Shooting low: Camera Support Options

[glen_johnson]

Can anyone offer any tips or suggestions for supporting the camera low to the ground when shooting nature subjects like flowers or small animals?

 

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I am familiar with 3 approaches:

 

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1. Reverse your center post. Now camera is upside down with controls on the top of the camera now facing the ground.

 

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2. Get a short center post and either modify your Bogen or buy a brand that will allow you to spread the legs out so that they fall in a single plane.

 

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3. Buy or make something like a Kirk Low Pod.

 

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Question: Which approach works best for you? Are there tricks that you can share for coping with number 1?

[duane_galensky]

Other options:

 

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use a Bogen super clamp to attach a ball head to the bottom of a tripod leg or something else close to the ground like a small tree trunk. Gitzo also makes some sort of assembly for this.

 

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with a short center column, with some configurations it's possible to get closer to the ground by leaving two legs fully retracted and at their widest splay, and the third leg fully extended and as close to parallel with the center post as possible...this tips the whole works to one side, and your ballhead can compensate for the radical angle. This improves things by taking the little bit of center post you might still have off prependicular with the ground.

[paul_wilson2]

IMO, your best option is a tripod who's legs will go flat and a short center column. The reason is because this works very well (my Gitzo 1228 at least is very solid in this position, legs spread but unextended) and you're probably already carrying the tripod anyway. This is also an inexpensive option assuming you already have an appropriate tripod.

 

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Reversing the center column sucks for the most part. Do you really want to work with an upside down camera? I've tried it and it's not ergonomic at all. Plus, be very careful when adjusting the center column.

 

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The Low Pod seems like a decent idea but it's one more thing to buy and then carry and it requires a relatively flat surface to work well.

It also doesn't give as wide a base of support as a tripod with it's legs spread out.

[bobatkins]

Reversing the center post never seems to work. It's just too

awkward to work that way most of the time. A Bogen leg clamp, which allows you

to mount the head on the leg of the tripod is one route and

works fairly well.

 

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A short center post and horizontal leg spread is OK in theory,

but you end up with something that's seveal feet wide. Not the

easiest piece of equipment for getting into tight spaces or

working on bumpy ground.

[russ_arcuri]

Beanbag.

[robert_n._payne]

The Bogen clamp can work, though it is an extra gizmo to carry. Kirk will modify a Bogen 3021 to go to ground level. Gitzo makes a 341 Inter-Pro Studex that comes with a flat plate and this will go flat to the ground ( this would be my choice-tain't cheap). The Benbo tripods will go flat to the ground with the advantage that since the legs are locked by a central bolt, the legs can be moved into many positions, including bunched together with the whole works on the ground. The column on the Benbo can work as a crude macro slider since it moves in a separate sleeve. The disadvantage, beside the fact that the pod takes some getting used to, is that stability with larger lenses is questionable. These are the best options I am familiar with.

[don_baccus4]

As has been pointed out, reversing the center column sucks. Bogen does make a head that is flexible enough to let you use the camera rightside up with the post upside down, but this doesn't solve the fact that three legs are still in the way. Probably works OK for leprechauns, but not me! Take that option off the list!

 

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Tripods like the Gitzo 310 and 410 come with no center column. The plate or column assembly are interchangable, so you can buy one of these with a column and switch to the plate if you want to get low. They get really low without the column. Not all gitzos feature this interchangibility, I know those two do for sure.

 

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And the Bogen superclamp on a 'pod leg works well, too. It's such a useful gadget and so cheap that it's worth having in any case.

[dan_smith]

You might try a Leica mini-tripod. A lower cost & same basic quality option is the mini made by Minolta(a leica copy). Polaroid also makes one very close to them. Good luck.

[gerry_kruschenske]

I discovered quite by accident that after purchasing a Manfrotto unit #131DD (Canadian part #) that allows you to mount 2 ball heads for dual cameras on a single tripod setup that if I removed 1 of the clamps, it could be attached to the middle leg of my Gitzo 410 or the lower part of the main leg of my Gitzo 341. I then would attach my ballhead and then my camera/lens setup. This system allows for as close to the ground shooting as I have been able to find short of going to a beanbag and it is extremely stable. This method will not crush your tripod legs as the unit wraps around the leg whereas the superclamp can apply uneven pressure to your tripod leg with the danger of crushing or deforming the leg being directly proportional to the torque you apply. The clamp off the part I am describing is also much lighter than the superclamp. A written description of the whole unit is : a tube about 2 feet long with 2 sliding clamps with male fittings to attach ball heads and 1 sliding clamp with a female fitting that attaches to the top of your tripod. The clamps each have a lever to loosen/tighten the clamp in the desired position on the tube or rail. With the system attached to a tripod leg you can raise or lower the whole unit as desired by extending or retracting the leg of the tripod down to its' fully retracted position. With a lens with a tripod collar , such as the 200mm macro, you can get the front element almost into the dirt if not in the dirt. Its a great setup and all who have seen it are impressed. Possibly, you can purchase only the clamp without buying the whole setup. Hope this helps.

 

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Gerry

[kaetheko]

I have used several options, albeit a bit unusual. I have an old Gitzo 124 which has the short center column because I am short and do not need the extra height of the center column. When this is splayed out it sits 5" above the ground to the platform for the head. The problem I find however is that frequently there is not enough room shooting wildflower macro shots for a full size tripod in this position. I have often actually removed the center column and sunk it into the dirt or wedged it between rocks and had good results. A couple of times when I needed to be even lower and in a tighter space I have just sat the head on a secure spot. My other solution if I am specifically going out to shoot wildflowers is to carry the Slik Mini-Pro. It only weighs 6 oz. and the platform sits 4" off of the ground with a leg spread diameter of 10". Each leg can extend to give a support diameter of 12" with the platform 5" off of the ground.

 

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The companion problem to mounting your camera low is looking thru the viwfinder without crushing the rest of the flora while you are lying on your stomach! kaethe

[frank_kolwicz]

I seldom use it, but a simple platform of substantial plywood or

something similar with three knobs on the bottom to provide stable

support and a hole to mount your ballhead is perfect. It provides

a wide base, three-point stability, gets as low as your head will

allow, which is very low with the head tilted into the horizontal

position, and is cheap. Use a 3/8" carraige bolt for the head as

it has a square base under the head that will crush into the wood

and provide an anti-turning grip underneath.

[paul_wilson2]

The wood support that Frank made sounds like the same thing as the Lo-Pod that Kirk sells for $110(ripoff though made out of aluminum). Good job Frank! BTW, if someone is considering building something similar, get some birch furniture type plywood. It will work well for this application.

[frank_kolwicz]

ERRATUM: I meant 3/16" bolt NOT 3/8" and it should be just long enough to

stick up above the top surface about 1/2", +/-, to engage the

thread on the head.

Further, the size of the knobs will determine how well the plate

works on rough ground: small knobs may cause the plate to bottom-

out instead of standing on the knobs. Large knobs may raise the

camera up too high. I use ceramic drawer pulls about 1" high

[garry_teeple]

The problem is solved, well it will be I hope with in the year. I

have designed a method which allows a tripod to go from its original

height to ground level (Patent Pending). There is no need to remove

the head, turn the column upside down, work under the legs, etc.

With the use of an "L" bracket such as Kirk sells, the camera can be

sat on the ground and still attached firmly to the tripod. I am

working on literature at the present time and hope to have it ready

within the next six months. I will keep everyone posted. Thanks

[dan_smith]

All these sensible answers & no one mentioned the Government Solution. Call in the Corps of Engineers & have them scoop out a big hole for you to stand in. Not too many govt employees read this page I guess.

[benji]

Exactly how do you modify a bogan tripod (3221) to go flat. I am pretty handy and could use the 40 dollars plus shipping it would cost to have Kirk do it.

[pete_dickson1]

I bought a 3021S modified by Kirk. They deepened the notches in the cast aluminum (?) part to which the legs are attached - two notches per leg. And they shortened the center column so when you remove the bottom porrtion you can put the pod flat to the ground. I've seen other Bogen modified by individuals. In some cases the results are rather gruesome, although functional. Since I was buying a new 3021S for a travel tripod anyhow I decided to pay the premium for a professionally modified one - I have no regrets whatsoever.

[norman_chappell]

There are a lot of solutions to this problem. The Manfrotto #393 long lens monopod bracket (Bogen HD Tele Lens Support #3421) would work perfectly as a suspended frame underneath an inverted centre column for anybody with a rotating lens collar. A variation on this to allow for camera mounting would be perfect as it keeps the mass directly in line with the column for maximum stability. There is also a side arm (Manfrotto 131D/Bogen 3059) which would work but not quite as well.

 

A home made solution is simple and inexpensive. All that is needed is a 6" flat bar with holes at both ends (make sure it is strong and rigid enough). It attaches to and projects at right angles from the inverted centre column with a wing nut. The other end takes your favourite ball head and camera. This gets you as close to the ground as the size of the head allows and provides complete freedom for positioning the camera. A right angle viewfinder accessory might make things a little more comfortable in use.

[waltshoe]

I was kind of playing around just now and found out that the simple right angle bracket which you may already have, may be the solution in many situations. For shooting straight down, the tripod head gets you 4" off center, and the bracket adds another 4". This gets you away from the center post, anyway.

 

With the center column inverted, the angle bracket puts the controls on the SIDE, which is actually where you want them, if you are lieing on your side, lining up your shot. You can stick your head between the tripod legs and the controls are just where you want them. This is good for vertical shots.

 

If you want a horizontal, I guess you'll have to do the previous suggestion... use a board to invert your inverted columnn!