When do you use a tripod?

benjiboy · Nov 18, 2013

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

DannL. · Nov 18, 2013

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.

RalphLambrecht · Nov 18, 2013

Jeff Kubach said:
I always use a tripod. I'm little disabled.

Jeff

+1
there are only two types of photographers,
the group that uses a tripod and the group that should.

bdial · Nov 18, 2013

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 · Nov 18, 2013

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 · Nov 18, 2013

Just when the application requires it.

benjiboy · Nov 18, 2013

E. von Hoegh said:
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...

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 · Nov 18, 2013

benjiboy said:
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.

randyB · Nov 18, 2013

I use a tripod any time the shutter speed is below 1/125 sec. which really means 97% of the time.

bsdunek · Nov 18, 2013

Almost always with my Mamiya 23, with 35's if the shutter speed is slow, and always with my Minox.

Prof_Pixel · Nov 18, 2013

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 · Nov 18, 2013

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.

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DF · Nov 18, 2013

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 · Nov 19, 2013

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.

Poisson Du Jour · Nov 19, 2013

Paul Goutiere said:
Do you use it mainly with:
-large format?
-medium format?
-35mm?
-Never?
-Always?
-Just when the application requires it?

Whenever Pentaximus the P67 and I have work to do: always.

rince · Nov 19, 2013

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

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George Collier · Nov 22, 2013

Always unless I cannot.

pgomena · Nov 22, 2013

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 · Nov 22, 2013

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 · Nov 22, 2013

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

ME Super · Nov 23, 2013

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.

John Earley · Nov 24, 2013

For medium format I use a tripod about 75% of the time and a monopod about 15%.

For 35mm slr I rarely use a tripod but I use a monopod about 50% of the time.

For 35mm rangefinder I rarely use either but I usually use fast film and large apertures/fast shutter speeds. Only short lenses are used.

Kawaiithulhu · Nov 26, 2013

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 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.

Claudia Moroni · Nov 27, 2013

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.

Claudia Moroni · Nov 27, 2013

Kawaiithulhu said:
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 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!

When do you use a tripod?

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