Parece que este deve ser o menor tripé do mundo. O 797 Modopocket da Manfrotto pesa 50 gramas, agüenta 500 gramas e custa 30 dólares na B&H.

As Phua would say check out the dopeness of the gear luh! Hmmm i have 1 Camera, actually 2 if you count my digital compact, 3 lenses now, bought a 28mm f2.8 lens today for $25 only! condition MINT, 1 flash which i'm not using at all, 2 tripods, 1 courtesy of Phua, lovely drybox and the sexy lowepro bag. Wooo my life looks so bright now heh!

Looking forward for more great photos to come :)

At your word Lord, i receive the faith to walk the ocean's deep

Top brand tripods for sale - camera, video, professiona tripods.

How many times have you purchased a mediocre tripod and regretted deeply that you would never purchase a cheap tripod again?

I don't know about you, but I've purchased cheap tripods so many times just to find out they are not designed to last long.  Buying a $200 tripod just wasn't an option for me back then because my camera was $250....

Yep, I dragooned one of my kid's toys years ago and converted it into a quick and easy camera-steadying device. I just line up my shot, find a suitable, stationary spot and plop down the bag, then the camera. After checking the viewfinder to finetune my composition and make sure none of the beanbag is in the shot, I get to work. My beanbag measures about 6 inches in diameter, by the way, so it's easily stowed in my "go" bag. 

Okay, I shared, what works for you?

Finally a small tip.. When you want to clean the lens never breath/spit/hrrrr/hhuuhhuuu on them. Never. It will ruin the coatings and decrease image quality... A piece of cloth used for cleaning glasses is the safest way..

Learn how to get those steady shots, both with the help of tripods, monopods, and additionally with your bear hands. These tips are guaranteed to improve your stability while taking photographs!

To get good photographs you usually have to hold the camera steady. Sometimes a blurry photograph or one in motion can be desired, but most of the time it’s unwanted. The most common equipment to help counter this is the tripod, but I will also give you a few other tips to reduce camera shake in this article.

Tripod

As I said, the tripod is the classic tool to make your photographs sharp and crisp. It’s by far the steadiest method and produces great result time after time, but there are a few things to think about.

Just like everything else the tripods comes in all different shapes and sizes, not to mention price classes. It’s important to sit down and think about what you want out of your tripod — is it going to be used in a studio or outdoors, what type of lenses are you planning on using and how much do they weight, do you want a ball head or a 3-way pan-tilt head?

If you’re only going to use the tripod indoors it doesn’t have to be as sturdy and rough as an outdoors tripod needs to be. The heavier the tripod the more stable it is, and I’ve learned a ‘rule’ that says “for every 100mm focal length the tripod should weigh 1kg (2.2 lbs)“. So if you are planning on using a 300mm telephoto lens the tripod should weigh about 3kg (6.6 lbs). I’m not sure how accurate this rule is, but it can work as some kind of guideline. Do keep in mind though that high-end tripods can be both very stable and light, but rather expensive.

The choice between a ball head and a 3-way pan-tilt head is simply personal preferences. With the 3-way pan-tilt head you can easily change just one axes, such as panning or tilting, without affecting the other axes. The ball head gives you more ability to move the camera around and is much faster to change, but ball heads are often more expensive.

Monopod

A monopod is a great alternative to tripods and handheld. You can’t have a shutter speed of 1 hour on a monopod like you can on a tripod, you can most likely not even have a shutter speed of 30 seconds — but that’s not the target market for monopods. They are a more mobile tool to help you stabilize your shots without having to carry around a tripod, and monopods are far more simple and quick to set up.

It can take some time getting use to a monopod, and the most effective way to use it is to have its foot placed against your back foot. Do not just have the monopod stand in front of you; this will not give enough stability to help you very much. Try finding a good posture where you can hold the camera as steady as possible.

Hand held

This is the most common way to take photographs and most of the time it will do just fine, but there are ways to take advantage of your surrounding and changing your stance to help you with stability.

Always hold the camera close to you, inhale and hold your breath for the duration of the shot. Don’t just tap the shutter release button — you want to press it down and hold down the finger a short while before lifting it again to minimize camera shake.

If you’re using a telephoto lens or other lens that is somewhat heavy or long place your left hand under the lens and grasp it — do not hold the camera body with both hands if you’re using a heavy lens.

Keeping as low profile as possible is a great way to increase your stability. If possible, lay flat on your stomach with both your elbows on the ground. Not as stable but another good stance is with one knee on the ground and the other one at a 90° angle.

Leaning against a tree or wall is another great way to take the stability of something else and help it make you more stable. If possible, place the camera against the tree/wall to maximize the stability. The same goes for rocks, logs, railings and more or less everything you can find to rest your camera on. On many occasions it can be more helpful to rest your camera on a rock than using a monopod.

One last trick I learned from a friend of mine; take your left hand and place it on your right shoulder, take your camera in your right hand and place it on your left elbow/forearm — this might take some time getting use to but the result is a very stable stance that works great with telephoto lenses.

The whole week I've been thinking of this weeks' entry on the 52 project. I had so many opportunities on my mind; like at my new job, in my car on my way to work, during a bier and biefstuk w/ Team Ron, at the CoBrA Museum in Amstelveen, outside during a walk... But none of the above worked out. Where last week I shot my 52 in Marseille, this week's entry is at home. A mi casa. On el balcone to be precise. The light was perfect, but since I'v done one of my previous 52s on the balcony too, I thought I'd take it to a higher level.

And so I did. Focussing was a bit of a challenge; having the focus set to manual would cause a lot of blur (as in out of focus-blur). So how did I solve that issue? I set the camera to timer release, but I knew that it would focus immediately. Thus aiming at a subject that was approx. just as far as I would be when holding the tripod up. After having pushed the shutter button, focussed and set the timer, I rushed onto the balcony and held the tripod up.

Smile.

Click.

Repeat from step "Focussing". Only had to do it 3 times to get this shot.

Me happy.

You enjoy the last bits of your weekend, and so shall I!52 28 Home, originally uploaded by Stewart Leiwakabessy. 13th July, 2008 -- ©Stewart Leiwakabessy ]]> http://saketjha.wordpress.com/?p=56 Thu, 10 Jul 2008 01:26:38 +0000 Saket Jha http://saketjha.wordpress.com/?p=56 It was always embarrassing for me and much more for my friends; whenever they asked me to take a picture using their digital camera. The first question which I asked them was : “Which button do I have to push for it to work?”

After calling me an rtard and other respectable names, I proceeded to handle the camera like it was an atom bomb. Tough times…

Well times change. Now I am a proud owner of a digital camera. It’s awesome man.

Kodak ZD710 is 7.1 Megapixels with 10x optical zoom and 5x digital zoom with 1 x CR-V3 lithium battery included. And this baby comes with a camera bag, a 2 Gb memory card, lens cleaning kit and a tripod as accessories.

Gone are (actually will be, I have not yet received the camera yet, it’s still in shipping) the days when I didn’t know a damn about digital photography. Now I hope to at least know what button makes these damn things work and how can you scan though the captured images.

People do a lot of research before buying a digital camera. Not me. I did not care and didn’t have the time to go through digital photography jargon which is Hebrew for me. So I was chatting with a friend last night who happens to know a lot more than me about these devices. And when I expressed by desire to buy one, he kindly offered to look for deals online, after of course ridiculing me for thinking about getting something I didn’t know shit about.

There are some links about digital photography and buying a digital camera which I found interesting (you see I am already on my way to nail digital photography world)

Vital things you must know first before buying a digital camera

Basic Digital Photography Guide

Seringkali pemakaian tripod dalam fotografi dianggap ribet dan cenderung diremehkan. Fungsi tripod sebagai 'kaki' kamera juga dianggap kurang perlu terutama di era fotografi digital sekarang ini yang telah memberi kebebasan untuk memakai ISO tinggi (sehingga bisa didapat kecepatan shutter yang cepat). Belum lagi fotografer jaman sekarang sudah dimanjakan oleh adanya fitur stabilizer yang mampu meredam getaran tangan hingga beberapa stop lebih rendah dibanding tanpa stabilizer.

Namun fungsi tripod ini tetap saja diperlukan dalam fotografi, setidaknya dalam kondisi pemotretan seperti berikut ini :

1. Fotografi slow-shutter speed. Dalam hal pemotretan dengan kecepatan rendah (atau dibawah 1/4 detik), fungsi tripod mutlak diperlukan. Pada kecepatan serendah ini stabilizer pada kamera atau lensa pun akan gagal meredam getaran tangan. Juga jangan paksakan memotret di tempat kurang cahaya tanpa tripod, karena anda terpaksa harus menaikkan ISO terlalu tinggi untuk menaikkan kecepatan shutter, tindakan ini akan berdampak pada noise pada foto.
2. Foto dengan lensa tele. Lensa tele cocok untuk memotret objek di kejauhan berkat jarak fokalnya yang panjang. Namun semakin panjang jarak fokal, resiko foto jadi blur karena getaran tangan pun akan semakin tinggi. Ingat, getaran kecil saja pada lensa tele akan berisiko membuat foto jadi blur. Jangan merasa kalau cahaya sudah cukup terang maka blur pasti bisa dihindari. Lensa tele 400mm misalnya, sesuai aturan fotografi, memerlukan kecepatan shutter minimal 1/400 detik tetap berada dalam batas aman (tidak berisiko blur). Shutter secepat ini hanya bisa didapat dengan cahaya berlimpah dan/atau pemakaian ISO tinggi. Bila kecepatan shutter yang dipakai di bawah batas aman, ambil tripod dan selamat tinggal blur.
3. Foto multi eksposure / HDR. Foto HDR merupakan foto teknik tinggi untuk mendapat dynamic range yang tinggi. Caranya dengan membuat sebuah foto yang didapat dari gabungan minimal 3 foto yang berbeda eksposure (biasanya dengan memakai fitur bracketing pada kamera). Karena nantinya ketiga foto ini akan digabung, maka saat memotret pastikan anda (atau kamera) tidak bergeser sedikitpun, dan ini hanya bisa didapat dengan bantuan tripod.
4. Memotret dengan filter ND. Memotret memakai filter ND (Neutral Density) memiliki keunikan tersendiri. Filter ini digunakan untuk mengurangi intensitas cahaya yang masuk ke kamera tanpa merubah informasi warnanya. Dengan filter ND, bisa didapat foto dengan shutter lambat dan/atau diafragma besar pada kondisi cahaya terang (saat siang hari). Memotret memakai shutter lambat di siang hari bertujuan mendapat efek motion blur pada suatu gerakan sehingga didapat foto yang dramatis. Namun tanpa filter ND, melambatkan shutter dapat membuat foto menjadi terlalu terang/over eksposure, meskipun sudah memakai diafragma terkecil. Untuk foto slow-speed dengan filter ND, gunakan tripod.
5. Foto dengan self timer. Yang terakhir ini uniknya justru menjadi alasan kebanyakan orang untuk membeli tripod ( termasuk saya :-) ). Bila kita ingin kita masuk sebagai objek foto, yang diperlukan tentu adalah tripod dan selanjutnya aktifkan mode self-timer pada kamera.

Mengutip dari blog diatas - a tripod is what is needed to allow you to slow down your shutter speed, keep your aperture small enough to get good depth of field and not have to boost your ISO into noisy levels.

I finally got myself a tripod. Instead of going to bed after a late dinner I decided to test it, and the rock pool at the esplanade in Cronulla seemed to be the perfect subject, especially with the waves washing over it at high tide. I stayed for about 30 minutes and evaluated the possibilities of the Canon G9 in low light conditions. It performed quite well, but anything above ISO 200 is definitely excluded due to noise.

Algunos posiblemente recuerden un video que se hizo relativamente famoso en el ambiente geek en el que tres tipos cantaban una canción acerca de lo preciosa que iba a ser esa noche con su amorcito. Para los que no conoceis la historia, no destriparé aqui el contenido (más abajo está la colección de enlaces). El grupo en que interpretaba esta canción en cuestión se llama TRIPOD y anoche encontré más obras de ellos navegando por Youtube (¡como no!). No sé si estos tios conocen a los Les Luthier, pero provocan en mí un efecto similar, sólo que llevando el humor al terreno freak/geek (friki en general en español) y consiguiendo audiencias espectaculares por lo que tengo entendido.

Os dejo con las canciones de Tripod en Youtube que he encontrado subtituladas gracias a algunos Fans:

• Tía buena en la tienda de comics
• Ghost Ship
• Astronauta
• Te voy a hacer feliz esta noche
• Krap Karate
• Canción en francés (todo suena mejor)

Lo más insoportable es que no sólo son graciosos, sino que componen y cantan de puta madre muy bien. Así que si poneis las canciones en inglés sin subtitular y no las entendeis, al menos os llevareis melodias agradables.

P.D.: No os perdais la versión del Paranoid Android de Radiohead o la 'critica constructiva' hacia Oasis y sus canciones tan diferentes entre sí.

Photographers, beginners & pros would more than likely want to be camera ready for lightning shots like this video portrays. This will make your day. Check it out, then read Amy Renfrey's tips on digital photography and lightning.

The power of Lightning
Combined with Digital Photography
By Amy Renfrey

Have you ever noticed that in digital photography there always seems to be photos of fork lightening that some clever photography enthusiast has mastered? The fact is that digital photography is a challenge and as soon as we develop the interest in digital photography we are challenging ourselves from the start. And a real challenge in digital photography is fast moving subjects. And when it comes to either traditional or digital photography catching electrifying fork lightening just is too much of a enticement to see if we can “win” the challenge.

So how do we apply our digital photography to sharp, brilliant streaks of colour over our images? Getting great shots of forked lightening is not as difficult as you would think, or have been led to believe.

As a digital photography teacher I can honestly say that the first thing people do is buy way to much equipment for this exercise. You really just need a few simple things. A camera and a tripod are the main things.

The main challenge in digital photography when taking lightening shots is where to position yourself. I’ve had many a frustrating time, in the early days of my photography, trying to get the best angle, the best position only to find I had the camera pointed at completely the wrong part of the sky. And some of my digital photography lightening exposures were all wrong. I was thinking it was as hard as trying to predict a horse race with a crystal ball until I worked out the logic of it all and it started to become a lot of fun.

The first thing to keep in mind is to make sure your shutter is open. Lightening is sharp, short and sweet. Its important to get the most out of the long, open shutter speed by leaving it open for a long time. You can do this with confidence on a really black night such as being in the country on a dark night without any city lights or too many clouds around for the light to bounce off. In the country you may have the freedom to leave the shutter open for as long as 60 seconds.

However in the city it’s a bit different. What tends to happen is that due to other light in the atmosphere, light from buildings, streets and cars you can see this scene turns out much brighter on a 60 second shutter speed.

A quick way to get great lightening shots is to find a good place to set up where you know lightening is either happening or is about to happen. Take your tripod, camera and shutter release cable. The great thing about a shutter release cable is that once the lightening has struck there is no need to keep the shutter open and you can simply press it and the shutter will close.

Try setting your aperture to about an f 8 or so and leaving the shutter open from anywhere between 10 seconds to 60 seconds. (Setting B). Set your IS0 at 100, set the focus to infinity and wait.

Digital Photography Safety
It’s a good idea, any time in digital photography, not to jeopardize your safety. Digital photography is intensely fun and incredibly educational and creative, but it’s not worth risking your life for. As much as it’s a beautiful spectacle, its much more wise to stay well away from lightening. It’s carrying enough energy to give your house power for two months solid, so be careful!

As always, to your success,

Amy Renfrey

Digital Photography Success
Learn to take stunning photos with bold color & super sharp clarity

Make sure to check out Amy's link above.

Until we meet again,

To your success,
The Photo-Geniehttp://photography.mgc-ctr.com/blog

From a photography point of view it was the most exciting shots ive ever taken. I got in a lot of practice with so many contrasting colours, light conditions and so many amazing subjects to shoot. All of my photos are listed here, please feel free to take a look and let me know what you think either here or on flickr.

The sunset in Oia was amazing, i was one of many photographers trying to capture the moment and it was an amazing image to say the least. All in all the trip was great, enjoyed the beach, the sun, the pool, the sunsets, the cocktails and most of all the greek food!!!

My full gallery is listed here

In fact, a new tripod is on cards now, as I'm not conviced that the rather weak head on my existing one will hold the added weight. But whether it will physically support the body and lens in almost besides the point, as I'm now unable to gain the stability I need with this new set up. Certainly, as the this lens doesn't have any VR tech in it, leaving me with a challenge or two when using the 300mm Macro focal length.

But, you know me, I love a challenge! 

As I've posted before, I don't like to waste time or money.  Today, the priority was get out in the field, get in position for my client, obtain the video they were looking for, and get out of the area fast.

I've done ENG for this client off and on for a few years, and after briefing them earlier this morning on the conditions I found, I made final preparations for the video shoot and executed those plans.  I would much rather have hired a jib and operator for the day but I still would have a lot of hurdles to jump over to get a jib into the Taste of Chicago.

Since I had several thousand dollars worth of equipment with me today, I left the studio early enough to secure paid parking as close to the event as possible.  I was able to park three blocks from where my client wanted to have an event videotaped.

We have a rule at the studio - if the camera leaves the studio, it does not leave your sight unless it's in an area you can lock it down.  That means if you go to the bathroom, the camera comes in on the shoulder strap with you into the stall.  I've seen too many police reports and blog postings over the years about people who have lost cameras and other valuable by entrusting them to a stranger to watch.  The camera stayed either on my shoulder supported by the shoulder strap or on my right shoulder so I could get hand held shots at all times.

A test run from my vehicle to the event area with the camera in tow showed that it would take 20 minutes on foot to maneuver through the crowds to get to the location.  I noted that for later and proceeded to get varied establishing shots in and around the grounds, much like I did yesterday with the consumer mini DV camera.

Here's a trick I learned from someone who taught me a lot about ENG - in the absence of a tripod, use any other stationary object to keep the camera level.  I used a few jersey barricades and a few tables to get some decent and steady shots of the signage and crowds.

Another invaluable tip is to turn your tally light off.  It really cuts down on the "ham" factor.  Some people really want to be on TV, and when they see a broadcast camera, they automatically go into "ham it up" mode.  I learned to shoot more than I need, and to do it with the tally light off so no one can tell if you're recording or not.

When it was 30 minutes before the shoot, I returned to my car and got the tripod bag out with some spare items packed inside as well.

Here's a mini checklist for the optional extras I brought:

1. Extra Anton Bauer batteries - fully charged
2. Extra Betacam SP video tapes - blank and rewound earlier at the studio
3. Lens cleaning kit
4. Water bottle with water

Since the forecast was for the low to mid 80's, and I was going to be in the sun for a while, it was important to keep myself hydrated while waiting for the client.

I arrived at the location predetermined by the client in time to catch the event just before it unfolded.  Even though I'm tall and able to shoot handheld over most people, I would have much rather have had a jib camera.  The shots would have looked so much better with a high and wide establishing shot, then a slow dip and pan over to the event.

The client made some adjustments to the shoot on the fly, so I grabbed one of my volunteers at the studio who was also at the event to hold onto the tripod bag while I moved with the client, obtaining additional footage.  When the client reached Michigan Avenue, I was able to get on top of a three foot high concrete decoration and get a much better view of the event.

One very important thing to remember when performing ENG is to white balance in the area you're doing to shoot video in, and white balance again if the lighting level changes for any reason.  During the course of the afternoon, I had to white balance three times, I received readings of 6300K, 5700K, and 10000K in varied lighting conditions and filter wheel adjustments.  Most of the time I was in filter 4, 5600 ND + 1/4 which gave me a decent aperture opening on the lens.

Once the client was satisfied, I returned to my vehicle, tripod bag and camera in tow, paid for my parking and returned to the studio.  Once at the studio, I unloaded and put away the ENG equipment and changed the camera I was using back into a studio configuration.

Another important thing to do when you're done with a shoot is to remove the videotape from the recorder, pop the record inhibit tab, and label it.  My biggest pet peeve at the studio is unmarked tapes.  I don't like grabbing a videotape with no label to find that it already has the record tab popped and no indication of what the footage is.

Anyway, I need some rest.  Moving 60 pounds of television equipment gets tiring, and I still need to review and edit the footage.  Max.

My dad, my sister, and I all woke up at 5, so we could start hiking by 6. It was our humble attempt to bypass the excruciating heat (which has been made worse by the early arrival of the monsoon season). Two sweat-soaked hours, 4.5 miles, and seven dry river crossings later, we reached our destination. Despite the recent showers, we got not a beautiful waterfall, but seven ledges of bare rock leading down to a shallow pool of algae-infested water. We were serenaded by the gentle chirping of birds and the parasitic buzzing of wasps. But no trickle of running water. The two hours of lugging around the tripod were in vain. And so after we took a few pictures of the parched waterfall, we headed back through the treacherous heat and humidity.

Still, though, it was an excellent work out. Everything from my abs down is in a considerable amount of pain. But no pain, no gain, right?

Maybe next time I hike Seven Falls, I should remember that I live in the desert. And in the desert, finding water is like seeing Santa Claus.

It's frustrating. I can see the pieces of the new material and art all falling into place, but we are still some way off. Donal is next into record. He'll be starting this weekend, and then Brian will add the final pieces of the musical jigsaw. But there is still so much more to be done.

We can expect a few announcements over the coming weeks with regards to the first phase of the comeback, but we all must be patient. Speaking of patience, check this guy out: Bon Iver. He's playing Tripod, Oct 7th. Get the tickets on Ticketmaster. Now!

The guy retreated to a log cabin after the break-up of his relationship and band and came up with one of the most heartbreaking albums I've ever heard. Think Fleet-Foxes, Jeff Buckley and a bit of early U2 too...

Adieu.

Yes, you can carry a tripod everywhere. And there are situations where a tripod is necessary - my son's wedding, for example. You know the type - the formal set shots of the blushing bride and grateful groom with their respective families, the attendants, just each other, etc.

But there are situations where you don't have your tripod handy or using it is not convenient - my son's wedding, for example. You know the type - the casual shots outside of the whole group jumping in the air, or pointing, or walking up the road together, or the ring bearer leaning his head on the flower girl's shoulder.

So, what kinds of camera hugging and holding exercises should you do? What do you practice? Check out this article from Digital Photography School and find out.

COMMENT: The first item says to exhale completely. In firing a gun the recommendation has been to exhale half way and hold it. That allows the heart to beat without causing your chest to jump, while breathing out the whole way transmits some of the heart beating to the arms. But this configuration of holding the camera vs. holding a rifle may make a difference. Experiment and see which is better for you.