Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/07/18
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Good humor---Maybe the Consumer Product Safety Commission and OSHA should issue warnings too!!! David Rodgers <drodgers@casefarms.com> wrote: We need to establish the NTA, or National Tripod Association. Perhaps Charlton Heston would become a spokesman. Do you have a license for that Gitzo? The ten commandments of Tripod Safety 1) Always keep your ball head pointed in a safe direction. 2) Tripods should be collapsed when not in use. 3) Don't rely on mechanical devices for safety. Especially leg locks. Tripods have been known to collapse without provocation, causing mayhem. Clear the surrounding area so that if your tripod collapses it will fall safely. 4) Be sure of your subject matter, and what's beyond it. (As in, you probably don't need a tripod to take a photo of Uncle Bob asleep on the couch after Thanksgiving dinner. Nor you want something distracting in the background.) 5) Use a proper quick release. Faulty releases can cause bodily harm when your camera falls. (Especially when you bang your head against a wall because you just ruined your $3,000 DSLR and zoom lens.) 6) Always wear eye and ear protection. You never know when you might get punched or screamed at by an irate subject. Or when someone might overreact because you yelled at them for stepping into your iconic panorama after you just waited three hours for just the right light, and lack of distractions in the frame. 7) If your camera fails to come off when you disengage the quick release, handle with care. Don't' step back to assess the situation and possibly see your camera fall to the pavement. (If you're close enough that it falls on your toe you may save the camera, but have a significant medical costs. The modern DSLR with lens is no Rollei 35!) 8) Always make sure your lens is free of obstructions. Nothing worse than having your thumb, camera strap, or cable shutter release in the picture, especially when you've take the time to set up a tripod. 9) Don't alter or modify your tripod. Tripods are precision instruments (OK, maybe not a flimsy aluminum Slyk you can buy at Walmart, but certainly anything a Leica user would be using). 10) Learn the mechanical characteristics of your tripod. Again, (most) tripods are precision instruments. If you're still going to catch the decisive moment when using a tripod you need to know to set it up quickly. And, of course, when the curator or public official sees you, you need to be able to collapse the tripod quickly so you can run away. Please be extremely careful with a fully extended Tripod. _______________________________________________ Leica Users Group. See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com