{"id":574,"date":"2007-09-17T17:41:52","date_gmt":"2007-09-17T08:41:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2007-09-17\/574"},"modified":"2007-12-18T23:33:50","modified_gmt":"2007-12-18T14:33:50","slug":"considerations-for-building-and-using-a-tripod","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2007-09-17\/574","title":{"rendered":"Considerations for Building and Using a Tripod"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<p>I recently wrote about the <a\nhref=\"\/blog\/2007-08-17\/547\">really nice tripod<\/a> that <span class='nobr'>I\nput<\/span> together, but <span class='nobr'>I didn't<\/span> talk much about how <span class='nobr'>I arrived<\/span> at the mix of\ncomponents <span class='nobr'>I got,<\/span> nor about how I'll use them.<\/p>\n\n<p class='h'>What to Buy?<\/p>\n\n<p>Deciding on components is a balance among <span class='nobr'>a lot<\/span> of things, including:<\/p>\n\n<ul style='margin-top:8px'>\n  <li><b>Size<\/b>  (how easy is it to schlep, pack in luggage, etc.)<\/li>\n  <li><b>Size<\/b>  (is it tall enough that you can use it comfortably?)<\/li>\n  <li><b>Size<\/b>  (can you get low enough to the ground with it?)<\/li>\n  <li><b>Price<\/b> (isn't it always?)<\/li>\n  <li><b>Ease of Use<\/b> (how easy is it to adjust the tripod's height, where the camera points, camera orientation, etc.?)<\/li>\n  <li><b>Support<\/b> (how much equipment can it support, in what orientations?)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Those are just the most very basic issues (there are plenty more), but\none thing these points have in common is that, generally speaking, the more\nyou optimize for them, the less stable (more shaky) the tripod becomes. <span class='nobr'>And lest we<\/span> forget, <b>stability is the whole point of using <span class='nobr'>a tripod<\/span> in\nthe first place<\/b>, which is why it's so difficult to put together <span class='nobr'>a good<\/span>\none without compromising.<\/p>\n\n<p>Other items in the decision-making mix include:<\/p>\n<ul style='margin-top:8px'>\n  <li><b>Education<\/b> (do you really know all your options and what you're buying?)<\/li>\n  <li><b>Availability<\/b> (some components are great, but always seem to be out of stock)<\/li>\n  <li><b>Expandability \/ Compatibility<\/b> (tying yourself to <span class='nobr'>a closed<\/span> system?)<\/li>\n  <li><b>Needs<\/b> (Simple photos, fast-moving sports\/wildlife, panoramas, stereograms, with or without flash?....)<\/li>\n  <li><b>Future proofing<\/b> (Will it handle the largest lens you have now, or the largest lens you'll likely to have in the next five or ten years?)<\/li>\n  <li><b>Price<\/b> (It's worth mentioning twice)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>I'm no expert on tripods, so I'm sure that there are plenty more things\nthat <span class='nobr'>I should<\/span> be listing.<\/p>\n\n<p>Most or all of these sets of points come into play with each component.\nFor example, <span class='nobr'>I opted<\/span> for <span class='nobr'>a tall<\/span> set of legs (Gitzo 3540XLS) because I'm\nsort of tall myself, but in doing so <span class='nobr'>I gave<\/span> up the ability to pack it in\nall but my largest suitcase (and even at that, <span class='nobr'>I have to<\/span> disassemble it to\nget it in there). Also, its size makes it trouble enough to carry around\nwithout having the added hassle of it being really heavy, so <span class='nobr'>I had<\/span> to spend\nmore to get <span class='nobr'>a lower<\/span>-weight (yet still stable) material.<\/p>\n\n<p class='h'>How to Use?<\/p>\n\n<p>Anyway, once you have the stuff, there are still questions about how to\nuse it....<\/p>\n<ul style='margin-top:8px'>\n<li>If you have <span class='nobr'>a center<\/span> column, does using it reduce stability enough to matter?<\/li>\n<li>How important is it to use <span class='nobr'>a remote<\/span> shutter release?<\/li>\n<li>How important is using <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mirror_lock-up\">mirror lock\n     up<\/a>?<\/li>\n<li>Should you use your lens' <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Image_stabilization\">image stabilization<\/a>?<\/li>\n<li>Should you hang weight from the tripod to add stability?<\/li>\n<li>How much stability do you lose by extending all the tripod leg sections?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>I don't know how to answer these questions myself, but <span class='nobr'>I want<\/span> to. <span class='nobr'>My next post<\/span>, <a href=\"\/blog\/2007-09-17\/575\" class='pt'>Tripod Stability Tests, Part I<\/a>, looks into the tests I've done to try to find out.<\/p>\n\n\n<style type=\"text\/css\">\n  \/* 574 *\/\n  #post574 li  { margin-bottom:5px }\n  #post574 .h  { font-weight:bold; font-size:120%; margin-top:30px; margin-bottom:5px }\n  #post574 .h + p { margin-top:5px }\n<\/style>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I recently wrote about the really nice tripod that I put together, but I didn't talk much about how I arrived at the mix of components I got, nor about how I'll use them.<\/p> <p class='h'>What to Buy?<\/p> <p>Deciding on components is a balance among a lot of things, including:<\/p> <b>Size<\/b> (how easy is it to schlep, pack in luggage, etc.) <b>Size<\/b> (is it tall enough that you can use it comfortably?) <b>Size<\/b> (can you get low enough to the ground with it?) <b>Price<\/b> (isn't it always?) <b>Ease of Use<\/b> (how easy is it to adjust the tripod's height, where [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}