Don't Let an Inadequate Tripod Do *This* to Your Photos! (Highly Detailed Rant)
(Why starting out with a better tripod than you think you need will save you time, money, and frustration)
When I first thought I might want to try part-time real estate photography in 2012, I had the same thought as many beginners: “I’ll put all my money into a sweet camera and lens! Oh, and I guess I should stop at Best Buy and grab a $20 tripod or something.” Ha! If only I could go back and give my younger starry-eyed self some help. =) I suppose that’s what I’m doing now for others who might be getting started in some type of photography that is new to them, whether for money, fun, or both.
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The dreaded “Single Exposure Jiggler”
Before buying a new tripod, it’s important to think about why you are buying a tripod, and what you want the tripod to do. Is it so you can take longer exposures in low light or in the daytime with a Neutral Density Filter? Are you going to be shooting multiple exposures from the same spot with varying shutter speeds in order to create High-Dynamic-Range (HDR) photos? Are you going to be compositing images in Photoshop and need multiple images to line up precisely? Do you want to capture star trails in the night sky over the course of 2 hours? Do you need to quickly move through a house and compose 30 shots for a real estate photoshoot?
Whatever your intentions may be, consider the basic function of a tripod: to consistently hold your camera still enough for the amount of time required to capture the photo(s) you want to take.
When you hold a camera with your hand and take a photo, you have to use a shutter speed fast enough for the camera sensor to capture light before your hand moves too much. The general rule for a full frame camera (with no image stabilization in the lens or camera body) is a shutter speed “number” that is at least twice as high as your focal length. If you have a focal length of 20mm, your shutter speed should be at least as fast as 1/40th of a second. If you have a focal length of 50mm, your shutter speed should be at least as fast as 1/100th of a second. This is just a general rule… if you happen to move your hands too much (or sneeze) at the time the photo is being taken, it can certainly still end up being blurry.
If your hands move too much or your tripod jiggles while your camera is capturing light, you can end up with a blurry photo.
Camera manufacturers have tried to address these shutter speed limitations with stabilization mechanisms built into both camera bodies and lenses. If your camera and/or lens has stabilization built in, you can slow the shutter speeds down a little bit and push the limits of shutter speed guidelines. But even then, shutter speeds will be a limitation in many scenarios. There is a solution to the problem of shutter speeds though, and the solution is… use a tripod!
By mounting your camera on a tripod, you can keep the camera in one place and take very looooooonnnnng exposures or take multiple exposures to your heart’s content, and they will all align perfectly for compositing in Photoshop… right?
The answer is… it depends.
Here are some considerations:
How heavy is your camera?
Is your camera DSLR or mirrorless?
How heavy is your lens?
What focal length is your lens?
Are you using the camera in a windy environment?
Are you planning on extending the center column for additional or quickly adjustable height?
What is the weight limit of the tripod?
What is the tripod made of (typically $ aluminum or $$$ carbon fiber)?
Do you need to composite multiple images?
Will you be taking a very long single exposure or compositing multiple exposures taken over a long period of time?
Is the tripod built by a company that is known for making great tripods?
When I first started part-time real estate photography in 2012 and used super cheap tripods, I had tripods that would actually “jiggle” when I took a photos, even if I was using a remote trigger. This is because the mirror mechanism in my DSLR at the time would cause vibrations, and combined with a raised center column, the little vibrations from the mirror were strong enough to “jiggle” the tripod & camera. This was especially noticeable when I upgraded from APS-C sensor DSLR camera to a full frame DSLR. This dreaded jiggle would occasionally result in a completely unusable photo! Fortunately, I was taking multiple exposures and could edit my way out of those situations, but when it happened it disrupted my workflow and wasted time. Cheap tripod jiggles can also occur if you’re using a flimsy tripod outdoors for longer exposures when it’s windy.
The Treacherous “Multiple Exposure Drooper” (aka Long Exposure Droop)
Let’s say you have a lovely clear night ahead of you, so you pack some snacks and drive 2 hours to a dark sky park. You figure out the perfect composition, and you setup your new camera with a nice sharp lens. You prepare to take 30-second exposures continuously for 2 hours to create star trails, or maybe a 60-minute single exposure in the dark sky park. So you adjust the tilt of your fancy camera & fancy lens on your (inadequate) tripod head so your composition is perfect and begin shooting. But, by the time you’re done shooting, gravity has pulled your lens down noticeably (or not-so-noticeably) from it’s original position! Bummer, now that image will either be a pain to edit or no good at all! At least you brought snacks to eat while you drive home crying. =)
“Multiple Exposure Droop” can affect your images even if you’re composite shooting with an inadequate tripod head over a short period of time, such as for real estate or architecture. You take a few natural light shots, then you walk around while taking a few flash-lit shots, and unbeknownst to you, the flash-lit shots are slightly misaligned with the natural light shots. Now you have to spend extra time messing around in Photoshop! This happens when your ball head, 3-way head or geared head falls down slightly because of gravity and/or vibrations.
When your tripod head can’t maintain a precise position for a long period of time, misaligned or blurry images can be the result when composite shooting or taking very long exposures.
When I first started I merely intended to shoot simple HDR with no compositing, so I wasn’t aware of “Multiple Exposure Droop” or “Single Exposure Jiggles.” The first tripod I owned (tripod model #1) was super cheap and flimsy, and eventually a leg lock mechanism broke, so I bought another super cheap one, which also broke. I upgraded to a better tripod (tripod model #2), though still relatively cheap (around $75 at the time). One of those legs broke, and the company sent me a replacement leg. But that tripod was flimsy and jiggly, so I upgraded to a name-brand tripod (tripod model #3) that was around $175. That tripod still jiggled with the center column up (which I used frequently for quick adjustments during real estate shoots), but by this time I was doing more compositing with flash and discovered that ball head suffered from “Multiple Exposure Droop.” So, I upgraded to a super heavy duty tripod (tripod setup #4) with a 3-way super heavy duty head (around $500 total) and assumed I was all set. I solved the issue of jiggle, but discovered that despite the tripod and head having maximum payload weights many times higher than the weight of my camera + lens, it still suffered from lens droop when setup for a long period of time! So, I sold that, and a got heavy duty carbon fiber tripod with a heavy duty geared head (tripod setup #5)… and now the camera seems to sit still. No drooping or jiggling. =)
I often think about how much time I would have saved if I had started out with my current tripod and head. I created around 34,000 finished images over the past several years in the realm of real estate & architecture, and most of them were created with inadequate tripods & heads. Since I often composite images, I think about all the time I previously used to spend aligning images that were misaligned due to the tripod head drooping, the tripod legs sliding around, or the occasional workflow interruption caused by a tripod jiggling. Photoshop’s “Auto-Align Layers” doesn’t always work perfectly. I also think about how much faster geared heads are for real estate & architecture and how much time I would have saved if I had a geared head from the beginning. While everybody has different goals and different situations, I ultimately would have saved time, money, and frustrations if I had bought a high end tripod up front, rather than discover the inadequacies of multiple tripod setups as I progressed through various models.
“I ultimately would have saved time, money, and frustrations if I had bought a high end tripod up front, rather than discover the inadequacies of multiple tripod setups as I progressed through various models.”
That being said, not everyone needs a high-priced, heavy duty tripod. If I had been content shooting HDR photos for real estate without doing any complex compositing and used a wide angle lens with an APS-C mirrorless camera, I could have easily gotten by with a sub $200 tripod.
In an effort to help others trying to figure out what types of tripods are available, I have a few categories of tripods listed below, along with what you could expect from each based on my experiences. Most of the categories reference using them for professional work, but if you’re looking at tripods for your photography hobby, the sky (and your checking account balance) is the limit! =)
The $20 Sunpak Special
This is about as cheap as it gets for something that can technically be called a tripod. It may break after moderate use, but if you are playing around with a lightweight camera for fun, you could technically buy a tripod for around $20, probably from Sunpak or Amazon Basics. Its legs will probably slide around, it will probably jiggle, and it probably won’t be able to hold a camera in precise position for an extended period of time or for multiple exposures. Maximum payloads for this category of tripod will probably be 4-6 lbs.
The $100-200 “I-Just-Broke-My-Sunpak-Now-I’m-Upgrading” Tripod
For when you’ve broken the legs on your $20 Sunpak and know some realtors who want to pay you to take HDR photos of their listings, the $100-200 tripod/head combo can be adequate for many purposes. If you’re not doing a lot of complex compositing or long nighttime exposures, you could get a decent tripod for your mirrorless camera without breaking the bank. Brands to look at would be Benro or Manfrotto. As a side note, Benro monopods with feet are great stands for 360 cameras. Tripods in this price range might have a maximum safety payloads of around 9-17 lbs. I would not use a DSLR camera on one of these because the vibrations caused by the mirror will shake these tripods a bit… but a mirrorless APS-C camera should work fine for simple exposure bracketing.
The $300-900 “I’m-A-Professional-Photographer-and-Want-High-Quality-Support” Tripod
At this point, you’re serious about photography and are willing to spend at least a few hundred bucks for a functional tripod & head that project professionalism to your clients. You don’t necessarily need the tripod head to maintain a precise position for hours, but you’d like it to be stable and durable. At this level, you have to decide if you want carbon fiber or aluminum. Carbon fiber tripods are about 20% lighter than aluminum, and the legs are more rigid, but they are more expensive than aluminum. Manfrotto currently sells its 055 3-Section Tripod (legs only, no head) as aluminum or carbon fiber. They both have a 20-pound safety payload with the same height, but the carbon fiber version weighs 4.41 lbs whereas the aluminum version weighs 5.51 lbs. The carbon fiber version is currently $320, whereas the aluminum version is $180. Carbon fiber will probably be more pleasant to use in cold environments. Benro also sells the Mach3 2 Series Carbon Fiber Tripod (TMA27C) for around $310 with a 30 lb load capacity.
With tripod setups in this category, you might be buying legs separately from the head (instead of purchasing a kit), so make sure both will meet your needs.
If you’re doing a lot of architecture and real estate, you will definitely want to consider a geared tripod head. The more times you setup your camera and level it per hour, the more time you will save during each job with a geared head! With a ball head or standard 3-way head, you have to loosen the head and adjust the camera each time, which can be an imprecise and tedious process. One thing that can happens with many cheaper non-geared heads is that the camera moves slightly from the position you want when you are locking it down. For example, if you’ve gotten your composition perfect and it’s time to tighten the ball head, the act of tightening the head can move the camera slightly, and it won’t be precisely where you want it anymore. I found this to happen even with a heavy duty 3-way head with a 26.5-pound load capacity! With a geared head, you don’t have the problem of unlocking it, setting the position, and then locking it down again and hoping it stays in place… you just make the precise adjustment you want to make, quickly, accurately, and easily. Any real estate shooter should definitely consider it! Some geared heads in this price range would be the Manfrotto 405 Geared Head, the Manfrotto 410 (Junior) Geared Head, and the Benro GD3WH Geared Head.
If you’re looking for a good ball head, you could look at a Really Right Stuff BH-55, Gitzo GH3382QD Series 3 Center Ball Head, ProMediaGear BH-1 Ball Head, or the Arca-Swiss Monoball Z1.
At the upper end of the sub $900 tripod setups, Gitzo also has the Series 1 Traveler Carbon Fiber Tripod with Center Ball Head. Gitzo is the same company as Manfrotto & Bogen, but probably represents their higher-end products vs. the Manfrotto lines.
The $1,000+ “I-Want-To-Capture-2-Hour-Exposures-At-Night-In-High-Winds-At-600mm” Tripod
OK, so the title of this category of tripods is a mild exaggeration, but it summarizes some of the reasons you’d be looking at this class of camera support. Whether you’re shooting architecture, landscapes, star trails, or the milky way, you want your tripod and head to be durable, stable, “beefy,” and precise in a variety of environments. Some of the brands that produce the $1,000+ photography tripod legs are Really Right Stuff, Gitzo's Systematic Line, and ProMediaGear. The legs are all carbon fiber, and they are designed for stability when using big lenses and heavy camera setups.
Besides the legs, the tripod head is super important. Some of the ball heads mentioned in the previous section will be great options. Some high-end geared heads to consider would be the Arca-Swiss C1 Cube (probably the best tripod head available), the Arca-Swiss d4, or the Manfrotto 400 Geared Head.
Test Your New Tripod Setup During the Return Period
Since there are so many tripod legs and heads available, it’s a great idea to test out any new tripod during the return period to make sure it will do what you want to do. Don’t simply take the shiny new tripod out of the box and say, “looks good, and it wasn’t damaged in shipping.” Remember, as I mentioned previously, I discovered after it was too late that my $500 tripod setup allowed the lens to droop down slightly over time when doing complex compositing! (I did not link to that tripod in this article so as not to lead others astray, ha!)
If you’re going to be compositing images taken over the course of 10 minutes for architecture or milky way photography, set up the camera you’re going to be using and take pictures for 10 minutes. Then, see if the first images you take at the start of 10 minutes align with the last images you took over 10 minutes in Photoshop. If they don’t line up perfectly, is it close enough that you will be happy using it?
If you are going to be using the tripod with a super telephoto lens, setup the camera with that lens and take 10-20 photos, indoors and outdoors, at slow, medium & fast shutter speeds with the stabilizer both on & off to see if the camera vibrates too much for your purposes. Zoom into 4x in your editing program to see if the photos have motion blur.
Test any cameras and lenses you have with a new tripod, doing things that you will be doing for your job or for fun. Try to discover the limits of the tripod! If you find the tripod or head have trouble doing what you need to do or you’re already pushing its limits with normal tasks, it’s best to discover the issues and decide what to do when you still have the option to return them.
If the tripod setup is vibrating too much, the culprit usually would be the tripod legs and/or center column. If the camera lens seems to lose altitude while taking lots of exposures over the course of time, the culprit is probably the tripod head.
If you push the limits of your new tripod with long focal lengths, long exposures, and windy conditions and it does a great job in a variety of situations, you’re good to go!
I hope the frustrations I’ve experienced with several tripods over the years can be helpful to someone who is just getting started. There’s a lot of options, but if you buy a little more tripod than you need up front, you won’t regret it! =)