With all the advances in camera technology and handheld shooting easier than ever, do photographers even need a tripod anymore? Here’s our five cases against the tripod
Tripods may be on their last legs for many photographers, with technology in the best cameras and alternative methods of support meaning that you can comfortably shoot handheld in many situations. Long gone are the days when you had to be fearful of cranking up the ISO, and thanks to highly effective image stabilization, slower shutter speeds are less of an issue than they once were.
The ability to comfortably shoot handheld in many situations creates a sense of liberation, irrespective of the subjects you shoot. That sense of freedom translates into being able to quickly respond to changing weather conditions, or action as it unfolds in front of the camera, and of course means less weight to carry.
This doesn’t mean that tripods are obsolete. There are, of course, some photographers who will always need to use a tripod, whether it’s to capture long exposures, or simply because they need to keep the camera supported in a fixed position for a length of time. But for most people, traveling light and being able to shoot quickly is now a real possibility, and here’s why.1 High ISO Handling keeps getting better
In the early days of digital photography, high-ISO noise was an issue for even the best cameras available at the time. And as the megapixel race started to slow down, the noise handling battle began. You don’t hear so much about noise handling these days because modern cameras are incredible performers in this area, even entry-level models, and those with smaller sensors.
Full-frame cameras and, of course, medium-format cameras remain the best, but you can comfortably shoot as high as ISO 1600 with most modern cameras and still capture incredibly clean images. Many cameras will perform well up to ISO 3200, while the best available can shoot as high as ISO 6400, with ISO 12,800 still providing usable results.
This means that you can safely increase your ISO when shooting handheld at slower shutter speeds and know that the images you capture will still look great. You may need to apply color noise reduction to raw files in your choice of editing software, but in Lightroom, for example, that’s applied automatically, and in most cases is higher than you need. In the ISO 6400 image above, the default amount of Color Noise Reduction in Lightroom was reduced from 25 to 10.2 Take advantage of Image Stabilization
Image stabilization is an amazing technological advance that can make a huge impact on your photography. Counteracting the movement of the camera and lens by shifting optics in the lens (optical image stabilization or OIS) or by shifting the camera sensor (in-body image stabilization, or IBIS), or both, the ability to shoot handheld at slower shutter speeds than usual and still get sharp detail is realized, which means it’s less likely that you’ll need a tripod.
