Fred Miranda wrote:
The Joby SLR tripod is a great companion to your regular tripod. It let's you get on the floor quickly. http://joby.com/gorillapod/slrzoom/
I always worried about the lack of rigidity with the Jobys. ie flexibility in the legs implies more vibration in the shot and kind of tippy. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check one out. Right now I use a Manfrotto 055CXPro4, and put the center column in a horizontal position, splaying the legs. It certainly is slower to set up but is exceptionally stable. http://www.fototime.com/4663FAE3A625D2C/standard.jpg
I used to have an Explorer and the rrotating center column was great for low work. But found the leg angle set up with no preset stops too much hassle for everyday use.
Mike K
A 24 TS-E is winging its way from B&H as of today. Should get here Friday! I am very excited.
My next purchase will certainly be a UWA in some form. I am curious about trying focus stacking technique for landscapes, as I have only dabbled with it for macro and never with dedicated software like Helicon. But they will sell a years license for $25, and then let you upgrade if you want to keep it. That might mean I could get away with a less expensive non-tilt lens in the ultra wide realm. A UWA with AF would be a bonus as it would be just the thing for rock climbing.
I had looked at Scott's Hawaii photographs already, but thanks for the heads up. They are very nice.
ryanpfleger wrote:
A 24 TS-E is winging its way from B&H as of today. Should get here Friday! I am very excited.
My next purchase will certainly be a UWA in some form. I am curious about trying focus stacking technique for landscapes, as I have only dabbled with it for macro and never with dedicated software like Helicon. But they will sell a years license for $25, and then let you upgrade if you want to keep it. That might mean I could get away with a less expensive non-tilt lens in the ultra wide realm. A UWA with AF would be a bonus as it would be just the thing for rock climbing.
I had looked at Scott's Hawaii photographs already, but thanks for the heads up. They are very nice....Show more →
Great choice. When you get it, I advise adding the bigger knob for shifting. (You will find it in the box). It helps a lot.
Jan 31, 2012 at 12:28 PM
Lars Johnsson Offline • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: Off
I own both the 24 TS-E II and the 17 TS-E. They are both really great lenses. I probably use the 24 a lot more than the other. But the 17 is a more special and unique lens
Fred Miranda wrote:
The Joby SLR is somewhat stable when going really low and flattening the leg an on the ground. Your set-up seems to work quite well though. Another option is to get a tripod with no center column. For example, the Gitzo GT3541 goes almost to the floor. (10cm)
i have the GT3541, love it. for the rock shot...i was few inches from the rock, the tripod was almost flat and i was lyin on my belly shooting it.
Mike K wrote:
I used to have an Explorer and the rrotating center column was great for low work. But found the leg angle set up with no preset stops too much hassle for everyday use.
Mike K
Interesting. I recently sold my 055 and bought a CF Explorer. One reason was that I wanted to be able to lock the legs into different angles.
The other was I had to splay the legs out too far to get the camera low enough - the Explorer's post will angle downward very easily.
And at my age, weight was becoming an issue. The 055 was rock solid, but my aluminum version was too much.
ryanpfleger wrote:
A 24 TS-E is winging its way from B&H as of today. Should get here Friday! I am very excited.
My next purchase will certainly be a UWA in some form. I am curious about trying focus stacking technique for landscapes, as I have only dabbled with it for macro and never with dedicated software like Helicon. But they will sell a years license for $25, and then let you upgrade if you want to keep it. That might mean I could get away with a less expensive non-tilt lens in the ultra wide realm. A UWA with AF would be a bonus as it would be just the thing for rock climbing.
I had looked at Scott's Hawaii photographs already, but thanks for the heads up. They are very nice....Show more →
24 TS-E II is an awesome choice, you'll enjoy it, I am very tempted to grab one(to upgrade my version I) with recent rebates going on. 17 TS-E is nice too but I too prefer a 24 TS-E first.
I've been using a Tokina 11-16 2.8 with my T2i for video primarily and some stills, fairly small/light/cheap package, might be just the thing for active stuff like long hikes/rock climbing etc. Tokina also works fine with AF on full frame (15-16mm) without black corners.
Sunny Sra wrote:
i have the GT3541, love it. for the rock shot...i was few inches from the rock, the tripod was almost flat and i was lyin on my belly shooting it.
Can you believe it was discontinued? This is one great tripod. They are ready to roll out the new GT3542. As far as I can tell from their website, it will not go as low and will be a little heavier...
Sunny Sra wrote:
It was hard to find the 3541 a few months ago, i snagged 1 of the 2 amazon had in stock. glad i did. Another feature i like is that i can take the tripod apart completly wash/clean it and put it back in less than 5 minutes. especially helpful when shootng at the beach.
That is good to know. I have a DV trip schedule and tripods get trashed after Mesquite dunes!
Lars Johnsson wrote:
I own both the 24 TS-E II and the 17 TS-E. They are both really great lenses. I probably use the 24 a lot more than the other. But the 17 is a more special and unique lens
Even with the tripod nearly on the ground and no center column, with this type of tripod the camera can be no lower than the height of your ballhead slot. For full utilization of tilt lens capability, I consider this tripod position not low enough!
If one were shooting on a flat surface, to be used as the focal plane, the max of 8 degrees of tilt on the 17 TSE lens would place the center of the lens at 4.8" (12.2cm) above that focal plane. The camera body of a 5DII with RRS L bracket adds approximately 2 " (landscape orientation) or 3.2" (portrait) of depth beneath the lens center. A 1D style body with a RRS L bracket will add 3.5" of depth below the lens center in either landscape or portrait mode. This means the 5DII camera body needs to be 2.8" from the ground for landscape orientation or 1.6" from the deck in portrait mode. A 1D body will need to be 1.3" from the ground in either orientation.
The conclusion from these calculations is that to use the full extent of low angle tilt for the 17mm lens, one needs to get the bottom of the camera body 1.3-3" from the ground.
The only way to do this is to orient the ball head parallel to the ground, or pointing downwards slightly. One creative solution is shown by jcolwell above, and I showed another with a horizontal center column. Explorer style tripods work really well too, a great solution for this situation as the center column can angle downwards. If the ballhead sits upright and rests on a tripod base it may never be capable of utilizing the full tilt capability of the 17 TSE.
Mike K wrote:
Even with the tripod nearly on the ground and no center column, with this type of tripod the camera can be no lower than the height of your ballhead slot. For full utilization of tilt lens capability, I consider this tripod position not low enough!
If one were shooting on a flat surface, to be used as the focal plane, the max of 8 degrees of tilt on the 17 TSE lens would place the center of the lens at 4.8" (12.2cm) above that focal plane. The camera body of a 5DII with RRS L bracket adds approximately 2 " (landscape orientation) or 3.2" (portrait) of depth beneath the lens center. A 1D style body with a RRS L bracket will add 3.5" of depth below the lens center in either landscape or portrait mode. This means the 5DII camera body needs to be 2.8" from the ground for landscape orientation or 1.6" from the deck in portrait mode. A 1D body will need to be 1.3" from the ground in either orientation.
The conclusion from these calculations is that to use the full extent of low angle tilt for the 17mm lens, one needs to get the bottom of the camera body 1.3-3" from the ground.
The only way to do this is to orient the ball head parallel to the ground, or pointing downwards slightly. One creative solution is shown by jcolwell above, and I showed another with a horizontal center column. Explorer style tripods work really well too, a great solution for this situation as the center column can angle downwards. If the ballhead sits upright and rests on a tripod base it may never be capable of utilizing the full tilt capability of the 17 TSE.
Actually with the GT3541 and RRS BH-55 ballhead, the camera can do much lower than shown on the picture! If you drop the ball in the drop-notch and connect your camera plate to the clamp, it almost touches the floor! It's a very quick and stable alternative set-up.
For this to work, you will need a L-Plate on your camera. In the case of the 5DII, you can get the RSS L-plate (Kirk and Acratech also offer one). This will work with your camera in landscape or portrait orientation.
