How important is a tripod?


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Falcon

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Jan 18, 2002
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Photography is my one month old hobby. Would like to know the importance of having tripod. Should I get one at this point of time? or SHould wait until I am more skillful, like mastering other aspects of photography first..

Thanks.
 

That's the most important thing you need
 

Originally posted by Falcon
Photography is my one month old hobby. Would like to know the importance of having tripod. Should I get one at this point of time? or SHould wait until I am more skillful, like mastering other aspects of photography first..

Thanks.

If you want to take night shot... you need tripod 100% of the time if you want good results
 

Its very important to me as I have a pair of shaky hands (not legs though) :D
 

from my experience using a manual camera I would go for a tripod anytime
 

Originally posted by Klause


If you want to take night shot... you need tripod 100% of the time if you want good results

Yup, I agree. :)
 

all depends on what you shoot.

to a streetphotographer - ZERO importance
to a night shoot photographer - ULTIMATE importance
 

Oh i see. What about taking nature shots? That's what I am doing now.
 

yup - equally important for nature photography, especially when you are using long lenses.

As a rule of thumb, the minimum shutter speed that you should use should be no slower than 1/focal-length, therefore, if you have a 80-200 (or 70-210) zoom lenses and you are shooting at 200/210mm setting, your shutter speed should be at 1/200s or faster.

Granted, if you have ultra-steady hands, you can get away with 1/125s or even 1/60s, but you WILL notice a vast difference if you were to compare a shot taken handheld at 1/60s vs a tripod-mounted shot at the same speed.
 

If you want maximum depth of field in your nature/landscape photos, and/or want to use slow film (like Velvia) or low ISO in your digicam (e.g. G1/2 ISO50), you will need a tripod as the shutter speed will tend to be lowish. Using a tripod will ensure sharp pictures providing your subject doesn't move (a lot). :)

Regards
CK
 

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