True, not needed some of the time, but invaluable to have one when you need it. Invest in a decent one, it will probably last longer than your camera. |
|
|
|
01/10/2006 10:14:21 AM · #29 |
Originally posted by lentil:
i am so glad this thread is here. I am having the same dispute in my head.
I have a tripod but it is the most biggest pain in the butt ever made. I have carry around a coin to undo it and do it up. It is light i will give it that but i hate using it because of the way i need to put the camera on. I have been toying with the idea of getting a monopod but with this wedding coming up i am not sure what would be better. The monopod or the tripod. I dont have the most steady hands
Any input would be great, sorry to hijack the thread :)
Lisa |
There's a world of difference between a good tripod (which doesn't get in the way much, is easy to use and greatly enhances your photography ) and a bad tripod (which is usually cheap, a pain to use, pinches fingers, shakes about as bad as you would with a 2 day hangover and makes your pictures worse and the photographic experience horrible)
Often people seem to buy the cheapest tripod they can, then hate it and wonder why they see people suggesting that tripods really improve your pictures. |
|
|
|
01/10/2006 10:14:48 AM · #30 |
Originally posted by Spazmo99:
I use mine when it's appropriate. |
100% accurate and 0% helpful, all in one post ;) |
|
|
|
01/10/2006 11:44:31 AM · #31 |
I don't know how I took shots without the tripod now that I use it all the time. Granted, I sling it around, use it like a monopod, and it gets in the way, but my picture quality has improved multiple fold. It's an antique - it was my mother's from the 70's/80's - so it's metal, bulky, and not exactly lightweight, but I wouldn't go back to handheld now for anything. I do when necessary, but my shots just aren't as clear.
I'm sure it's different for everyone, but I know my own limitations. I don't have a very steady hand - never have and never will. This little "crutch" allows me to improve my photography a lot, plus as someone else said, it makes you take the time to consider the shot a little longer before clicking. |
|
|
|
01/10/2006 12:06:32 PM · #32 |
I'm sold. I'll use a tripod and look into purchasing a decent one this weekend.
Next question: Do you feel it necessary to use a remote shutter release with a tripod or would that just be an extra perk? |
|
|
|
01/10/2006 12:13:46 PM · #33 |
Originally posted by woohoopepper:
I'm sold. I'll use a tripod and look into purchasing a decent one this weekend.
Next question: Do you feel it necessary to use a remote shutter release with a tripod or would that just be an extra perk? |
I pretty much always use a remote (or at least the timer) when I'm shooting on a tripod. There isn't much point stabalising the camera then shaking it with your finger for every shot. |
|
|
|
01/10/2006 12:19:57 PM · #34 |
I use the same tripod head as Prof Fate (slightly diff. same idea) and I LOVE it. I use it for weddings on a monopod, lentil. :) It works fabulously! :D
And I'm with Gordon on the rest - if I CAN cable release it on a tripod, I do.
|
|
|
|
01/10/2006 12:28:09 PM · #35 |
Originally posted by Gordon:
Originally posted by Spazmo99:
I use mine when it's appropriate. |
100% accurate and 0% helpful, all in one post ;) |
I strive for accuracy.
|
|
|
|
01/10/2006 12:31:30 PM · #36 |
I come from large-format photography (4x5 and 8x10 view cameras) where tripod use is of course mandatory; these cameras cannot be handheld. So I'm used to them, and I use mine for probably 90% of my "serious" shots; this excludes the "just mucking around" shots.
There's one sense in which a tripod is completely liberating; with a decent tripod and a remote release you are basically free to choose whatever aperture/shutter speed/ISO combination seems best to you in the circumstances.
Tripods are also a good way (as others have pointed out) to slow yourself down and THINK about your composition; you can make small adjustments that dramatically improve the image, studying them through the viewfinder. Leveling the horizon is an obvious example of this.
In general, I would recommend to any serious photographer that they use a tripod whenever they do not REQUIRE the flexibility and reaction time of a handheld camera. Once you get in the habit, you'll never go back. One thing that's "fun" with tripods is you can frame up a killer scene then stand there with remote in hand and watch the light, clicking off exposures as it changes. You will have a series of identically-framed shots with different lighting effects when you shoot sunsets, say, or landscapes with fast-moving clouds sweeping across the sun and throwing vast shadows. It's not unusual for me to leave the same shot set up for 15-30 minutes, working the variations on it.
Robt. |
|
|
|
01/10/2006 12:43:37 PM · #37 |
Interestingly (or not) I have almost entirely the opposite approach to setting up shots at sunset. I take shot, I move and find the next composition. Each time I'll set it up, compose it carefully using the tripod, changing, optimising then I'll shoot and move on, as much as I can.
Yes the light is changing, but the more I move the better I get. If I try and work one composition over and over I have the chance to make one perfect shot.
If I keep moving, I find I refine and improve upon my ideas, and have the chance to make one perfect shot, several times over. I tend to make several good compositions this way, as opposed to maybe one good one.
There's the story about the pottery class where one half of the class were told they had to make 50 pots to pass the class and other half were told they only had to make 1 perfect pot.
At the end of the year, the half that had to make 50, happened to make 10 perfect pots along the way, because each time the tried the learned and refined their process.
The other half that strived for that one perfect pot didn't always reach their goal.
I find composition much the same way. So when the sun sets I'm like a madman, running around, moving my tripod, recomposing, resetting up, shooting different versions, new ideas, new compositions until the sun's set and I can start doing longer exposures :)
A tripod certainly helps and helps slow you down too - but that slow down can be going from 1/100s to 30s per shot, it doesn't have to be 30 minutes.
Another handy, liberating fact about tripods that I didn't learn for a few years is that tripod doesn't _have_ to stand on the ground to be useful. They are equally good pressed up against a wall, with the legs splayed but not extended. |
|
|
|
01/10/2006 12:59:28 PM · #38 |
As well as all the fine observations/opinions/words of advice here, I'll interject a couple more advantages that I don't believe have been mentioned (although they may be a little whacked, but hey, works for me):
-sometimes even if you have great light and can get a good speed, you may be after an angle/pov that just puts your body in an uncomfortable position and you can't help moving/shaking , tripod!
-on long treks, especially through the woods and trails, up and down hills etc. , they can come in handy as a walking stick, balancing aid
-I'd hate the thought of having to do it, but...some of the times and places I shoot, if it came to it, it would make an available weapon for self defense
-it makes you look really cool :-) ...almost like you know what you're doing!!!
|
|
|
|
01/10/2006 01:08:09 PM · #39 |
Originally posted by Gordon:
Interestingly (or not) I have almost entirely the opposite approach to setting up shots at sunset. I take shot, I move and find the next composition. Each time I'll set it up, compose it carefully using the tripod, changing, optimising then I'll shoot and move on, as much as I can. |
Oh, I'll do that too. It all depends. And soemtimes if I have a "key" view I want to perfect over a period of time elapsing, I'll use the quick-release feature to remove the camera but leave the tripod in place, and scurry around trying different angles etc handheld, then click it back on the 'pod for the next in the series.
But I find that where I am at, here, a lot of the time, there's one really dominant angle that's working for me. It kind of goes along with the featureless-beach aspect of my shoreline; I'd be moving around a LOT more if I was using Cannon Beach (zoomdak's beach) for example.
Robt. |
|
|
|
01/10/2006 01:33:46 PM · #40 |
Originally posted by Bear_Music:
Oh, I'll do that too. It all depends. And soemtimes if I have a "key" view I want to perfect over a period of time elapsing, I'll use the quick-release feature to remove the camera but leave the tripod in place, and scurry around trying different angles etc handheld, then click it back on the 'pod for the next in the series.
But I find that where I am at, here, a lot of the time, there's one really dominant angle that's working for me. It kind of goes along with the featureless-beach aspect of my shoreline; I'd be moving around a LOT more if I was using Cannon Beach (zoomdak's beach) for example.
Robt. |
Yup, horses for courses. I've had other occasions where I've sat around for 4 hours for the light to get right to take one shot, while people came, went, shot over my tripod, stood and shot over my shoulder etc. Shame the light never really arrived that day...
It's always entertaining watching tourists :) I've had people lean in front of me to put their camera in front of mine to take the view I was pointing at and that sort of thing (without asking if it was okay, of course)
I've just been finding recently that when I do get more active, I tend to get more images I like than just the one or multiple variations on the same one.
A quote someone told me (and I forget who it's attributed to) but "If you take one picture per day, that's the best picture you are going to take that day"
I tend to view 'picture' in that context as 'composition' even though the light might be changing.
Message edited by author 2006-01-10 13:34:45. |
|
|
|
01/10/2006 01:59:56 PM · #41 |
Originally posted by Bear_Music:
I come from large-format photography (4x5 and 8x10 view cameras) where tripod use is of course mandatory; these cameras cannot be handheld.
Robt. |
Well 4x5 press cameras can be handheld, but I suspect that's not what you had in mind. In general, shooting with a view camera requires a tripod.
To expand on my earlier statement, I use a tripod depending on how I'm working. If I'm shooting people or events where I may need to literally do a 180 and get the shot before it's gone, then obviously, a tripod is more of a hindrance than a help.
I have also found it useful in the studio for projects where I am shooting people. If you have the tripod set where you want it, you are then free to step out from behind the camera and to a degree, interact with your subject. Some photographers seem to hide from their subjects behind the camera, the tripod can keep that from happening.
|
|
|
|
01/10/2006 02:24:38 PM · #42 |
Originally posted by Spazmo99:
I use mine when it's appropriate. |
Ditto. |
|
|
|
01/10/2006 02:26:43 PM · #43 |
Originally posted by Gordon:
Originally posted by lentil:
i am so glad this thread is here. I am having the same dispute in my head.
I have a tripod but it is the most biggest pain in the butt ever made. I have carry around a coin to undo it and do it up. It is light i will give it that but i hate using it because of the way i need to put the camera on. I have been toying with the idea of getting a monopod but with this wedding coming up i am not sure what would be better. The monopod or the tripod. I dont have the most steady hands
Any input would be great, sorry to hijack the thread :)
Lisa |
There's a world of difference between a good tripod (which doesn't get in the way much, is easy to use and greatly enhances your photography ) and a bad tripod (which is usually cheap, a pain to use, pinches fingers, shakes about as bad as you would with a 2 day hangover and makes your pictures worse and the photographic experience horrible)
Often people seem to buy the cheapest tripod they can, then hate it and wonder why they see people suggesting that tripods really improve your pictures. |
when i bought the tripod i have now it was 1998 and i had no real intent on using it much, it just came with the SLR i bought at the time. The more I am learning the more i seem to be using it (maybe cause of the sports) i am thinking that i need to spend a decent amount on a tripod, that seems to be my next purchase above anything else.
thanks for your input. |
|
|
|
01/10/2006 02:27:38 PM · #44 |
Originally posted by Spazmo99:
Originally posted by Bear_Music:
I come from large-format photography (4x5 and 8x10 view cameras) where tripod use is of course mandatory; these cameras cannot be handheld.
Robt. |
Well 4x5 press cameras can be handheld, but I suspect that's not what you had in mind. In general, shooting with a view camera requires a tripod. |
Right. A 4x5 Graflex "press camera" is not, by definition, a "view camera". We actually used to have some fun trying to do hand-held shots with the SinarP, but we never got one worth saving :-)
R. |
|
|
|
01/10/2006 03:36:51 PM · #45 |
Originally posted by Bear_Music:
Originally posted by Spazmo99:
Originally posted by Bear_Music:
I come from large-format photography (4x5 and 8x10 view cameras) where tripod use is of course mandatory; these cameras cannot be handheld.
Robt. |
Well 4x5 press cameras can be handheld, but I suspect that's not what you had in mind. In general, shooting with a view camera requires a tripod. |
Right. A 4x5 Graflex "press camera" is not, by definition, a "view camera". We actually used to have some fun trying to do hand-held shots with the SinarP, but we never got one worth saving :-)
R. |
My Graflex had a ground glass on the back and a little hood that flipped up so you could use it to see exactly what was going on the film and to focus, making it a view camera in my book anyway. I guess I just assumed they all had a ground glass. It also hade the wire viewfinder, which is what I usually used.
|
|
|
|
01/10/2006 03:46:00 PM · #46 |
| Another dumb question from me ... when using a remote shutter release, do you press the actual shutter half way to focus (say on the eyes), then press the remote button?? I've never used one, so I don't have a clue. I was also reading about the remote for the Nikon D70 and it seems that it has to be aimed toward the camera from the front. |
|
|
|
01/10/2006 03:58:38 PM · #47 |
| On my Canon film camera, I switch to manual focus when using the remote control. |
|
|
|
01/10/2006 04:01:37 PM · #48 |
| I hop over too many fences for to take a tripod... :-) |
|
|
|
01/10/2006 04:03:40 PM · #49 |
Originally posted by Joey Lawrence:
I hop over too many fences for to take a tripod... :-) |
Just put a strap on it and carry it across your back like an assault rifle.
|
|
|
|
01/10/2006 04:11:43 PM · #50 |
| I also use a tripod 50% of the time, mainly for long lens and macro work. It slows the process down and makes you think more about your composition, having used film (in the past) it also saves wasting images. I use a Manfrotto carbon fibre tripod with a 322 head which is a joy to use. |
|
