How often do you use a Tripod?

[creenus]

Leitz Tiltall for me. At 6'2", I need something that gets me to eye level without a wobbly center post. Not the easiest head to adjust but I just live with it.


Don't use it enough. There's a case to be made for using it all the time for 35mm, as the neg is so tiny. I shoot at 1/250th and above these days - hands not as steady as I'd like - just in case.

 

[B-9]

Creeznus, can you recommend a Tiltall model?

Curious what the height of the legs are without using column.

I think I’m looking at a 01B, says 74” max, but i wonder what it is without column.

 

[css9450]

- and carried a pair of kitchen steps to use with my tripod, to gain even more flexibility when framing.

Oh yes! I used to have one of those plastic milk cartons in the trunk of my car (anyone who lived in a rural American town with a dairy has seen a million of them) and would haul it out from time to time if I needed a little elevation. Amazing how much an extra foot or fifteen inches (or whatever) can help sometimes!

 

[css9450]

Hated leaning over and hated using center column.

Or - just as bad - a tripod head without enough adjustments. I feel the pain watching someone fool around for fifteen minutes trying to level up their camera on a tripod which is lacking some critical adjustment; tilt or whatever.

 

[twopointeight]

Learn to love your tripod and you will use it. My location tripod is a Gitzo carbon fiber, with an Arca Swiss ball head and a proper fitting case.

 

[Yokosuka Mike]

I’ve been feeling a need for a change in direction, something new, a break from the same-old-same-old. So, a couple of days ago I dusted off my Manfrotto/Bogen CARBON-ONE 441 tripod (I really did have to dust it off), put my Fujifilm GFX 50R and lenses in a backpack and headed to Jogashima Island for the day. In a previous post in this thread I said that taking a tripod on public transportation (trains & buses) was inconvenient. Frankly, it wasn't inconvenient at all, I had just assumed it would be. Anyway, I spent the day hiking around the island and took over 50 pictures using the tripod for all of them. What a refreshing experience; I had a smile on my face all day. I’m not going to say that my images were radically changed by using a tripod, I will say that I was changed by using a tripod; kind of a Zen like feeling compared to what I normally feel when doing street photography. I even packed a lunch and thermos of coffee that I consumed while sitting under a tree. I plan to do a lot more of this in the future.

All the best,
Mike

 

[Bolo Kukus]

The big ones, not often. I am now too old and long in the tooth to want to carry around a full size tripod in the field.

What serves me best is a Leitz tabletop tripod I bought on Ebay for $100. It slips into my backpack and I can set up in less than a minute. Mind you, I do not have the long legs from a regular tripod, but I do have a few 1930s Kodak tripods which weight only a fraction of those big'uns so they serve me well.

Where I usually go nowadays invariably has picnic tables or other flat surfaces so this 'baby' Leitz serves me well 90 per cent of the time.

Manfrottos are lovely things but far too expensive for many of us. The good old 1980s and 1990s tripods are just as good and cost heaps less.

 

[j.scooter]

Mike that is a wonderful way to spend the day!
I would be smiling too after such an excursion. Thanks for sharing.

I’ve been feeling a need for a change in direction, something new, a break from the same-old-same-old. So, a couple of days ago I dusted off my Manfrotto/Bogen CARBON-ONE 441 tripod (I really did have to dust it off), put my Fujifilm GFX 50R and lenses in a backpack and headed to Jogashima Island for the day. In a previous post in this thread I said that taking a tripod on public transportation (trains & buses) was inconvenient. Frankly, it wasn't inconvenient at all, I had just assumed it would be. Anyway, I spent the day hiking around the island and took over 50 pictures using the tripod for all of them. What a refreshing experience; I had a smile on my face all day. I’m not going to say that my images were radically changed by using a tripod, I will say that I was changed by using a tripod; kind of a Zen like feeling compared to what I normally feel when doing street photography. I even packed a lunch and thermos of coffee that I consumed while sitting under a tree. I plan to do a lot more of this in the future.

All the best,
Mike

 

[Pál_K]

For first 30 years, no tripod.

Then, during my Imitation Ansel Adams Landscape Period, I used a Bogen 3xxx with my Hasselblad 500C/M. Good results. After that, though, I use both my Hasselblads and RB67’s handheld. Yes, an RB67 with the metered prism weighs a little bit.

Car and motorcycle photos for friends using 35mm - I also use a tripod.

Pinhole photos - usually a tripod, mini tripod, or angled device of my own making.

For large format: no tripod for Speed Graphic, colossal Gitzo Studex for Sinar F.

But ——— best of all ——— I have the cleverly designed tripod for Minox 8x11. I’ve not used it yet.

 

[Deleted member 65559]

For years, I didn't even own one, but now whenever I can use one, I will. I like a print to be as sharp as it can. Whether it's the top of a beer bottle, a monopod or a big Ries, i'll use it, and if i'm travelling, i always take one.

 

[DwF]

I have been shooting with my 6x9 and a couple other Medium Format film cameras of late and have been carrying and using a tripod. I have yet to take one traveling but who knows....

David

 

[filmtwit]

I'll use a tripod or camera stand for certain types of shooting, but mainly for landscaped based work or with portrait work.

That having been said, I'm happy to try and photograph at less than 1/30 of a second because you can catch wonderful motion blur shots in your (mainly) street photography.

 

[CMur12]

A couple of factors have moved me towards tripods:

1. I have a tremor in my hands as I get older.

2. I'm a left-eyed eyeglass wearer, and this has limited my compatibility with many eye-level viewfinder cameras. In some cases, I can't see enough of the finder with glasses on. In other cases, mainly with certain autofocus SLRs and DSLRs, my eyeglass-covered right eye is located right on top of camera controls positioned to the immediate right of the pentaprism eyepiece.

I have found that a TLR on a tripod is a joy to work with. I don't have to extend the tripod as high for waist-level viewing and I have both hands free to man the camera and tripod controls. Also important, I can view the groundglass comfortably at waist level with both eyes. This is much easier than jockeying to position myself just right behind a camera with an eye-level finder on a tripod.

For my 35mm SLRs and DSLR, I have angle finders, which make tripod work easier.

(I'll note that I use a tripod more with medium format and mostly for landscape photography.)

- Murray

 

[Doug]

Mike, thanks for sharing your experience. Looking forward to seeing the effects!

I have a Bogen 3020/3025 with some unknown brand quick-release plates that I have not used for many years. Fortunately I still have pretty steady hands, but appreciate cameras with IBIS. I do recall traveling to Hawaii with the Bogen and a Pentax 6x7, and then using that same combo for a sequence of mood-rise shots across the valley.

 

[Yokosuka Mike]

Mike, thanks for sharing your experience. Looking forward to seeing the effects!

Thank you, Doug, I'm looking forward to sharing.

All the best,
Mike

 

[Yokosuka Mike]

With my renewed interest in my old tripod after a few outings I quickly realized that my tripod carrying strap was useless. No real shoulder padding and it slipped around on my shoulder when I walked around. It got to where I would just go from location to location holding the tripod in my hand.

So, yesterday I bought a Velbon Aircell Tripod Strap, it uses “Air Technology” to reduce the burden on the shoulder 🙂. After adjusting the strap to fit me and my tripod I walked around the house with it and it was an obvious improvement over my old POS strap.

I’ve also been reacquainting myself with ND filters. A couple days ago I went to Jogashima island with my GFX 50R, Fujinon GF 30mm f3.5 R WR lens, and a ND8 filter. The results I got along the rocky coast were great; lots of fun! I had so much fun that when I bought the tripod strap yesterday I also picked up an ND32 filter too! After all, tripods and long exposures go hand-in-hand. I’m going to go back to the island and try to find the sweet spot where the ocean water is blurred enough to provide a visually pleasing effect but not look too overdone. I’m thinking that too much motion blur would be more distracting than pleasing. I remember in the ‘80s when everyone was taking pictures of streams and waterfalls blurred to the max. It was cool then, but I don’t think it would be very cool now.

This is the most fun I’ve had in quite a while!

All the best,
Mike

 

[Archiver]

The only times I use a tripod are for interviews, slider work, and leaving a camera to record long form video. Some years ago, I used to use a tripod and panoramic head to create 360" virtual tour images. Just last week, I traveled interstate for work and had to minimize my luggage, so I took my Dad's super little Fujiyama travel tripod from the early 80s. Smaller and lighter than anything currently on the market, I think.

 

[Hari]

Recently bought a Nikkor 500mm/8 N (focus to 5 ft) CAT lens
and have been setting the tripod for the view from my second
story apartment of the picnic/kiddy/dog walk/exercise action in the park.
Focus is critical!

 

[jgrainger]

I use a couple.. handy for landscapes.

 

[Richard G]

I’ve been feeling a need for a change in direction, something new, a break from the same-old-same-old. So, a couple of days ago I dusted off my Manfrotto/Bogen CARBON-ONE 441 tripod (I really did have to dust it off), put my Fujifilm GFX 50R and lenses in a backpack and headed to Jogashima Island for the day. In a previous post in this thread I said that taking a tripod on public transportation (trains & buses) was inconvenient. Frankly, it wasn't inconvenient at all, I had just assumed it would be. Anyway, I spent the day hiking around the island and took over 50 pictures using the tripod for all of them. What a refreshing experience; I had a smile on my face all day. I’m not going to say that my images were radically changed by using a tripod, I will say that I was changed by using a tripod; kind of a Zen like feeling compared to what I normally feel when doing street photography. I even packed a lunch and thermos of coffee that I consumed while sitting under a tree. I plan to do a lot more of this in the future.

All the best,
Mike

Lovely. Thanks. Overturning one’s own unsubstantiated convictions is very satisfying.