Tips on Basic Tripod Use

[908media]

Hi,

I just bought a Bogen 503,351 Tripod from EVS. It's a huge step up from the Radio-Shack special that I once used.

I have some basic questions about height adjustment and leveling with the camera.

1. What is the best way to adjust height? Use lower legs first, then, middle ones, etc. or the opposite.
2. What about leveling the camera? Any tricks of the trade.
3. Any suggestions or tips on tripod use would be helpful.

Thank You.

 

[Barry_S]

I have the same setup and it's a two-stage tripod, so there's only one latch per leg for height adjusment. So just loosen each latch and adjust to taste. Level the head using the leveling ball by loosening the shaft below the head and level using the bubble level. My best advice is to really play around with the tension on the head tilt and pan until you get smooth fluid movements. Also, don't forget to unlock the head before adjusting.

 

[Monglane]

Whenever you use multistage sticks, my advice is to always deploy the upper section of the legs first : keep your tripod as bottom heavy as possible, it will be more stable and less susceptible to wind if you're shooting outdoors.

 

[KHendrix2]

My best advice on tripods is to always use it whenever possible. Yeah, it takes more time, but steady shots beat unmotivated hand held shots any day!

I always avoid using the lower, more spindly, legs sections if at all possible. Save those for when you really need the height. The heftier leg sections will help with more stable camera operation.

Also, think about how high you want the camera to be. Shooting at eye level all of the time can be boring. Shooting at a lower angle can make your subject appear bigger than life. Shooting down on your subject has the opposite effect.

On "The Goal" (a feature about quadriplegic athletes) I decided that I would shoot everything from a lower angle, to simulate what things are like from a wheelchair bound person's point of view. I know, I know... they did the same thing for "Murderball"... but I THOUGHT OF IT FIRST! rogar-BigGrin(DBG) Anyway, the point here is to really think about how you use the tripod to your advantage.

Good luck with your new toy... I mean tool!

 

[Rubop]

Im looking at the 351 legs on B&H and it says...

"Legs can be adjusted within a 180° arc to other angles by using supplied mid-level spreader"

And if i can ask you find sirs...what the hell does that mean?

 

[Rubop]

i'll give you 100 fake dollars if you answer.

 

[marlenedegrood]

Never had a lesson on tripod use......now I'm worried that maybe I've been doing it wrong all this time.

Marlene

 

[lpcvideo1]

Im looking at the 351 legs on B&H and it says...

"Legs can be adjusted within a 180° arc to other angles by using supplied mid-level spreader"

And if i can ask you find sirs...what the hell does that mean?

The legs spread out reeeeaaaaallly far.

I take paypal. rogar-BigGrin(DBG)

 

[Rubop]

so this means that i can spread it out on the floor? thats what i was hoping. Because you were such a good guy, i tansfered 10,000,000 fake dollars into your swiss bank account.

 

[ullanta]

My best advice on tripods is to always use it whenever possible.

There's an major exception to this I'd like to note... if your shot is pretty long and steady, with one or two moves, those moves will stand out a lot more if the camera is rock-steady on a tripod the rest of the time. Sometimes the "unsteadiness" of handheld or shoulder-mount operation actually makes camera moves seem smoother, less jarring...

 

[KHendrix2]

There's an major exception to this I'd like to note... if your shot is pretty long and steady, with one or two moves, those moves will stand out a lot more if the camera is rock-steady on a tripod the rest of the time. Sometimes the "unsteadiness" of handheld or shoulder-mount operation actually makes camera moves seem smoother, less jarring...

Ok Ullanta, I'm not undersatnding what you are saying here. Could you give me an example of what you are talking about? I am of the opinion that good smooth moves with an adequate tripod will be smoother than handheld any day. I could be wrong though. Please enlighten me.

 

[ullanta]

In a tripod-mounted shot where the camera is left unmoving most of the time, though a perfectly ramped tripod pan can work, anything slightly jerky, or any corrections for framing are extremely obvious and ugly. When the camera is always moving a bit (as in a handheld shot, or a tripod shot that's never still), less-than-perfect motions and reframing and such doesn't stand out as much.

Again, as I said, this is just one exception. But in some shots, in situations where framing perfectly may be difficult, with a lot of steady portions, tripos mounting can actually make things look less smooth.

 

[lpcvideo1]

so this means that i can spread it out on the floor? thats what i was hoping. Because you were such a good guy, i tansfered 10,000,000 fake dollars into your swiss bank account.

Kinda like Jean-Claude Van Damme, but with better acting, yes.

Got the 10,000,000. Thanks.