wetman
Contributor
What are people using for tripods, if anything?
steve
steve
Underwater tripods?
- Thread starter wetman
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I've never seen or heard of anyone using tripods underwater.
Aquamaniac
Contributor
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Ive been called a tripod in the past..................
The only reason i asked is because i saw one in version 9 of this magazine:
http://www.uwpmag.co.uk/download.htm
Was just curious. There are also some great shots by Tony Wu in that edition, who i think is also on this board.
steve
http://www.uwpmag.co.uk/download.htm
Was just curious. There are also some great shots by Tony Wu in that edition, who i think is also on this board.
steve
Wetman,
Tripods could come in handy for slow shutter exposures, or getting images of relatively shy subjects. They can be quite helpful for specialised shots.
For what it's worth, though, working w/ tripods on land is frustrating and tricky enough, so u/w, they're a pain in the...you need to work out a lot of things in advance - current, balancing arms/ strobes, suitable grounding, cable releases, camera settings, etc.
Thanks for noticing my article in the u/w photo mag too!
Cheers,
Tony
Tripods could come in handy for slow shutter exposures, or getting images of relatively shy subjects. They can be quite helpful for specialised shots.
For what it's worth, though, working w/ tripods on land is frustrating and tricky enough, so u/w, they're a pain in the...you need to work out a lot of things in advance - current, balancing arms/ strobes, suitable grounding, cable releases, camera settings, etc.
Thanks for noticing my article in the u/w photo mag too!
Cheers,
Tony
blacknet
Contributor
Hello,
For tripods for in water use just grab a good steady tripod and ancor it with weights, put your nik V on it and have fun. Just besure to rince it afterwards to remove any saltwater and other nasties and dry it. You will have a limited lifespan tho but for a $70 tripod that's not bad.
Ed
For tripods for in water use just grab a good steady tripod and ancor it with weights, put your nik V on it and have fun. Just besure to rince it afterwards to remove any saltwater and other nasties and dry it. You will have a limited lifespan tho but for a $70 tripod that's not bad.
Ed
miked
Contributor
I've never seen a tripod used u/w, but I did see a guy with a , um, a "monopod"(??I'm almost sure that's not the proper name)-a single, pole-like support, threaded to the base of the camera tray.
In any event, this guy was using it to stabilize his camera-but he was jamming it into a crevice in the reef- definitely not good.
While I was debating if saying something would cause more trouble, one of the DMs went over to him and addressed the situation.
I guess a tripod would be okay-IF you used it without causing damage.
Good luck,
Mike
In any event, this guy was using it to stabilize his camera-but he was jamming it into a crevice in the reef- definitely not good.
While I was debating if saying something would cause more trouble, one of the DMs went over to him and addressed the situation.
I guess a tripod would be okay-IF you used it without causing damage.
Good luck,
Mike
ReyeR
Guest
I think there's a nifty tripod available using standard Ultralight arm segments...
1) Coral damage. You need 3 good spots to anchor your legs.
2) Drag. I can't imagine lugging a housed system on a dive with a tripod attached. I hate lugging the darn thing on land. If you carry it around with legs extended, you can bump into a lot of things. If you had to deploy the legs for each shot, it would waste a lot of dive time.
3) Attachment point. You would have rig your own attachment point, ideally aligned with the film plane. I don't see any on housings.
4) Flash photography. We have to use flash underwater. This "freezes" our subject.
5) It would be difficult to setup in anything but perfect conditions. Imagine trying to work your camera on a tripod in current or surge. The purpose of the tripod is to steady the camera. Current and surge can do the same thing that wind does to a tripod on land. Also, when shooting slow shutter speed on even a tripod, I use a remote cable release and/or mirror lock up, since merely depressing the shutter can cause camera shake.
I can see possibilities for a monopod it certain situations. I can see a tripod if you are diving the same site over and over and see a particular wide angle shot that you want to get and you want increased sharpness of the background (beyond strobe distance) or want ambiant light only with a long shutter setting.
2) Drag. I can't imagine lugging a housed system on a dive with a tripod attached. I hate lugging the darn thing on land. If you carry it around with legs extended, you can bump into a lot of things. If you had to deploy the legs for each shot, it would waste a lot of dive time.
3) Attachment point. You would have rig your own attachment point, ideally aligned with the film plane. I don't see any on housings.
4) Flash photography. We have to use flash underwater. This "freezes" our subject.
5) It would be difficult to setup in anything but perfect conditions. Imagine trying to work your camera on a tripod in current or surge. The purpose of the tripod is to steady the camera. Current and surge can do the same thing that wind does to a tripod on land. Also, when shooting slow shutter speed on even a tripod, I use a remote cable release and/or mirror lock up, since merely depressing the shutter can cause camera shake.
I can see possibilities for a monopod it certain situations. I can see a tripod if you are diving the same site over and over and see a particular wide angle shot that you want to get and you want increased sharpness of the background (beyond strobe distance) or want ambiant light only with a long shutter setting.
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