Underwater TRIPOD: adaptive and stable

[Dauntless]

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[mjh]

Don't mean to be confrontational but tripods make me nervous. In one of the videos it Seems to be sitting on and wrapped around living hard corals. While I am sure the damage is minimal, is it worth any risk to the reef? Yes, I know so many other "worse" risks out there but why add one more? There are growing number of resorts that will not allow them because they have seen the damage they can cause, when used "improperly" first hand.

 

[Dauntless]

Don't mean to be confrontational but tripods make me nervous. In one of the videos it Seems to be sitting on and wrapped around living hard corals. While I am sure the damage is minimal, is it worth any risk to the reef? Yes, I know so many other "worse" risks out there but why add one more? There are growing number of resorts that will not allow them because they have seen the damage they can cause, when used "improperly" first hand.

Thanks for the thoughtful comments, you sorta segued nicely into the point of the modification, the smaller diameter legs were "squishy" the newer, larger diameter, will have less contact. PS: it also will sit on sand and I will post some sand tripod video soon.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Seems like an awful lot of potential damage and trouble just to get video of yourself. What is the real problem that this is supposed to solve? Perhaps if I could see that I would see the value of the tripod differently.

 

[CT Sean]

Thanks for the thoughtful comments, you sorta segued nicely into the point of the modification, the smaller diameter legs were "squishy" the newer, larger diameter, will have less contact.

I think the point trying to be made is that it shouldn't have any contact. Looks like a decent design - basically an underwater gorillapod - for use on sand and other non-living bases but there's nothing that anyone needs to film that warrants potentially damaging the reef to film it.

 

[mjh]

CT Sean has the jist of it. I do think Muck Sticks can be used responsibly, they have a fine point, in most situations you can find a pc of dead rock or sand to put the point on. Steadies camera, keeps diver off the reef/bottom, win/win. Tripods complicate things. Dauntless I get your point but locline style arms seem to invite being wrapped around things. The posted video is a good example, one leg seems to be wrapped around/resting on what looks like a narrow coral head. I understand why people want to use them, IMHO I just see very, very, very limited situations where they can be used without putting living structures at risk.

---------- Post Merged on November 8th, 2012 at 06:59 AM ---------- Previous Post was on November 7th, 2012 at 09:56 AM ----------

Dauntless I did not mean to offend. As underwater photographers I personally feel we have a responsibility to be leading by example in taking care of, preserving, the creatures and reefs we capture in pixels. More and more "new" divers are bringing cameras down, which is Great! But more and more we see divers putting delicate structures at risk, or right out damaging them so they can "get a shot". Is any vacation shot really worth damaging a structure that took decades to grow?? I did not say ban tripods but just that one must be exceptionally careful in their deployment.

 

[Dauntless]

Serious equipment, not a gorillapod but an exceptional camera tray with legs. Don't think many resort/vacation divers would be interested. However, it does help me get better video of things that very few divers will ever see, and to share that experience. Here is video, taken with the same setup of a creature, rare in the wild and almost inaccessible. I am happy to share this: Red Carpet Anemone II - YouTube

Yogi Berra once said you can make a lot of observations by looking at things and it is an interesting phenomena, that with online forums, you get a lot of opinions expressed, I'm all for that. Doesn't mean that they are substantiated but just opinions. I also am of the opinion, that a piece of camera equipment resting or wrapped on coral does far less damage than one parrot fish grazing. I am also of the opinion that needless damage to nature is a bad thing. However, maybe you want to tell these parrot fish to watch out http://www.webstervid.com /musicvideo.php?vid=47a01bc09

 

[Tigerman]

Yeah, cause your tripod is so much a part of the ecosystem and the parrotfish is not...

 

[CT Sean]

Serious equipment, not a gorillapod but an exceptional camera tray with legs. Don't think many resort/vacation divers would be interested. However, it does help me get better video of things that very few divers will ever see, and to share that experience. Here is video, taken with the same setup of a creature, rare in the wild and almost inaccessible. I am happy to share this: Red Carpet Anemone II - YouTube

Yogi Berra once said you can make a lot of observations by looking at things and it is an interesting phenomena, that with online forums, you get a lot of opinions expressed, I'm all for that. Doesn't mean that they are substantiated but just opinions. I also am of the opinion, that a piece of camera equipment resting or wrapped on coral does far less damage than one parrot fish grazing. I am also of the opinion that needless damage to nature is a bad thing. However, maybe you want to tell these parrot fish to watch out Torruji Fishes Video by Webster

The difference, of course, is that nature has spent millions of years adapting to parrotfish and no time at all adapting to tripods.

 

[Dauntless]

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