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After the camera and lenses, there are a few more things you will definitely need and some other gear you may consider buying. This article is about such extra's.
Tripod and cable-release.
A tripod is one of the most important tools for a photographer you can possibly think of. What's the use of buying an expensive AFS Nikkor lens if you cannot support it with a sturdy tripod? Basically, a tripod has two functions: First of all it will let you make sharper images by eliminating unwanted camera movements caused by shakey hands, wind gusts and so on. Secondly, it will hold the camera and lens in a position you want them to be, giving you more control over things like composition, depth of field and exposure. Pressing the shutter release button will also cause camera shake, this can be eliminated by a cable-release. So how do you choose a good tripod and head combination? Photographers all over the world have been arguing about this question since day one, so obviously there's no simple answer! Let's have a more detailed look:
Tripod legs
A modern tripod can be made of aluminium or carbon-fibre. Aluminium is light, strong and affordable. Carbon-fibre is lighter and stronger, but much more expensive. A good tripod should be light enough to be carried around with ease, yet heavy enough to hold your camera and lens secure even when there's heavy wind gusts. When the legs are fully extended (and the center post is not!) it should be high enough, so you don't have to bend over all the time and go home with a sore back. Further more, you should be able to lower the setup to ground level for close-ups and macro work. And you don't want any hassle, it should be easy to setup and just as easy to breakdown again. The legs are divided into sections. Too many sections will make the tripod less stable, too few will make the tripod too short. Three sections should be just fine! The leg sections are locked by either a screw-in lock, a clamp lever lock, or a turn lever lock. I don't like the screw-in lock, it's vulnerable to sand and dirt and, more importantly, it usually gets overtightened. I do like the clamp lever and turn lever locks, they're fast to setup and breakdown again and very durable. The centerpost is used for minor height adjustments, sometimes it can be removed and turned upside down for close-ups and macro work.
Tripod head
There are two types of heads: Pan heads and Ball heads. A good 3-way Pan head allows you to precisely control each axis separately. It's a good general pupose head, ideal for architecture, landscapes and macro work. The Ball head is ideal for bird and wildlife photography. You can set the friction of the ball just tight enough to hold the camera steady, but loose enough to smoothly follow a moving subject like a flying bird. Whatever the angle of the lens, it should not "creep", it should remain in that position for as long as you decide. You should be able to change the camera's orientation from horizontal to vertical in an instant. If you use long telephoto lenses a lot, there's a great piece of equipment called the Wimberley Sidekick that converts your Ball head into a so called gimbal head. With this thing handling large and heavy telephoto lenses is a doddle.
Quick release plates
Best invention ever! A quick release plate allows you to take your camera off the tripod in a split second. You need a quick release plate for each camera body and each telephoto lens that has a tripod collar.
Cable release
Any cable release which requires only a gentle touch will do just fine. No one cares if the shutter is released electronically or mechanically, as long as you don't have to use excessive force!
Keep in mind that a tripod, if you've chosen the right one, can last you a life time! Don't settle for a cheap set of legs and an inferior head. Remember: You get what you paid for. You WILL be disappointed with the results and you will end up buying a new set, effectively spending more money as a result!
Here's a list (by no means complete!) of good stuff:
- Slik Pro 700DX, including 3-way Pan head. Inexpensive but very sturdy tripod. Very good head, even with the bigger lenses there's no "creep". The whole set is a bit heavy, but does an excellent job. (www.slik.com)
- Manfrotto Wilderness 055SSB (Bogen 3221WN). Fantastic tripod, light and very sturdy. Not expensive! (www.manfrotto.com)
- Gitzo Mountaineer G1228. Excellent quality, very light (carbon fibre) and very expensive. (www.gitzo.com)
- Arca Swiss B-1 ball head. The professional standard in ball heads. (Site unknown)
- Kirk BH-1 ball head. The other professional standard in ball heads. (www.kirkphoto.com)
- Markins M-10 / M-20 ball head. Supposedly very good quality, but I have never used them myself. (www.markinseurope.com/en/index.php)
- Wimberley Sidekick. Makes handling long telephoto lenses a doddle. (www.tripodhead.com)
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Arca Swiss B-1 ball head |
Kirk BH-1 ball head |
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Filters.
You don't need any filters at all, but some filters have very nice effects and can give your photography an extra dimension. Do not buy cheap filters, they do more harm than good! Good filters are expensive, but are made of high quality materials, with multi-coated glass or resin and are color-neutral (unless they are expected to change the color of course). A few filters to consider:
A UV-filter for every lens you own just to protect the front lens from getting scratched (unless you have a good hood on the lens which doesn't fall off all the time, in that case the hood gives you perfect protection).
A Circular Polarizer filter will give you control over reflections, for instance while photographing a water surface or a shiny object like a just polished car. A Polarizer will increase contrast and color saturation by removing light scatter and can be used to darken bright skies, especially at higher altitudes.
A Graduated Neutral Density (ND) filter has a clear and a grey part. The grey part blocks a certain amount of light coming in. The amount of light blocked depends on the "strength" of the filter. These filters are typically used with a bright sky or background and a foreground which is a lot darker. Without this filter it is impossible to bring detail in both the sky and the shadows. There are two types of graduated ND's: Soft and Hard. With a soft edged graduated ND the transition area from grey to clear is longer and more gradually than with a hard edged one. Both are available in different strengths. Start with a 2-stop soft and a 3-stop hard and see what happens! One more thing: You need to be able to position the transition area of the filter exactly where you want it, a screw type filter won't do the trick, you need a filter system like for instance Cokin!
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The Dolomites, Italy, Nikon D100
VR 24-120/3.5-5.6 G @ 35mm
1/1000 sec, f/8.0
You can clearly see the effects of a Circular Polarizer filter, especially at higher altitudes! |
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Teleconverters.
You can use a teleconverter to increase the focal length of your lens. If your lens is a 300mm, a 1.4x TC will make it a 420mm and a 2x TC will make that lens a 600mm. And yes, there's even a third party lens manufacturer that provides a 3x TC to get 900mm... Sounds great doesn't it? I can understand why people use these things, a 300mm with a 2x TC costs less than half of what you would have to pay for a prime 600mm lens. Unfortunately, it comes at a price. By using a 1.4x TC you lose one f-stop, so f/4 becomes f/5.6. With a 2x you lose 2 f-stops, so f/4 becomes f/8. That's not all. You also lose a bit of sharpness, the 2x loses more than the 1.4x, which is obvious since you're putting more glass elements in front of the camera. Also consider that a TC will magnify any flaws in your lens, so the better the quality of your lens, the better the end results with a TC will be. You typically use TC's on telephoto lenses, it's ridiculous to put a 2x on a 20mm wideangle lens. It is also said that TC's typically work better with prime lenses than with zoom lenses, and I can understand why they say that. Zoom lenses tend to be a bit soft compared to prime lenses and that softness will be magnified with a TC, but there are exceptions. The more expensive 70-200 or 80-200mm zoom lenses outperform many prime lenses in terms of sharpness. I've seen some great result from a Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 with a 2x TC.
Have a look at some more handy stuff at www.reallyrightstuff.com.
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