When you go out and get a tripod, go and check some out and see what works for you
because there are many many many of them on the market.
The key with the tripod is stability
it's got to hold your camera nice and still and stable because if your camera
moves during exposure
chances are you're gonna get a very wobbly picture, now I like
heavy tripods, the heavier it is the better as far as i'm concerned, this one is made
of aluminium
and actually it's probably half the weight of the one that I carry around
even the lighter weight of my two. The reason I like heavy
is because it keeps it well planted on the ground. You don't want your tripod to
wobble look if I stick back down there
put my hand on the top and wobble, look there's next to no movement in that
however
if you're not big and muscly like I am you may find it to be a bit of a pain
carrying a heavy tripod, now if you're a rough trouser wearing bloke who is a bit beefy
don't be a wimp carry the tripod because it will make the difference.
however if you can't do that because you're the smaller build and you want to
do some serious climbing and you've got lot's of lenses in your backpack
you could go for a Carbon Fiber Tripod like this one.
this is beautifully made and it's about half the weight of that one
you could strap that on your rucksack and you'd hardly know it was there.
Price tag of this is about 280 quid
don't take a sharp intake of breath, because it really isn't a bad price
if you divide that over twenty years of use per day that's a fractional tiny tiny
cost for getting some amazing pictures.
if you do go for a carbon fiber I mean
you could spend a bit more money and go for a real top end professional one
like this
Gitso right here, it's beautifully made and it really will last you a life time.
and it's even a bit lighter than the Manfrotto there. With the light weight
tripods
little tip for you, hang your camera bag around the neck of It and let it dangle
because the weight of spare lenses and extra bodies
will add stability if you've just climbed out to some interesting location
and you're on heather or perhaps your in a room of a house with a thick
carpet
the tripod might be steady but it can still wobble
because what's underneath is a bit soft adding weight by hanging your camera bag
around it will help stabilize it
another little tape you can do is to use a cable release on your camera
all the self-timer if you polled the shutter
when it's on wobbly sorta ground you probably a blurred picture because you've moved
the camera as you've fired the shutter
another bit of support I wanna
talk to you about briefly, is a monopod
sorry guys, me squeazing through again,
here we go, again there are lot's to choose from erm let's have a look at this one
as with everything I like the beefy version now this is
really really lightweight and you can of course strap that
onto your backpack and just leave it there because you might be out photographing
and not have a tripod with you
if your tripod is in the boot of the car and you've got nothing
a monopod can certainly help you out
for me monopods have one big disadvantage, personally I'd rather carry the
tripod up the side of a hill
than use a monopod because if I've got my shots set up like this
and the Sun Goes in I might have to wait 20 minutes for it to come back out again
I can't lock my shot off and leave it because as soon as I walk away from the
monopod
it's going to fall over isn't it, to me that's a bit pointless I'm afraid.
now the
other part of the whole tripod, camera stability thing
is the head, tripods come in two parts. You've got the legs
and you've also got the head now here's one over here,
it's worth taking a bit of a look at
the tripod heads you gonna spend about the same amount of money on the head as
you probably will
on the tripod itself you first thing to look for
is a quick release plate this one has when you press that damn put a little
things forward and this little plate comes off now you can screw that
into the bottom of your camera so it's permanently fixed there
which is really really useful because you're out taking a shot this what I do
anyway
I'm often looking through the camera lining up and taking a picture of you, i'm
like this
and then I'll move my tripod in underneath the camera
and it's really easy just to put that on there
and click the camera in place job done
you don't wanna be fiddling around with some screws and stuff when you're trying
to get
shot now one man's passion is another man's poison
I'm not gonna diss this tripod head because it's a beautifully made incredibly
brilliant piece of kit but I don't like it the reason
is, it's a pan and tilt. You have to undo this to turn it that way and
you have to undo that to tilt it in another direction and like that
in another direction but just because I don't like it
doesn't mean to say it's no good there are many people I know who love using
a pan and tilt head.
My preffered option is actually back round the other side, come and have a look.
Sorry guy's I keep getting in your way, I do apolgise.
right these are all called ball heads
because as you can see here there is a ball was part of the
the tripod head the reason I like them is they're quick,
you just release the ball you can put the camera any position you like
and then lock it as you can see there's
a little spirit level bubble here this is really really useful for
making sure your cameras level very often if you looking at the scene you're
not quite sure what the horizons doing because if you've got hills going on
and you try to line out you're not sure that sometimes the fun it's not right
you can argue with the spirit level
now you can mix and match legs and heads just because you have a Manfrotto
tripod doesn't mean to say you have to use a Manfrotto head
I put these two together earlier because these I i really like these
this is a shotto tripod it's made of aluminium and it's very very sturdy
I like it but I mixed it with what is my absolute favorite tripod head
this is even more favorite than the one that I use it's i'm tight so
when the 1 I've got actually wears out I will buy a new one this is called a
pistol grip tripod.
As you can see from the top here there's a pistol grip,
I just squeeze it line my camera up in any direction I want
anywhere let go and is locked in place how quick and simples that?
people say tripods slow you down, I say tripods slow you down
but it doesn't have to slow you down in the composition, it's the thought process
and
getting the shot right this also has
a little quick release on the top here, so you can very quickly and easily
take your tripod, take your camera on and off the tripod.
so just to recap on lease if he's going for tripod
don't buy cheap make sure it's good and steady
this is an investment expect to spend at least 200 pounds on a good
tripod you might be to find something cheaper second-hand
go to a shop and try these things out because you have to find the thing that works
for you
but above all don't buy a wobbly tripod, if you're only thinking of spending 30
quid
forget it because it'll be completely useless and wobble around.
it'll just be hopeless if you don't believe it I have to say about this
check out these guys.
On a windy day like this a cheap tripod is going to wobble in the wind and
create blurry pictures, so don't waste your money and invest in a good sturdy
tripod.
One of the
most important things about buying a tripod and using a tripod
is to actually slow you down to really make you consider your composition
to help you frame your pictures so you can get your horizon
straight and to get the important things in the frame,
the things you actually leave out as important as the things you leave in.
now it's important not buy cheap E as the thing will just wobble around in the
wind
and you'll knock it and it'll come out in your pictures so a decent tripod, strong legs
get yourself something like a ball and socket head they're easy to use
and you're on your way.