View single post by Eric
 Posted: Tue Mar 31st, 2020 05:04
Eric



Joined: Wed Apr 18th, 2012
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 4363
Status: 
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If your photographic expedition has a definite purpose, that requires the ultimate precision (such as time lapse, long exposure, positional accuracy, focus stacking and the like), then a tripod is an obvious companion. 

Being a lifelong minimalist, and before VR came to assist, I invariably used a wall, lampost, tree, rock, park bench, fence, desk, chair, car roof/bonnet, windowsill, even the odd passerby ( 😆) to give me extra stability .....none of which I needed to lug along with me on the off chance I needed it.

Don't get me wrong, I took my big heavy (studio) tripod with me, when shooting commercial interiors, large machinery etc. However, the painful memory of having to lug it, and all my camera/lighting gear half way across Norwich because I couldn't park outside the store I was commissioned to photograph, is indelibly printed on the angst area of my brain. Sweaty, irritable, unsteady, short of time and generally p*ssed was not a good recipe for creativity. (Not to mention the stupid public who insisted on gurning in frame when doing footfall images - another reason why I shunned event photography). 

As an integral part of my commercial work, I am afraid I have come to loath tripods and now unwaveringly leave them at home when venturing out with a leisure camera. (I would probably have sold them if the postage cost for the beasts wasn't going to mess with the deal.) I also have two mono pods which have served me well ....when trying to climb up wet grassy banks. „ 

Manfrotto have even stopped sending me newsletters.



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Eric