Tripod - How much do you use a Tripod?

Tripod - How much do you use a Tripod?

  • Yes, over 50% of the time.

    Votes: 31 8.1%

  • Yes, less than 50% of the time.

    Votes: 222 58.3%

  • No, I use a monopod.

    Votes: 26 6.8%

  • No, I use a beanbag

    Votes: 5 1.3%

  • No, never.

    Votes: 107 28.1%
  • Total voters
    381
Almost never with my rangefinder or for general shooting - only for some macro work. I have enough of tripods in my day job... :)
 
Again a poll I can't find my answer on...:( For wildlife: beanbag, for longish to long lenses: tripod 50% of the time, for normal shooting: for speeds under 1/15 most of the time.....
 
I've never used a tripod or monopod with a rangefinder camera, but I use both occasionally for 35mm SLR work (especially with long and macro lenses), and I use a tripod frequently when shooting with a Hasselblad. OTOH, my Rolleiflex gets used like a RF camera -- handheld.

Gene
 
a good photo book i read often by a pro stock photographer actually recommends care taking a tripod to certain places as you may get removed or need to have a permit. He puts his money into IS lenses and I think mostly uses slrs and shoots hand held.

regarding landscape, nature, and even wildlife photography, John Shaw, one of my favorite authors for that type of photography always recommends using a tripod, I think he mentions that 99% or so of his shots are on a tripod. His gear setup is on his site: www.johnshawphoto.com
 
For landscapes, sometimes (if I bike there, no; if I walk there, usually).

I wish the tripod mount was centered on the leica like it is on my SLR and like all other cameras.. heh
 
MadMan2k said:
I wish the tripod mount was centered on the leica like it is on my SLR and like all other cameras.. heh
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Jon if you have a ballhead that will accept an Arca/Swiss type of quick release system you will get to mount your Leica centered. :)
 
Well, I'm certainly in the minority here! I almost always use a tripod; however, my shooting is 99% landscape, and usually in the dark rain forests here. So there is usually a need for a long shutter speed with deep depth of field.

For this type of work I also use low speed films (Velvia 50, Kodachrome 64, occasionally some Scala).

I'm anticipating a change to more street shooting one of these days, and of course that will obviate the need for a tripod.
 
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peter_n said:
Jon if you have a ballhead that will accept an Arca/Swiss type of quick release system you will get to mount your Leica centered. :)
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I'll check those out. I just have a low end manfrotto with ball head now, not sure if it'd work. I'd like to be able to go to a Gitzo 1325 and an AS B1 with QR eventually though... it'd probably last longer than most anything else, and I can't imagine needing something stronger, even if I get a big telephoto to shoot wildlife.

I might look at the handgrips too, I'll see how it feels for shooting for a few hours at a time and then decide.
 
MadMan2k said:
I'd like to be able to go to a Gitzo 1325 and an AS B1 with QR eventually though... it'd probably last longer than most anything else, and I can't imagine needing something stronger, even if I get a big telephoto to shoot wildlife.
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G-1325 is a classic! Think about the AS B1 though, there are a lot of very good ballheads out there now; Kirk, RRS, Markins (awesome).
 
I have two in my car all the time. A heavy duty Bogen for mf and lf and a Slik U-212 for 35mm. I rarely use one for 35mm but almost always for the larger formats.
 
The three supports I own (Manfrotto 3205G tripod w/QR pistol-grip head; Manfrotto 3216 mono w/308RC QR ball head; Glottos pocket tripod) were purchased toward the end of my swingin' SLR years when the two lenses in heavy use by me were stovepipe zooms (Minolta 28-70 f/2.8 G and 80-200 f/2.8 APO). Even then, the tripod didn't get quite as much use as I thought it would, but the monopod saw a lot of action. Since switching to (H)RFs, both see occasional use at best, usually indoors (and more often than not with the lone SLR left here, an Olympus OM-2n) The tiny Glottos, which I originally bought for my Hexar Autofocus way back then (and took up near-permanent residence beneath it), stays in my bag for that odd moment where it can make a real difference. As the gun lobby likes to chant, better to have one and not need it...


- Barrett
 
Like remrf, I have a tripod in the trunk of my car at all times, along with a travel kit for shooting . . . whatever because ya never know . . .

ScottGee1
 
kshapero said:
There have been times when I wished I had a tripod. Any thoughts on this? Which ones? If at all.
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Personally, my style of shooting is becoming more contemplative - so I find myself using a tripod more and more for the first time after many years of shooting*.

Perhaps it's a result of getting older. I am less anxious to capture an "action" kind of shot - and now more drawn to careful composure of the subject.

Kind of like I am starting to move away from being a HCB-wannabe into a Ansel Adams wannabe!

*Oh, and I am just beginning to "play around" with medium format - so that may explain things too!
 
I was just reviewing the Fall color pix I made to determine which merit enlargements. I had to reject a couple that looked really promising. Guess what . . . they were shot hand-held for the sake of convenience. Even shooting at 1/125 wasn't short enough to stave off that tiny bit of vibration that now makes those pix pretty much useless.

The tripoded shots are all tack sharp and allow me to choose from any of them.

ScottGee1
 
Less than 50% of the time, but much more than 50% of my best photography is using a tripod :)
 
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