Tripods and Monopods

A tripod is one of the most basic, and most dramatically useful tools you can add to your camera gear. The average person can hold a camera steady enough to shoot at 1/60 of a second. But the longer the lens, and heavier the camera, the shakier we get. The general rule for avoiding camera-shake is to use a shutter speed equal to the focal length of your lens. That means you need a minimum shutter speed of 1/200 of a second to get sharp images with a 200mm lens. If you’re tired, it’s windy, or it’s a heavy f/2.8 zoom, you’ll want to shoot faster to keep your images sharp.

But there’s a way to avoid the problem, altogether. A good tripod will allow you to shoot as slowly as you want. People who will benefit the most from a tripod are landscape photographers and wildlife photographers. With a tripod, 1 second or longer exposures with super-telephotos aren’t a problem. Being able to make long exposures means you can choose whatever aperture you want to control your depth-of-field, and shoot in whatever kind of lighting conditions you want. Landscapes at sunrise or sunset will be much easier with a tripod.

What to Look For In a Tripod

For backpacking or air-travel it’s nice to have a small, lightweight tripod. Carbon fiber is both light and strong, but it’s also very expensive. Carbon fiber tripods are one of the most glamorous and coveted tools for serious photographers. If you can afford them, they’re nice to have. But aluminum is also light and compared to carbon fiber it’s very inexpensive.

For heavy equipment like super-telephoto 35mm systems, medium format cameras, and large format cameras, you’ll want a tripod that’s heavy and stable. One feature to look for is a hook on the bottom of the center-column that you can hang extra weight on for stability.

For action photography like sports or wildlife a monopod is often better than a tripod. A monopod allows you to move around and pan with your subject while still supporting most of the weight of your camera. A lot of pro sports photographers shoot with fast, super-telephotos on monopods.

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