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Digital killed the tripod?


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http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/digital-killed-my-tripod.htm

 

Do you find you use a tripod less with digital?

 

This article struck a nerve with me and I personally don't think it's very good

advice, especially for beginners. I find I'm more careful about composure and

take more time to confirm focus and experiment with exposure when the DSLR is on

a tripod.

 

And yes, I find the percentage of really sharp and detailed shots goes up on the

tripod. Even in bright light, even with IS.

 

Maybe Ken is spending too much time with ultra-wide angles that have extreme DoF?

 

What do you think?

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Perhaps I should learn to spell.. My post should read like this:

 

I've never taken much stock in his opinions myself - he's more into sounding controversial than anything else with this one. If the article had included the specifics of a detailed study, I'd be more inclined to feel it was credible, but as it stands it's just him giving his opinion...

 

- Randy

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Personally I use a tripod for almost all the images I make, digital or not. I find it hard to compose accurately without a tripod, and if I am perfecting the exposure for an image with a histogram check, having the camera on a tripod ensures that the composition doesn't shift while I work. And this of course leaves out multi-frame stitching...
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He clearly doesn't do a lot of night photography with long telephotos.

<p>

VR and IS don't eliminate camera shake. At best, they reduce it enough to give you a few stops. That's often enough to be very useful, especially in the daytime, but it's not always enough for all situations. With long enough lenses in low enough light, there's still a big advantage to a tripod.

<p>

The thing that a tripod does is turn that "barely achievable" shot into an easy catch without compromise (at least assuming the subject isn't moving). Freedom to use multi-minute exposures means you no longer have to compromise on aperture or ISO, nor do you have to accept a "not really noticable" level of motion blur.

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I just fully read the article referenced in the first post and have changed my tune. I now am convinced that it is encumbent upon us all to propogate and pertetuate the position expounded by Ken Rockwell to anyone and everyone who is within listening range or reading range, which admittedly, is for all practical purposes everyone on the planet with the internet behind us.

 

The reason for this change in belief by yours truely is the realization that if everyone else accepts this as gospel and foresakes their tripods then the general quality of images that has been proliferating in the marketplace will deteriorate correspondingly and those of us who retain our tripods and the ability to produce quality images will once again have a means of earning a living and the quality of images will actually improve.

 

Just remember to tell everyone else to dump their tripods!

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I never used a tripod so much as after acquiring our first digicam. Noise at anything above base ISO, puny flash and slow maximum aperture as soon as you zoom in at all forced the use of long shutter speeds for quality images - and a tripod. Also, no manufacturer has come up with an image stabilisation system that handles natural light exposures for macro work - the IS/VR becomes ineffective, and anyway does nothing for changes in focus distance (and neither does the camera's focus system). Perhaps Mr. Rockwell likes to hand hold a 600 f/4 (no VR on a Nikon version, either)?
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Killed the tripod? I don't think so. Sure, digital (and image stablization, too) has lessened the times that a tripod is absolutely necessary, which is a good thing because often the less gear one has to haul, the better. But there's limits to just how far digital and IS/VR can take things before a tripod is required, and as some have noted, a tripod is still a good way to get optimum results even under optimum circumstances.
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Rockwell has a lot of good points, and maybe for a lot of DSLR photography, the tripod is really of limited or no use FOR HIS STYLE OF SHOOTING (look at his galleries...is this your 'thing'?).

 

For mine, with HDR, long exposures with ND filters, panoramas, and night shots I still need mine. He did get me thinking, though - I could probably use it less, with VR on some lenses, and going back to the basics of holding steady and following the shot (elbows in, breathe out, brace against a tree or wall...), like I used to do before I could afford a tripod. Got lots of sharp shots back then...

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I came into professional photography late in life doing all types of newspaper photography. Logistics and the necessity for speed kept me from using a tripod. I did about twenty weddings a year and used a tripod for the formal pictures to support medium format cameras. I generally used flash fill for insurance. I shoot wildlife on the wing. Hard to use a tripod making an ascending swing through a180 degree arc. You haven't lived until you have had a tripod fall over in mud with a Bronica on it during an outdoor Springtime wedding. Wiped the mud off and continued shooting. Seriously, having grown up hunting, I like to track just like I used to with a shotgun. I get pretty good pictures that way. I was also encultured to work fast while working for the newspaper. The shot may get away while you fumble around trying to position a tripod. Yes you can a sharper picture if the subject doesn't have flapping wings. I got used to a monopod during football games mainly because my arms got so tired. It inhibited some shots. So I think a tripod is great for landscapes where you can languidly contemplate nature but for much else I have not used one very much.
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