Does anyone here actually use a tripod (not a monopod)?

[G_Ilott]

Just wondering because I have two wodge-lighteningly expensive tripods and I might have a go at using them in the paddock. I've done it before with a 1970's steel example with a didgy cork pan/tilt head (as heavy as a sack of silver) but not with the two new ones I got for nature/ landscape. I reckon I'll give one of them a bash. It's been talking about me, saying rude things.

I'm not asking practicalities (or am I?) - just wondering if peeps use them, and what they use.

For yer info, although I'm going to sound a bit gearheady, I have a Manfrotto 055PROB and 460MG head, and a Uniloc Major System 1600 with 030 QR b/s head. I knew I'd sound sad.
Anyone else find the Uniloc (or Benbo) helpful for climbing into engine bays, figuratively speaking.

Do you find you scratch cars or knock old ladies over?

You know, when I've used either of the above you feel like a big man, which draws attention away from my petty, conniving acts of jealousy. Everyone thinks you're a pro. I think I may just be a pro-lapse.

I also have a Manfrotto monopod. It looks like a stick, you know.

I guess most of your paddock shots are handheld....?



See you next time...

[KC]

I sometimes use a monopod if the light is low and I cannot get fast shutter speeds. I don't have a high speed swivel head so I don't carry my cheapo tripod. Personally I like the freedom of not carrying around a bunch of gear.

[Aysedasi]

I rarely use a monopod, even with a long lens, and I only use my tripod once a year - at Le Mans during the night. Can't remember the make of my tripod - cheap and cheerful from Lymington market, would you believe! It's lasted me for the last 5 years with no problems at all.

[G_Ilott]

I see. So basically I'm barking up the wrong performance artist.

I wonder if anyone makes brown leotards....

[Crash Test]

If I use anything, I go for the monopod. However, one of the local snappers always used a tripod with two of the legs still folded up, and it seems to do him all right

[G_Ilott]

CT : That works surprisingly well, in fact I sometimes use it when I've forgotten (okay, lost behind the settee) my monopod.

[redshoes]

I dabbled with using a (borrowed) tripod some years back but couldn't get on with it. I like to move around rather than stay in the same spot all day and found it too much of a pain to keep folding/un-folding. Switched to a monopod which was much easier to use, although I've since ditched that when the retaining screw broke.

Funnily enough I am thinking about taking a tripod for some arty long-exposure shots at the 2CV 24hr. as it will be probably the only time it will ever get used I'll looking for the cheapest possible option.

[G_Ilott]

I'd like to try my Uni-loc but it is a serious bit of metal, I think more at home cosying up to an EPO at ground level than bouncing around a paddock. You can angle it anywhere :

[MolsonBoy]

I use a monopod because I tend to move around a lot. Plus the weight saving compared to a tripod. But if I were to be sitting in one place then maybe a tripod would make the most sense especially with a big lens hanging on the camera.

[G_Ilott]

I'm thinking of in the paddock only. I'd use a monopod trackside. I can't imagine how awkward a tripod would be planted up against the fencing. Unless you have a broadcast film camera. I wonder how much they are secondhand..... *wistful sigh*

[Snapper Baz]

I think the last thing that a busy paddock needs with cars in and out and people rushing about is somebody faffing around your car with a tripod. What the hell are you going to acomplish with one anyway...unless your shooting at 10 minutes at F8! If you cant hold a camera still at a 60th of a second then theres no hope!! The last time I used a monopod was when using a Canon 400ml F2.8-anything less is a waste of energy and far too restrictive unless you have problems with constantly holding heavy camera's.

[G_Ilott]

Actually, I thought I'd try some time lapse of the paddock comings-and-goings then stitch them together into an MPEG. In a corner, cosying up to a hedge.
I'd also like to get some very low level shots with a wide angle and don't look forward to laying on my front on wet or oily grass. All I'd need to do with my Uni-Loc is lock it in a low position, set it down in an unoccupied spot, squat, look through the angle finder and shoot, then get out of the way. What's wrong with that?