How do you deal with the wind (strong)

Hello all,

Happy Christmas!

I’m wondering what is your preferred way of dealing with the strong wind (gusts up to 40mph)

My family and I are doing one long road trip each year, last year we have done NC500 (that’s the entire Scottish coast east to west) and this year we are doing the Wild Atlantic Way (which is around 2000 miles)

So as one would guess, the coast is always very windy and I’m always reluctant to put up my 4x5 or 500C/M as the wind will make the photos blurry.

My question is simple, what’s your preferred way to deal with the wind (except high shutter speed)? Any practical, tested and worked tips?

BW,
Fatih

Hang your camera bag (or a bag of rocks) from the center column of your tripod so that it anchors the tripod...and doesn't swing like a pendulum.

What Ansel said and don't use long(er) lenses requiring large expanse of bellows extension. I will, also, put my back to the wind and hold my dark cloth between my outstretched arms in an attempt to block a bit of the wind.

Work from whatever windbreaks you can find (car, walls, boulders). Keep the camera as low as possible, subject permitting - the wind is often less at knee height than at head height.

Put the camera away and take out the kite

Unfortunately, light weight gear is the enemy here.

1. A nice, heavy wooden tripod with metal spiked feet and ball leveling head mount would be best.
2. Recommend you don't extend the legs at all and plant the spikes firmly in the ground.
3. Use a camera bag as suggested by Ansel to give downward weight to the entire rig.
4. Firmly tighten everything you can on the tripod head, legs and camera itself (if large format).
5. Get everything set-up, make sure focus and exposure is determined and set.
6. Screw in a cable release and wait a bit; see if the wind is gusting or steady. A brief wait for the wind to die down is worth the wait.
7. Use wind blocking techniques suggested above.
8. Don't rush it.

Good luck!

Consider handheld use!

I use a weight on the center column of the tripod a lot. Often, it's just my pack, but I have a nylon bag with rope straps in my kit that I can fill with rocks too.

If I have someone with me (usually my beautiful assistant/wife), then they can help. If I know there's going to be a lot of wind, I'll pack a sturdy umbrella and have them hold it upwind from the camera to shield it from the wind.

I've also set my camera up inside my car before, maneuvering the car into the right position first and then wrestling with the tripod, etc. to get it pointing out a window. The problem here is that the car shakes with the gusts of wind, so timing the shot between gusts is important.

Other than that, I leave the camera packed up and enjoy the windy weather

Happy Holidays!

Doremus

AnselMortensen said:

Hang your camera bag (or a bag of rocks) from the center column of your tripod so that it anchors the tripod...and doesn't swing like a pendulum.

Click to expand...

I was in the process of doing this (I should have done before mounting the camera) at Great Sand Dunes in Colorado when the wind picked up and threw my Rittreck 5x7, 3 series Gitzo, and 300mm Dagor about 10 feet.

Ok thanks all. It looks like first I should get a tripod with a hook on the center column. Currently I have Manfrotto Befree carbon, very light and easy to use but yes not so great at the windy days.
Currently my solution is, 35mm handheld

Doremus Scudder said:

If I have someone with me (usually my beautiful assistant/wife), then they can help.

Click to expand...

That makes things worse - instead of just having to choose between the camera or kite, you then have the additional burden of choosing between the wife and the beautiful assistant, and then which one is going to hold the umbrella or steady the camera.

Handheld 35mm rangefinder for the win.

The problem isn't wind the velocity per se, but the nature of gusts which shake the camera. I've used my 8x10 in such strong winds that I had to use my own full body weight below to just keeping it from blowing away, despite using a heavy wooden Ries tripod - yet getting completely sharp images. But that is risky, and I have had the camera and tripod picked up just like a kite a few times and tossed about 15 yards (fortunately with a soft landing each time). My metal Sinar 4x5 wasn't always so lucky with its landings in the mountains, and I had to replace a few components.

I'm getting too old to gamble like that anymore; and if I'm road traveling at least, reach for my MF gear instead when working in high winds.

In either case, having the bully mass of a heavy wooden tripod with spike feet helps. But for backpacking or airline purposes, I had to travel with carbon fiber tripods instead, which are more susceptible to wind.

With experience, one learns to time the cadence of the gusts for just the right moment when both the camera and all the delicate foliage or whatever in the scene is momentarily still. It's challenging, yet at the same time, highly rewarding. But it's getting awfully expensive to gamble with 8X10 color film in that manner any more.

If it's windy, I try to shoot between gusts. I find side winds more challenging, and often use my dark cloth as a shield.

Look for a 6x6 rangefinder, 400 speed film and a large boulder/Anglican church etc. Crouch, point and shoot. Or stick with 35mm

The Mitchell Motion Picture Camera Corporation produced battleship wooden tripods for their 70/35/16mm Motion picture cameras. They featured metal clips at the apex of each tripod leg that would allow you to clip a "ditty bag" or canvas tray below the mounting plate. They also designed and sold a tie-down anchor system that had an earth screw with cables that could be hooked to the head casting and the entire rig firmly ratcheted down to the Earth. Of course, typical camera crews had multiple "grips" (all around camera assistants) on the crew to stage and take down the tripod.

Of course, it didn't hurt that those Mitchell cameras could weigh anywhere from 50 to 700 pounds, depending on gauge and accessories, so wind gusts up to 20 or 30 mph were not considered much of a problem.

As a side note: I nearly sheared my index finger off when a Mitchell STD 35mm camera I was dismounting from a set of sticks suddenly shifted (my fault!). These are not to be taken lightly in any sense of the matter...

I thought of suggesting adapting one of those small screw augurs you use to temporarily tether a dog on a campsite with a ratchet strap as a means to hold the tripod firmly to the ground. However, i think that screwing a metal rod into the ground at most tourist sites might be frowned-upon!

Here's a site where you can peruse some Mitchell tripods (and lots of other neat, historical Cinema gear) should you feel so inclined.


Sorry for the detour, I do tend to ramble...

Would not even dream of taking an LF rig out in what is, to us in Australia, greater than 60km/h wind!

Historically a few people in Australia have had LF cameras destroyed after they have fallen or been blown over, and inattention/distraction and lack of preparation for conditions are behind these. It's pretty confronting to see an owner reduced tears as he/she surveys their wrecked camera on the rocks...

A LF camera has much more bulk than a 500C/M (a colleague has used this camera successfully in violent gales [>100km/h] in Antarctica some years ago), with the extension of the LF bellows acting as a sail-catch! Really no amount of thorough preparation will stop vibration and stutter with such a big rig. Would suggest seeking shelter like an alcove or something similar. Another alternative is to have somebody stand beside the camera and essentially serve as a windbreak. Never use a tripod with fully-extended legs and elevated centre-column in windy conditions. Splay out the tripod legs to place the centre of gravity lower to the ground, and clear of real and potential hazard like tidal wash (if on the beach) or airborne dust. Increase the footprint size of the tripod feet so that it is more challenging for the wind to physically push the tripod around (see pic: Manfrotto sand-/snow-shoes for beach use). I use these sand-/snow shoes wherever I need a larger, ultra-stable footprint other than the spiked feet on the tripod. Also, remove all straps, from the camera and from the tripod.

The highest wind I have (struggled) to shoot in is 46km/h; and that requires all of the foregoing preparation; The pic was done, but it was not all that impressive considering how much better subsequent pics were in calm conditions!

Fatih Ayoglu said:

Ok thanks all. It looks like first I should get a tripod with a hook on the center column. Currently I have Manfrotto Befree carbon, very light and easy to use but yes not so great at the windy days.
Currently my solution is, 35mm handheld

Click to expand...

A hook on the centre-column is grossly over-rated (anything hanging off that will suffer the "pendulum effect" in high winds), and nowhere near the full package for effectively wind-proofing the kit and caboodle, in typically wild Scottish weather.

Andrew O'Neill said:

If it's windy, I try to shoot between gusts.

Click to expand...

It's not just lightweight cameras, or lots of bellows. Even with a short lens on a stable, metal camera, the wind is an issue with macro shots of flexible subjects. I learned from that the importance of patience -- and the fastest shutter speed you can use. Sometimes I've stared at the same flower for 20 minutes. That's also why I usually end up shooting alone!

Look up the equation about wind force at a certain velocity on a rectangular cubic object...you find the force mounts very quickly. Like another reply, I don't bother to try large format in the wind, especially since I know the characteristics of shooting with the relatively small cross section of a long telephoto lens (much smaller cross-section that a large format box and bellows) in a gusty wind.

High wind? I'd avoid the Holte End of the Villa Ground on the Boxing Day fixture

pentaxuser

There are ways to make it work if you absolutely must shoot large format in the wind but your beautiful Deardorff probably is not the best camera to use.

If I am going into the mountains to shoot and I know it will be windy, but I feel the need to battle the wind, I carry my Graflex Speed Graphic. I don't even bother bringing the tripod. I tried the hook and bag of rocks. In strong gusts that bag of rocks will start swinging and the next thing you know your camera, tripod and rocks have all blown down the beach or off the cliff.

Handheld 4x5 cameras like the Speed or Crown Graphics are the only way that works for me if I have to shoot large format. I brace myself behind or against a windbreak. Time the shutter between the gusts or during the lull period and use a high shutter speed. You can feel the wind. You will miss the timing sometimes but you will get better. Sometimes I find a spot where I can literally set the camera on the ground or on a large rock and hold it in place with my weight. Concrete walls are great!

The only other thing I have used that worked was tying the camera to a big rock with one of those nylon cargo straps. I tried tying it to a large tree branch but trees bounce around a lot more than you think in the wind. Even your car or truck will bounce around.

Use faster film such as ISO 400 and faster shutter speeds hand held such at 1/500 second.

BTW. In my humble opinion any TLR made, even a Seagull, is better than any large format on windy days. When you are going for a hike in the mountains you don't always get to pick the weather or wind.

Sirius Glass said:

Use faster film such as ISO 400 and faster shutter speeds hand held such at 1/500 second.

Click to expand...

Amen!

HP5+ is the windy photographer's friend.

A fast shutter speed in large format work is anything faster than half a second!
If things get desperate, there is always the alternative of my Fuji 6x9 rangefinder handheld with TMY400 in it; but that precludes the long lens perspectives I often seek. It is a nice option out in the sleet or rain tucked under a parka. In such circumstances, I tend to carry my lighter Ries tripod rifle style over my shoulder, so I can shoot either with or without the tripod as needed.

Handheld can also be nicer when peering off the edge of a precipice, instead of peeing one's pants fiddling with shutter settings way out in front of a bellows, with the tripod darn near teetering over the abyss itself. I had to rope both myself and the tripod to a narrow ledge once. Even spent the night there roped on in order to catch the sunrise with the Sinar. Cheap thrills, but memorable.