Is there any value in bringing a tripod?

When traveling, I just tuck in some large baggies, then hit a market and pick up rice (very cheap), fill the baggie (not real full!) and voila…instant beanbag without adding weight/space to your traveling suitcase. Works nicely for shots on a balcony, car window, bus window, etc.

On our first Alaska cruise, we took two tripods, one with a "normal" ballhead, and one with a gimbal head. Of course, we took five lenses (10-22, 24-105, 70-200, 500, and 100 Macro). The 500 (8.5 pounds before the camera is attached to it) spent time on the gimbal head and it was nice on the balcony or along the rail for glacier viewing. Another camera/lens might spend time on the other tripod at the same times. However we (I) carried both on a whale-watching excursion and it was a waste - the small boat was bobbing too much to have made the tripod worthwhile. A monopod would have been much better.

On our second Alaska cruise, we took one tripod with ballhead, but we also substituted a 400mm lens that was half the weight and a 1.4x TC. Although easy to handhold, it still got a little heavy and I wished I had a monopod.

On our upcoming Alaska cruise next summer, we're taking two monopods, and I'm not sure if we'll take tripods as well. Probably one since we own one, but too early to know if we'll rent another.

That said, we also took an "extra" camera on our second Alaska cruise and used a "superclamp" to attach it to the balcony divider. With a timer remote, I made some time-lapse videos from our balcony, and they're rather neat.

You could take a chain pod. Not s good as a tripod or even a monopod but it weighs nothing and drops into your pocket.

DON

Bringing mine on our upcoming cruise specifically for shots of the ship at night. I don't plan to take it off the ship.

I was just doing a bit more research and found a "Wild Grizzly bean bag" for cameras. I decided to buy one off Amazon. I can fill it with polystyrene balls which will make it super light for travel. It won't give me everything a tripod will, but it will increase my options. I will take that and my remote.

 

Have to say I was rather intrigued when I saw this thing - never would have considered a bean bag, but heck I had my portable GPS mounted on one for a long time. It also has a handle so should be kind of easy to carry around. It is worth a try.

Beanie Babies would work too.

I carry a small travel tripod "just in case". In 30+ cruises, I have used a tripod perhaps a dozen times and 10 of those were pre-digital. With the ISO range and stabilization advantages of modern digital cameras, the need for a tripod is rare in normal conditions.

 

Still, if you have room in your luggage and the good sense not to set it up on a crowded deck, it is always better to have and not use than need and not have!:D.

Dave

I have a tiny tripod (7-8" maybe) with goose legs. It fits easily in my camera bag, doesn't really add weight. I've used it for self timed group shots. I'm looking at a monopod for Alaska next year. I think my tripod will be too clumsy to carry & not allow for enough spontaneity for the wildlife shots.

I now take my travel tripod with me on every trip. I have left it at home in the past and have always regretted it. This past trip I took and I did use it for night shots on the ship. I use an Induro travel tripod and it's light enough that it doesn't add too much weight to my luggage and can be easily carried.

Have to say I was rather intrigued when I saw this thing - never would have considered a bean bag, but heck I had my portable GPS mounted on one for a long time. It also has a handle so should be kind of easy to carry around. It is worth a try.

 

Beanie Babies would work too

I somehow don't picture the guy from our last cruise with the Nikon strap, hat, bag and jacket whipping out a small stuffed animal to steady his $2000 lens mounted on his $5000 DSLR...:D

At least, that's what he said he paid for it. ;)

Dave

I've been looking into travel tripods &/or monopods, and I'm overwhelmed.

Can I get recommendations &/or suggestions?

I have a $50 regular tripod, but use it little. Plus it's bulky.

I'll be doing Alaska next Aug with a Canon 60D and a 55-250mm lens (plus a 18-55mm).

Thanks

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I've been looking into travel tripods &/or monopods, and I'm overwhelmed.

Can I get recommendations &/or suggestions?

 

I have a $50 regular tripod, but use it little. Plus it's bulky.

I'll be doing Alaska next Aug with a Canon 60D and a 55-250mm lens (plus a 18-55mm).

 

Thanks

 

 

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Assuming the 55-250 is stabilized, A good light carbon monopod like the Flashpoint brand from Adorama will serve you well for land-based shots. Whale-watching on a heaving boat is best shot hand-held with bent knees and some practice. A monopod used on a boat transmits the boat's motion and the engine's vibration directly to the camera...not good.

For shipboard photos, the monopod, a small clamp-pod, mini-tripod or even a bean bag will work great.

I dragged along a regular tripod for about 15 cruises and a small travel pod for another ten before coming to grips with the fact that I almost never used them and getting the mini-pod that I mentioned above.

My 2¢....

Dave

Assuming the 55-250 is stabilized, A good light carbon monopod like the Flashpoint brand from Adorama will serve you well for land-based shots. Whale-watching on a heaving boat is best shot hand-held with bent knees and some practice. A monopod used on a boat transmits the boat's motion and the engine's vibration directly to the camera...not good.

 

For shipboard photos, the monopod, a small clamp-pod, mini-tripod or even a bean bag will work great.

 

I dragged along a regular tripod for about 15 cruises and a small travel pod for another ten before coming to grips with the fact that I almost never used them and getting the mini-pod that I mentioned above.

 

My 2¢....

 

Dave

Yes - the lens is IS. Thanks for pointing out about the vibration on the whale watch boat. I probably wouldn't have considered that .

Whale-watching on a heaving boat is best shot hand-held with bent knees and some practice. A monopod used on a boat transmits the boat's motion and the engine's vibration directly to the camera...not good.

For the sake of mention, the engine will be off during your closest whale encounters. Conversely, you might be bouncing around too much when the boat is whizzing to another spot that you won't be taking any pictures, supported or not.

I carried tripods on our first whale watch and never used them, though I couldn't hold our biggest lens well. I skipped the tripods the second time. Next time, I'm going to take a monopod and try it. With sufficient shutter speed, I'm not too worried about vibrations.

If you need to get just a bit of stabilization, use a chain pod. The good thing about a chain pod is that you can drop it in your pocket.

DON

Anyone out there have any success shooting the night sky from the deck of the ship? I will be on a cruise from San Francisco to Hawaii. Two days into the trip there will be a total lunar eclipse. Providing there are no clouds, the sea is not too rocky and I can find an outside dark spot, I would like to play and try to take some shots. Any suggestions? I am just learning the ins and outs of my nikon D5100.

Haven't taken a tripod on our past cruises but this time I picked up a MePhoto unit. Its about 3lbs and fairly compact. Could have gone the Gitzo route but couldn't justify the $1000 price tag. The MePhoto is $200 and also is convertible to a monopod. Mainly want it for long exposures at night, time-lapse and hopefully some HDR shots.

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Anyone out there have any success shooting the night sky from the deck of the ship? I will be on a cruise from San Francisco to Hawaii. Two days into the trip there will be a total lunar eclipse. Providing there are no clouds, the sea is not too rocky and I can find an outside dark spot, I would like to play and try to take some shots. Any suggestions? I am just learning the ins and outs of my nikon D5100.

If you are shooting the moon you won't need a tri pod. I usually end up with something like 1/500 shutter speed and wide open on my aperture. If you spot meter off the moon you will find it is very bright and won't need a slow shutter speed. So you should be able to get some good eclipse shots hand held. (Put your camera in manual mode and practice on the moon before you leave).

If you want stars...That will be much harder on a moving ship. Between the earth moving and the ship moving you will be hard pressed to get anything but star trails. A good rule of thumb to start within land is....divide your lens into 600. that gives you a rough estimate if the number of seconds you can expose before you start to see star trails. (To complicate this a bit more, you are using a crop body camera so you have to figure that into it.)..Example a 300mm lens would give you about 2 sec on a full frame camera (600/300=2....but using a crop body you must multiply you lens by 1.5 first then divide into 600...thus it would be about 1.3 sec before you start to get trails. or using a 50mm lens you would have about 8sec before you got trails (crop body). This assumes you are not moving..being on a moving ship would toss these :"guidelines" out the window.