Tripod Question?
ByI was taking photos of the moon last night and came to understand the extent of the short comings on my current tripod.
Suffice it to say, I think I came to understand that a mark of a good tripod is its rigidity. While shooting the moon with a Nikon D60 and a Sigma APO 400mm lens mounted to an inexpensive (under $80USD) tripod, I experiences a lot of “wobble” when I hit the shutter button. So I found myself using the timer to cause a 10 second delay between hitting the shutter and when the camera fired.
So, what exactly should I be looking for in a tripod if my current telephoto lens does not have vibration reduction? http://www.amazon.com/Bogen-Manfrotto-19…
I saw a tripod almost identicle to this in a store the other day and unlike all the others there, it seemed really very rigid.
Should I be looking at something higher end?
5 Comments
September 19th, 2009 at 3:42 am
DON’T get a carbon fibre tripod for astrophotography, it is not the right application. Cabron Fibre tripods are really for sports & outdoor/bird photographers and moreso for monopods because carbon fibre is strong, but light – which is what sports & bird photographers need when carrying thier equipment.
There’s two things that will help you in astrophotography, first lets look at your camera setup;
Use a cable release – even the most professional astrophotographers use these because it is the best way of preventing vibration when pushing your finger down on the shutter. Sure you could set it on a 2 sec/10 sec timer but thats just a pain, cable release is just so much more easier. Look for cable releases where it gives you the option of the ‘bulb’ switch which allows you to manually hold the shutter open for however long you want, and some of them even allow you to leave the button pressed down for a long period without you having to press it yourself. They’re cheap, usually no more than $20 USD on ebay.
Some cameras also have the ability to lock the mirror before taking the shot. (The EOS rebel series & upwards has them). Mirror lockup is another way of preventing the camera’s own shake. What mirror lockup does is first flip the mirror up BEFORE the camera opens the shutter curtains to expose the CMOS/CCD sensor. The motion of the mirror slapping upwards to reveal the shutter curtains causes minute vibrations in cameras and this is quite evident when using long telephoto lenses for astrophotography. So if your camera has a ‘mirror lockup’ function – use that too.
The tripod – as I previously explained, DON’T get a carbon fibre tripod, this is a lightweight strong material – it will be just as useless as an aliminium tripod in the wind. To counteract winds, all you need is a heavy tripod. Unforunately some tripods are quite costly and if you were like me and freaked out about the prices – just buy the cheapest Manfrotto or Gitzo tripod (but something decent) and get a heavy tripod head. With the head being heavy it helps keep the camera & lens firmly planted on the tripod.
Hope this helps, good luck!
EDIT: I just saw the tripod you were looking at on Amazon. I’m pretty sure I have the exact same model! The only negative comment I have about this tripod (assuming it’s the same model) is that it has a plastic clamp to keep the tripod bar held in place if raised. This is rated at a certain weight and I find that with a heavy lens like the 70-200 F2.8 IS and a relatively heavy camera, if you raise the middle bar high and clamp it down, the bar starts sinking after a few minutes because of the weight. So I went out and bought another Manfrotto which has a metal clamp rather than the plastic one and it worked fine.
September 19th, 2009 at 3:58 am
Manfrotto and Gitzo make the best tripods. Get one that is made of carbon fiber… expensive, but worth it! They are very strong, light, and stable. Avoid alluminum… if the wind is hard enough, they will blow over.
September 19th, 2009 at 4:02 am
a really nice tripod can run you $600, crazy right. but it sounds ike you are looking for a cable shutter release, not a new tripod, thats what i would buy first
September 19th, 2009 at 4:02 am
call me an elitist but its either gitzo w/ an arca-swiss quick-release sys. or nothing
September 19th, 2009 at 4:03 am
Stock answer, but most applies to your question:
Any camera where you can control the settings in a manual mode will do. If you can use a lens with an equivlent focal length of 300 mm or more, it helps. Even at relatively high shutter speeds, you will need a tripod to get a decent image of the moon.
See:http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstei…
This was taken at 1/200th of a second at f/16 at ISO 200 through a 200 mm lens (300 mm equiv.). This is the same as the “sunny sixteen” rule. Set the lens at f/16 and set the shutter speed at the inverse of the ISO. This works for film or digital cameras. Use your manual setting and try these settings. You can also go up and down one EV by using f/11 and f/22. There will be people here who recommend each of these, but I still prefer my sunny 16 version. You can also use the SPOT meter on the moon itself as a starting point. You are not trying to get a good exposure of the dark sky, so limit your reading to the actual subject – the moon. Hey, it’s digital, so take 30 shots and you will figure out what works for you so that next time, you can get a good result with one shot.http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstei…
I’m guessing that you have only one lens – the 18-55 kit lens. You might get a perfectly exposed picture of the moon, but it is going to be a small image. Here is a shot on my D200 using a 98 mm focal length. Your lens set at 55 mm would give an image of the moon just about half this size.http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstei…
Be sure to click “All sizes” and then “Original” to see the maximum magnification of the moon. Actually, this is the full 10 MP image, so your 6 MP image would be more like one third as big as this one is on your screen.
See also: http://www.tzplanet.com/words/how-to-pho…
As far as a tripod, if you are afraid of the wind moving your tripod, tie a 5-10 pound weight to it and drop anchor. This will spread the legs and force more stability.