3

CHAPTER
NIGHT AND LOW-LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY / What Gear Is Important

Here are some other important considerations:

■   Height. The maximum height of the tripod

without taking the center column into
account should be comfortable for you to use.
If the tripod isn’t tall enough, then you will be
crouched over in very uncomfortable shooting
positions, which can hinder you from getting
great compositions.

■   Weight. Because you will likely need to carry

your tripod around with you when shooting at
least part of the time, weight is an important
consideration. You need to be honest with
yourself about how much weight you are will-
ing to carry with you, because if the tripod is
too heavy, then you are not likely to use it as
often as you should.

■   Leg-locking mechanism. One of the great

things about tripod legs is that they collapse
and extend so that they can be stored and
transported easily. There are two different
types of mechanisms used to lock the legs in
place: locking levers and twist locks. Make
sure that the locking mechanisms work and
will keep the tripod legs locked into place on
any tripod you consider.

    ■   Feet. Many people don’t look too closely at

the tripod feet, but they are important, espe-

cially if you want to use your tripod in certain

areas when the feet can either be helpful or

hurtful. For example, some tripods come with

spiked tripod feet, which are great on rocky or

sandy surfaces, while others come with rubber

feet that work great on smooth surfaces.

Other tripods have feet where the rubber feet

can be screwed off or retracted allowing the

spiked feet to be used. When I am shooting

on the beach and the tripod is on the sand, I

use the spiked feet and I make sure that the

tripod is firmly pushed into the sand to make

it as stable as possible.

Tripod heads

The tripod head is the part that actually holds the

camera steady and allows you to fine-tune the

camera placement. You can usually purchase it

separately from the tripod legs. Because each type

of tripod head works a little differently, it pays to

look at them and determine which one works the

best for how you shoot. The three most common

types of tripod heads are as follows:

    ■   Ball head. The ball head is basically a ball

that connects to your camera and that can

move in any direction. It has a locking mech-

anism that allows you to lock the ball exactly

where you want it. The ball head allows you

to adjust and lock the camera into place with

one control, making it very easy to rapidly

change the position of the camera. The bigger

your camera-and-lens combination, the bigger

the ball head you need to support the weight.

    ■   Three-way pan head. This is the more tradi-

tional tripod head, with separate controls for

each of the three axes. You can adjust the hori-

zontal and the vertical, and switch between

landscape and portrait orientation, with each

of the adjustments having its own controls.

The goal is to create tripod legs that are light-

weight and stable and in some cases less expen-

sive than the carbon-fiber legs. Tripod legs

using these materials can range in price from

the very affordable to the very expensive. One

of the real advantages of the basalt tripod legs

is that they are light and very durable and can

weigh as little as 5 pounds for a full size tripod.

When it comes to Manfrotto tripods,

it can be difficult to tell the difference

between the aluminum and carbon-fiber legs because

they can look the same; check the model number. The X

in the model number means aluminum, while a CX

stands for carbon-fiber construction.

note