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Originally Posted by jjjnettie
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I've not thought to use a tripod for my birds in flight. The images I took are all hand held. Maybe I should do my pics a favour and mount the camera.
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Hi Jeanette,
Generally, a tripod is a very good idea. I have found that using one with either a lightly clamped ball and socket head, or a gimbal head such as the Jobu Design unit, really helps minimise the shakes and makes the session less tiring. I ended up purchasing a light weight carbon fibre Giottos tripod, weight 1.6 kgs, as I kept on leaving our heavier one at home due to the sheer bulk and weight.
I have a couple of ball heads – one (heavy model) from Slik and a lightweight model from Velbon. The Velbon one is more suited to bird flight as I can back off the locking knob a tad, which puts a small amount of drag on the ball allowing me to smoothly follow the bird in flight. The Slik one isn’t as smooth; it tends to grab a little.
The Jobu Gimbal head has the advantage that it was designed for the purpose and you can let go of the lens/camera and it remains parked, whereas the ball and socket will flop over due to the imbalance.
When I am out for a couple of hours at a location, it is so much more comfortable to have the camera mounted on a tripod rather than have it in hand. This really does reduce fatigue, makes the outing more enjoyable as you can still rubber neck the skies and terrain and if you spot something, just grab the camera and swing it around on the tripod head.
Narelle is usually there too, using bino’s or a spotting scope, so we have extra eyes. We also take one of those walk stools so we can sit down for short rests, and we usually take a flask of tea and some sandwiches to keep hydrated and maintain energy levels.
Cheers
Dennis