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Beyond the Camera - Tripods and Monopods
Tripods range considerably in cost, flexibility and strength. They range from flimsy little tabletop tripods that would fall over if you so much as blinked, through to industrial strength models that require someone like Arnold Schwartzenugget (or whatever his name is) to carry it around for you.
A monopod is a tripod that should only cost about a third the amount since it only has one leg, but as the man from the Nationwide adverts says "it doesn't work like that." (comment for UK residents only there!).
Nearly every digital camera made todat has a standard quarter-inch tripod socket on the bottom.
Table top tripods
These are handy as they will fold up and fit into your camera back. If you find yourself in a low light situation, they can provide the stability you need to get a shot that you wouldn't have a chance of taking without a tripod.
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They are also very handy of you like to get yourself into the shot by using that most horrid of inventions - the self-timer.
A word of warning though - some of these are so flimsy (see picture on the right) that they can't take the weight of most cameras, especially a DSLR.
A couple of interesting variations on the table-top tripod are the GorillaPod (picture on the right) and the BeanBag. The GorillaPod will wrap round and cling to things when there are no flat surfaces for a tripod. BeanBags are cheap alternatives to tripods - setting the camera on it, you can make it point pretty much anywhere you want. |
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| A bean bag makes an excellent support for a camera. The one shown here is called The Pod, is a dedicated camera support. |
The Joby Gorillapod can be used in many ways - why not look at their website (www.joby.com). |
Full Size Tripods
These range in price from about £15 to well over £100. The difference is that the more expensive ones tend to be much sturdier and have replaceable heads (see next section). Tripods are very important if you take night time picture which may involve very long exposures or wildlife photography where you may want to trigger the shutter remotely (by cable or wireless release).
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One consideration when buying a tripod is how tall it will go - cheaper ones may require to squat down to look through the viewfinder. Another thing you might want to check out is whether the legs can be opened out independently and how wide (important if you want to get shots near the ground or on steep hillsides.
Some tripods even allow you to invert the centre column so the camera sits below the top of the tripod. |
Some names to look out for are Gitzo (very expensive), Manfrotto (very good), Giottos, Benbo and Velbon (quite good and affordable).
Tripod Heads
Technically, the tripod is just the 3 legs and not the bit the camera attaches to, which is more correctly called the head. Budget tripods will probably have a fixed head, but if you invest a little more money on your tripod, it will come with an interchangeable head.
There are two basic types of head.
A pan-tilt head has two seperate axes for, you guessed it, panning and tilting. This has the advantage that one axis can be changed without affecting the other. A two-way head can pan and tilt forwards and backwards, however you can also get 3-way pan-tilt heads that all you to tilt the camera sideways.
A ball-head uses a ball and socket joint and allows complete freedom of movement along all three axes. A large knob is used to lock the camera in position. All ball-heads have an extra slot in the side of the socket to allow the camera to be oriented into portrait format. Some also have an independent panoramic rotation.
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3-way pan-tilt head (courtesy of Manfrotto) |
ball-head (also Manfrotto). The hexagonal bit is the quick-release head |
In addition to the basic head type, a few other things to consider if buying a tripod are:
Built in spirit level - important if the tripod is used on uneven ground.
Fluid or fluid-effect head - not that important for still photography, but if you are wanting to use it for video work as well, this is essential as it allows very smooth panning motions.
Quick release head - a separate plate mounts onto the camera enabling you to put the camera on and off the tripod at the flick of a switch.
Monopods
A monopod is a third of a tripod. It's purpose is to eliminate camera shake in the vertical plane and if used while leaning against a large object, horizontal movement is also reduced. Monopods are actually more stable than you might expect as with the photographers 2 legs, it forms a tripod (albeit not a rigid one). Although they do allow slower shutter speeds, they are unable to support a camera independently, and therefore long exposures as not possible.
Monopods are very popular with sports photographers and the celebrity paparazzi to support very long lenses where rapid movement of the camera is required. Names to look out for are the same as for tripods.
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