[Leica] Tripods: the Grump weighs in

[Mike Johnston <michaeljohnston@ameritech.net>]

>>>Can you point to any studies on the matter?  Intuitively, I feel that
solid
wooden tripod legs ought to be less transmissive of vibration than
tubular
steel, but I have yet to see any scientific treatment of the subject.  I

figure that a few tripods and a few accelerometers should be able to
solve
the issue.<<<


The matter becomes self evident to surveyors, who routinely use devices
that measure ground vibrations. Most surveyors use non-wooden tripods
these days.

"Vibration" isn't even the issue. A tripod is meant to hold a camera
steadily without moving. A metal tripod can do this as well as, or
better than, a wooden tripod.

Of course my favorite tripod is the wooden Ries. A thing of beauty and a
pleasure to use. But I don't delude myself that it is giving me "better
pictures" because it is "damping vibrations." Silliness!

I get pretty short-tempered with the whole issue of tripods. Generally,
you won't take good 35mm pictures using tripods. At least not with
lenses of ordinary FL and speed. The only exception is if you are forced
to use telephoto lenses, for, say, sports photography or "critter"
photography. Perhaps night photography too. Then, a tripod makes sense.
For general subjects, larger film sizes will have a greater influence on
sharpness and resolution than using a tripod, and certainly than tripod
"vibrations."

More to the point is that tying yourself to the use of a tripod is going
to prevent you from taking the kind of pictures that 35mm is best suited
for. What are you going to take pictures OF? Static or posed subjects.
If you're going to be limited to that anyway, then why in the world
would you saddle yourself with the quality limitations of a tiny piece
of film?? It makes little sense.

Okay, I know some nature photographers use tripods all the time. Power
to 'em. They know what they're doing, and (good for them) I ain't hardly
the Ultimate Authority on photography. It does depend on the type of
work and the temperament of the photographer.

Look at any of the great Leica photographers, from Rodchenko to Erwitt
to Salgado to Webb to Gilles Peress--*you* name some. How many of them
do you think stop short in front of a dynamic situation and say, "Ooooh,
everybody hold it. I must get out my wooden tripod, which will help
dampen the vibrations coming from the mortar shells falling all around
us / from the oil gushing uncontrollably out of the sabotaged well /
from the Himalayan winds / from the seethings crowds / from the fact
that I have hopped up on an enemy tank / etc., etc...."

Bah!

I use tripods with 35mm in three different situations: when I'm testing
lenses; when I'm trying to keep the camera in a fixed location for some
reason, as when doing a series of portraits from a fixed viewpoint; and
in cases where the shutter speed just has to be longer than 1/15th of a
second. I have a nice shot of a lakeshore and a full moon that has sold
many times, taken at 15 seconds. I used a tripod. But I could have used
a tree-stump, if one had been handy.

If you aren't handholding 90% of the time, then you're not utilizing the
main advantage of 35mm--its handling versatility. And for the other 10%
of the time, even a relatively flimsy tripod will hold your camera
steadier than you can hand-hold it. So what's the problem? There's no
use obsessing over this.

A tripod is an extreme limitation placed on  shooting flexibility. If
I'm going to be limited to shots I can take using a tripod, I'm darn
well going to use a film size that justifies this limitation--at _least_
2 1/4 square. If you're going to insist on using a tripod, then get
yourself a Hasselblad for heaven's sake! And if you're worried about
vibrations, use a lens with a leaf shutter. Using cameras with reflex
mirrors, high-speed FP shutters, and motor drives or winders is just not
the ticket to avoid the effects of vibration!

All lens-in-shutter Hasselblads that I know of have mirror pre-fire
options. Anybody here think you can get "as-good" quality using a Leica
on a hefty tripod as you can get with a Hasselblad on a hefty tripod? If
so, back to the school of empirical knowledge with you!

Rant mode off,

- --Mike the Grump