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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Tripods - anyone use them?
Guy Swarbrick, Photographer
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Wokingham | Berkshire | UK | Posted: 9:19 AM on 09.10.09 |
->> Odd question prompted by an odd comment on another forum.
I think I've seen pics of surfing photographers with huge teles using tripods from the beach, but does anyone else ever use them for shooting sports? Not for portraits or set up shots of teams or stadiums, but for high shutter speed, full-on action? |
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Eric Canha, Photographer
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Brockton | MA | United States | Posted: 9:32 AM on 09.10.09 |
->> Another photographer and I were once told that we couldn't have a tripod on the field at a softball final. We told the official that we understood the rule and that was why we had left the other 2 legs in our cars. He didn't get it. Luckily the RIIL's president was on site and explained the meaning of TRI to the umpire.
Tripods on a field are just too dangerous. I've never even seen TV shooters put a tripod down on a field. The exception being tennis and that was on a closed court that was setup for media. |
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Guy Swarbrick, Photographer
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Wokingham | Berkshire | UK | Posted: 10:06 AM on 09.10.09 |
->> I suspect that was the root of the odd question, Eric, but it got me curious.
I've been told that they're used at long motor racing events (Le Mans and the Spa 24 hours), but I can't say I've ever noticed - and at Champions League soccer games, of which I'm even more skeptical.
But TV does use them in some circumstances and it got me wondering if there were any good reasons to... |
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Chuck Liddy, Photographer
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Durham | NC | USA | Posted: 10:19 AM on 09.10.09 |
| ->> Tripods are banned on the sidelines and baselines of all the NCAA sporting events I've ever covered. It usually is one of the rules on the credential. |
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Bob Ford, Photographer
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Lehighton | Pa | USA | Posted: 10:41 AM on 09.10.09 |
| ->> I've seen TV guys use tripods quite a bit covering high school sports, but not still guys. The only time I recall seeing a newspaper guy using a tripod is when they are doubling as a video shooter. |
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Guy Swarbrick, Photographer
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Wokingham | Berkshire | UK | Posted: 10:42 AM on 09.10.09 |
->> Makes perfect sense, Chuck.
Just to make it clear... I'm not planning to do this myself! |
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Alan Stewart, Photographer
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Jeff Stanton, Photographer
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Princeton | IN | USA | Posted: 10:59 AM on 09.10.09 |
| ->> I use one when doing special work, like rear-curtain sync when my shutter speeds are 15th-30th of a sec. Never for sports |
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Jeff Mills, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Columbus | OH | USA | Posted: 10:59 AM on 09.10.09 |
->> I've seen a number of soccer shooters use long glass on a gimbal head, but its set up behind the boards so it really doesn't get in harms way, nor put the players in harms way.
Otherwise its just too dangerous as its hard enough to move out of the way of the play with just a monopod, much less trying to pickup your tripod legs before you get ran over by a 240lb fullback |
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Guy Swarbrick, Photographer
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Wokingham | Berkshire | UK | Posted: 11:06 AM on 09.10.09 |
->> Thanks, Alan - but that was definitely from my exceptions list. :)
Jeff S - What sort of things require the tripod at 1/15 with rear curtain? I take those sorts of shots, but handheld seems to work fine... Not panning, I presume?
Jeff M - Thanks. I guess there are a few specific applications, but the original statement was that 'most sport shooters use tripods even at higher shutter speeds' and I just wanted to make sure that my own niche (and the others I've tried/seen) wasn't entirely unrepresentative! |
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Jeff Stanton, Photographer
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Princeton | IN | USA | Posted: 12:12 PM on 09.10.09 |
| ->> Guy, here is an example. I used 1/4 second all the way up to a 30th of a second. I think this particular one was 1/15th of a second. www.pbase.com/imager1/image/116944994 |
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Chuck Steenburgh, Photographer
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Lexington | VA | USA | Posted: 1:03 PM on 09.10.09 |
->> Hmm...what sport is that? Competitive hallwalking?
I actually saw (first time I can ever remember) what appeared to be a student video crew using a tripod-mounted camera on the sidelines at a football game at Ohio University last year - the one place on last year's schedule I would NOT have expected to see that. |
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Guy Swarbrick, Photographer
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Matt Cashore, Photographer
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South Bend | IN | USA | Posted: 1:57 PM on 09.10.09 |
->> Hey, show me on the credential where it says I CAN'T have a tripod on the 50-yard line!!
(In the "for what it's worth" department, I had an assistant standing by on the sidelines to take the tripod to the photo room once I was done shooting the pano.) |
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Guy Swarbrick, Photographer
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Wokingham | Berkshire | UK | Posted: 2:32 PM on 09.10.09 |
| ->> Unreasonable of them to hurry you off the field, though, Matt. Anyone would think the crowd was there to see them! |
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Louis Lopez, Photographer
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Fontana | CA | USA | Posted: 2:59 PM on 09.10.09 |
->> I thought it was a rule that you could only use a tripod or a monopod when suppoting a 70-200mm or shorter focal length lens.
it must be mandatory because almost every mom and dad at high school football games uses one, right down to the point and shoot people. |
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Scott McCall, Photographer
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Orlando | FL | USA | Posted: 3:10 PM on 09.10.09 |
->> Matt Cashore....the man I would most like to trade most Saturdays with...Go Irish!
Nice update on your page! |
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Matt Cashore, Photographer
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South Bend | IN | USA | Posted: 5:18 PM on 09.10.09 |
->> Thank you Scott, someone has to have the best job on campus...might as well be me!
That said, though, I've had the opportunity to work in A LOT of stadiums around the country, and in all honesty, nowhere else but Notre Dame is that dashed white line around the field so widely ignored. Toughest place to work I've ever been. I try to communicate with the Powers That Be to improve things but...
By the way my tripod was a Manfrotto. (Just trying to stay on topic.) |
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Marcell van Aswegen, Photographer
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Pretoria | GP | South Africa | Posted: 5:55 PM on 09.10.09 |
| ->> I use a tripod and wimberley mount for surfing, and occasionally i will use it for motorsport if theres enough space between the tyrewall and crowdbarriers. |
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Danny Munson, Photographer
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San Dimas | Ca | United States | Posted: 7:40 PM on 09.10.09 |
| ->> I will use one sometimes with cycling and running having my MIIN and 300 on the tri and a second body with a mid or wide. Especially for time trials where you are stuck in one spot shooting 150 people coming by. |
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Chuck Steenburgh, Photographer
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Lexington | VA | USA | Posted: 2:48 AM on 09.12.09 |
| ->> Matt Cashore, you are my hero! That is an awesome pano. |
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