Tripod Quandaries
30th May 2011
One of several unintended consequences of upgrading to the 1DS was that my Manfrotto joystick tripod head struggled to hold the camera steady, especially in long exposures in portrait mode. However anyone who knows me, will be aware of the fact that I am hopelessly inept when it comes to manual dexterity and so any replacement had to be equally simple to operate. After quite an intensive search for a head that was both simple enough that even I could operate and strong enough to hold the considerable weight of my kit, I finally settled on a Novoflex magic ball (http://www.novoflex.com/en/products/camera-support-systems/ball-heads/magicball/) , which is a beautifully engineered and smooth ball head – and looks pretty cool too!
However it doesn’t have a quick release plate and I just couldn’t attach the camera to it securely enough, so I still wasn’t any further forward. Roll on some more research into various quick release mechanisms (I just love the Speed Graphic catalogue!) and then I discovered elbow brackets! For some reason, I have never come across these before, but they allow the camera to be rotated from landscape to portrait orientation, without moving the tripod head itself. The major advantage of this being that even when the camera is on its side, all the weight remains directly over the tripods centre of gravity and is thus much more stable. Additionally as the view point doesn’t change dramatically between the two orientations, adjusting the composition is much easier.
I finally plumped on the American made Kirk Enterprises system (www.kirkphoto.com/L-Brackets.html ), which has a custom fit for the camera body which prevents any camera twisting when its attached to the arca-swiss type clamp platform and allows access to all of the communications ports on the camera’s side. OK, it does add a little more weight to the camera over a standard quick release plate, but it is a real joy to use. It is very slick to attach to the tripod, in either orientation and feels incredibly secure once it’s locked on. I have only used it a couple of times in anger so far, but already it feels so natural to use, I cant imagine going back to flipping the tripod head to get a portrait shot. I guess it’s the same as using a battery grip for handheld vertical shooting - once you have tried it, waving your arm in the air to use the normal shutter button just feels wrong!
However all of this has not been cheap; in-fact quite the reverse and although I have been in the really fortunate position to be able to do this upgrade I have to question whether it is actually justified. My word of warning is make sure you understand just what a new camera will actually cost you before you splash out. The new camera has resulted in a new hi-spec (Mac) computer (my old laptop just couldn’t cope with the additional file size), a new tripod support system, new CF cards etc.etc. and are the images any better? Possibly technically yes (the quality of the judo shots at high ISO is way better than I could have got with the 5D) but I still see the photos in the same way. But am I enjoying all my new toys – oh yes!!
However it doesn’t have a quick release plate and I just couldn’t attach the camera to it securely enough, so I still wasn’t any further forward. Roll on some more research into various quick release mechanisms (I just love the Speed Graphic catalogue!) and then I discovered elbow brackets! For some reason, I have never come across these before, but they allow the camera to be rotated from landscape to portrait orientation, without moving the tripod head itself. The major advantage of this being that even when the camera is on its side, all the weight remains directly over the tripods centre of gravity and is thus much more stable. Additionally as the view point doesn’t change dramatically between the two orientations, adjusting the composition is much easier.
I finally plumped on the American made Kirk Enterprises system (www.kirkphoto.com/L-Brackets.html ), which has a custom fit for the camera body which prevents any camera twisting when its attached to the arca-swiss type clamp platform and allows access to all of the communications ports on the camera’s side. OK, it does add a little more weight to the camera over a standard quick release plate, but it is a real joy to use. It is very slick to attach to the tripod, in either orientation and feels incredibly secure once it’s locked on. I have only used it a couple of times in anger so far, but already it feels so natural to use, I cant imagine going back to flipping the tripod head to get a portrait shot. I guess it’s the same as using a battery grip for handheld vertical shooting - once you have tried it, waving your arm in the air to use the normal shutter button just feels wrong!
However all of this has not been cheap; in-fact quite the reverse and although I have been in the really fortunate position to be able to do this upgrade I have to question whether it is actually justified. My word of warning is make sure you understand just what a new camera will actually cost you before you splash out. The new camera has resulted in a new hi-spec (Mac) computer (my old laptop just couldn’t cope with the additional file size), a new tripod support system, new CF cards etc.etc. and are the images any better? Possibly technically yes (the quality of the judo shots at high ISO is way better than I could have got with the 5D) but I still see the photos in the same way. But am I enjoying all my new toys – oh yes!!