Do I need a tripod?

[megkris]

Hi all,

I take pics of mostly my kids and the occasional landscape and street (very occasionally......)

Dun really think that i need it but it feel that my gear is not complete w/o a good tripod. Went to CP today and saw the prices :bigeyes: of Gitzos, manfrotto, giottos.....reckon i need to spend at least 300 with ball head as well...

My gear consists if a Nikon D2H, 17-55mm, 50mm and S800 speedlight......

any sugguestion of a good tripod if u think that i need one??

tks

:sweat:

 

[espn]

If you don't need, then it's not necessary.

 

[wainism]

i seriously think u shd consider getting a reasonably good tripod.

considering that u r using a D2H, u wouldnt want a flimsy tripod to just collapse and damaging ur cam and lens? currently ur set up isnt too heavy i think, so maybe u can get a SLIK tripod with a gittos head?

i got a SLIK 500DX(comes with pan tilt) and another extra GITTOS MH-200 for $305 at CP. other ones u can consider is the MANFROTTO 190 or 055 series, though theyre alot heavier.

go CP look for dolly or steven, they're very helpful!
good luck!!!

 

[jnet6]

Hi all,

I take pics of mostly my kids and the occasional landscape and street (very occasionally......)

Dun really think that i need it but it feel that my gear is not complete w/o a good tripod. Went to CP today and saw the prices :bigeyes: of Gitzos, manfrotto, giottos.....reckon i need to spend at least 300 with ball head as well...

My gear consists if a Nikon D2H, 17-55mm, 50mm and S800 speedlight......

any sugguestion of a good tripod if u think that i need one??

tks

:sweat:

Do u shoot low light often?
Always take "groups" shots and u wan to be in side?
if no then can save up $$ for others.
else u need to speed a small amount to get a stable tripod for yr gears.(D2H etc......)
quite heavy when u mount long lens.

 

[jumbocrab]

D2H? 17-55? You have some serious equipment there. This being the case, you should not be stingy about the tripod. See this: http://www.bythom.com/support.htm

 

[Caras]

I take pics of mostly my kids and the occasional landscape and street (very occasionally......)

Kids - you probably want to be moving a lot and changing angles fast (not for tripods unless you want to get in the picture)
Landscape - not necessary except for panorama, night scenes
Street - same as landscape (pushing up the ISO will let you 'follow the action' and avoid movement blur with slower shutter speeds that require a tripod)

Dun really think that i need it but it feel that my gear is not complete w/o a good tripod

Have you ever been in a situation where you thought 'damn, wish I had a tripod right now'? Once you hit that (well, more than once) then start considering. But first, push up the ISO to get rid of some camera shake. If that works, you don't need to carry the additional weight around..

I echo espn on this one.

Cheers.

 

[student]

Generally speaking for photographing children and streets, a tripod is not necessary. But even for so called "travel" photography, I always have in my tripod a small but very sturdy tripod. It is a bit pricey, but the leica tripod is quite a bit of engineeing. Useful for those indoors shoots where light is relatively low and you do not want to have a high ISO. The other use is as mentioned by Caras, it you want to include your self in the image.

Regarding landscape, I have a slightly different perspective. A major problem with landscape is changing light. The structures may not change, but the light does. And wind too! When one takes up a camera, compose and then put down the camera again because the light was wrong or wind too strong, the framing will inevitably be different when you put up the camera again. So, for me, even if the general light level is adequate for hand holding, I still prefer to use a tripod. Set everything up, and wait for the right conditions before I trip the shutter.