This post is a continuation of my earlier tripod-test posts:

1. Considerations for Building and Using a Tripod
2. Tripod Stability Tests, Part I
3. Tripod Stability Tests, Part II
4. Tripod Stability Tests: on Shutter Speed

Part II compared different equipment setups; in this post, I'll look at the same results, but with an eye toward differing photo-taking techniques.

All images on this post were taken at f/8, ISO 100, with a 1-second shutter speed, with a pro-level 70-200 f/2.8 zoom at 200mm.

These are all from the same test session as those presented in earlier posts, so all the same caveats apply.

We'll start with my reference setup, which is a pro-calibar set of Gitzo legs without any of the leg sections extended, no ballhead, and no center column. (The specifics of all my components are detailed here.)

Here are the details on each button that can be mouseovered above:

• Ref — my standard reference image, taken with the most stable setup and technique.
• Mup (10 sec) — image taken with a remote shutter release, and mirror lock up left to settle for 10 seconds between the mirror being put up and the shutter being released. (Because the set of tests in this particular box are with my most stable tripod setup, and because “Mup (10 sec)” is my best technique, in this box only, “Mup (10 sec)” is the same image as “Ref”.)
• Mup (1 sec) — only one second pause between putting the mirror up and releasing the shutter, after at least a 10-second pause since last touching the camera.
• no Mup — simple remote shutter release without mirror lock-up, having waited at least 10 seconds since touching the camera before firing the shot.
• Bonk — simple remote shutter release, but I gave the lens a bonk with my hand on second before releasing the shutter. (I'm not really sure what this test is intended to show. Certainly, there is quite a bit of variance in how I bonked the lens each time.)
• Hand (Careful) — snapping the picture without a remote shutter release, being as careful and gentle as I could.
• Hand (Not careful) — snapping the picture without a remote shutter release, not paying too much attention to being soft and gentle.

With the reference (most stable) setup shown in the images above, it seems that you could use a hammer to release the shutter and the results are still excellent.

Let's move to a more realistic setup: 3 of the 4 leg sections extended (of the very tall Gitzo 3540XLS, described here), Really Right Stuff's best ballhead (BH-55), and no center column....

There doesn't seem to be much benefit to mirror lock up, but there is clearly benefit to not bonking the lens, and to being careful when shooting by hand.

Let's add a center column and raise it 10cm (about 4 inches)...

Again, not much benefit to using mirror lock-up, but the benefits of using remote-release are more clear (no Mup vs. Hand/Careful).

Let's now be crazy and raise the center column to its maximum height of 32cm (about a foot)...

The results seem comparable to the 10cm-height tests.

Let's get rid of the center column, and extend all the tripod's leg sections to put it at its maximum almost-eight-feet height...

These are more clear across the board, as we'd expect from the tests presented in Part II, which showed little degradation in adding a center column, but notable degradation when raising it 10cm. I'd still not recommend bonking the lens, though.

Perhaps the most real-world tests, here are the same set of techniques on the small, flimsy, cheap tripod described in Part I....

This shows that the need for remote shutter release goes way up as the quality of the tripod goes down.

You can really read a lot into these results, but let me again stress the caveats (some listed here) of these tests. In some ways they're more brutal than real-world usage (that is, less forgiving of vibration) which may well use much faster shutter speeds, but in other ways they're isolated in the studio away from real-world problems like wind.