Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/01/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]The question asked about a way to scientifically test the stability of tripods. For 99% of my photos handheld is fine, so I'm not at all surprised that you find a metal tripod perfectly acceptable. Personally, I think a Leica looks sort of silly on a tripod. Leica is meant to be handheld. If you are going to slow down to use a tripod, why not use a 4x5?On the other hand if you are actually trying to get the most stable tripod there is, wood is hard to beat. The surveying industry has standardized on the Wild/Leica ash tripod, many many knockoffs exist. This is what surveyors do. This sort of 'experiment' is run everyday in this industry. I suspect that if wood tripods weren't actually better, our friends in Leica Geosystems wouldn't use it. I actually use a Wild surveying tripod with a cheap 1/4-20 adapter for large format work. It is bright yellow and orange and butt ugly and cheap and like a rock. I haven't actually tested 50 tripods but common sense tells me that a Leica surveying tripod ought be very stable (otherwise why bother). Jonathan Borden Ruralmopics@aol.com wrote: > > > In a message dated 1/7/00 8:45:45 PM, jborden@mediaone.net writes: > > << This can be studied quite scientifically in the following fashion: > > > Place the tripod on a road. Mount a laser on the tripod and point it at a > > target one mile away. Spot through a scope and measure the oscillation of > > the laser on the remote target. > > >> > > Geez, that seems like a lot of effort. Why not just use a good > tripod and see > if you have problems. I've been using Tiltall tripods for years. > I have shot > many slow and long exposures with no problems. I have never seen > a situation > where vibrations in the legs (sympathetic or otherwise) have > caused unsharp > photos. > > Bob (don't think about this stuff too much) McEowen >