When do you use a tripod?

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benjiboy

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I use a tripod when my wife feels strong enough to carry it :smile:
 

DannL.

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Three of the four view cameras that I use prefer that I use a tripod. The 5x7 can easily be managed handheld or on a tripod. And with the only 35mm camera I use, it depends on the subject and desired outcome.
 

bdial

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I always find a support for the camera when I'm going to use a slow shutter speed.
But, quite often that support is not a tripod, because the picture is happening at a time that I don't happen to be carrying a tripod.

Otherwise, I use a tripod when I'm doing view camera work or macro and tabletop, or when I know I'm doing long exposures (night shots, etc).
 

BMbikerider

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As often as I can especially when using a long lens. Why go to all that bother and time just to get a mediocre shot because you were too lazy to use a tripod. It doesn't make any sense at all.
 

Sirius Glass

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Just when the application requires it.
 

benjiboy

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One told me, among other things, "Always use a lens shade, always. Use a tripod whenever possible" Amazing what 40 or 50 years of experience will teach you...:smile::laugh:
One of my mentors when I was young used to tell me " if a tripod is light enough to carry around conveniently it's no damed good.
 

Sirius Glass

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One of my mentors when I was young used to tell me " if a tripod is light enough to carry around conveniently it's no damed good.

And yet Ed Weston told Ansel Adams that there is nothing worth photographing more that 100 yards from a road.
 

Prof_Pixel

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I photographed a professional theatre group's dress rehearsals for many years and the rehearsals usually ended up around 11PM. Considering the location of the theatre, I always carried a tripod with me (not for photographic purposes) because I felt a lot safer walking back to my car carrying my camera bag in one hand and the heavy tripod in my other hand.
 

ambaker

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Unless I am on the move, I use a tripod.

If I am not going to be moving much, but need move some, I take a monopod.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 

DF

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Almost always - now that my main film is Pan F + (ASA 50), 35mm, and especially in that I shoot hyperfocal to get as much in focus, with the smallest aperature. My shots average below an 8th of a second. Yeh, it can be a bother sometimes, shlepping my tripe allover, especially when I want to be on my bike, but the results are worth it. (did I spell shlepping correctly, anyone?)
 

Bill Burk

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I like to print sharp photographs, so I almost always CARRY a tripod.

Tonight it was hard for me as I looked at some negatives under a microscope which were taken without a tripod. Others where the focus was off, wouldn't have been helped tripod or not. But some could have been better if I had used the tripod that I had on my back.

I have to really laugh at myself because it hurts. But there have been times when I carried the Star-D backpacking and took shots without the tripod anyway.
 

rince

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I will not take my camera and leave the tripod behind, regardless of format or nature of the planned shoot. There are enough other things to screw up in photography, so I am grateful for my tripod to take one concern of my mind. So it is also an ALWAYS for me :wink:


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pgomena

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I always use a tripod for my LF work. Obviously.
I almost always use one for my MF work.
I frequently use a tripod for my 35mm and digital work.

I like a steady platform for my cameras. I'm the least steady platform I know!
 

Kokoro

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I was just checking how much I have used the tripod in the last year. I used to use a tripod all the time, every single picture when I went out. But, looking through my pictures over the last year I can only remember three using a tripod.
When I go out I tend to do a lot of walking to find what I plan to photograph and it is such a pain to have to drag the tripod over stiles and through fields and down narrow overgrown footpaths. Most of the time I cant be bothered to carry it.
But I always take it with me, I always put it in the car when I go out, just incase and then decide whether I can be bothered to carry it or not when I stop the car and get ready to start walking.
 

Vaughn

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LF - always, and a big heavy thing, too.
MF - at least half the time
35mm -- I do not use that format
 

ME Super

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I use a tripod for:
  • Pinhole Photography
  • 35mm when the shutter speeds require it
  • 35mm when shooting infrared (I can't see through the filter, so I compose on the tripod, then screw on the filter)

I don't use a tripod for MF because my MF camera is a box camera, and I don't have anything LF right now.
 

Kawaiithulhu

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While I can get decent hand held results with a 4x5 graflex and and good form when the light is good, I like to cheat.

Old trick = a light chain screwed into the tripod socket, long enough to hang down to the ground where you can step on it. Step on it and it takes away a major axis of camera jitter :ninja: almost as well as a monopod but way more portable.

If I've scouted an area and want to catch a particular scene, then tripod always because it's the best.
 
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Do you use it mainly with:

-large format?

I always use a tripod with my 5x4 monorail as it's impossible to shoot hand held.
Unfortunately I don't own a tripod strong enough to support it, so I have to rely on the generosity of the studios where I work and I can't shoot on location.
I've recently started using a Cambo stand and I love it!
I really like being able to stand on the side of the camera and interact with the model.

-medium format?

I didn't use to, but now I often shoot medium format with a tripod. If I'm doing extreme close up portraits with minimal depth of field, it helps a lot, as a tiny movement could get the focus off.
I also need it when I'm shooting with deep red and deep blue filters as they cut too much light to get a decent exposure time.
I have a lightweight Velbo tripod, it was cheap and it does the job, but it's a bit wonky.
I bring it with me when I'm shooting in the studio, but I refuse to carry it with me if I'm on location/walking around to do street portraits.
To be fair, I HATE carrying a tripod with me and I wish I didn't have to.
I can't drive, so that's probably a factor.

-35mm?

I never used a tripod with 35mm. I hardly ever shoot on small format anymore and, when I do, it's snapshots.
When I was starting out, I was using my Nikon for everything, but it never occurred to me that I should get a tripod.
I was never interested in landscapes and I didn't see the point in carrying the extra weight.
Good times.

-Never?

I wish

-Always?

If only I had a car

-Just when the application requires it?

Yes, as I said, the occasions are:

large and medium format studio work, close up portraits, portraits with filters.
 
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While I can get decent hand held results with a 4x5 graflex and and good form when the light is good, I like to cheat.

Old trick = a light chain screwed into the tripod socket, long enough to hang down to the ground where you can step on it. Step on it and it takes away a major axis of camera jitter :ninja: almost as well as a monopod but way more portable.

If I've scouted an area and want to catch a particular scene, then tripod always because it's the best.

Oh wow, I didn't know this! I need to try it with the Pentax 6x7, I hate having to carry a tripod around!
 
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