Recommended Travel Friendly Macro Tripod

maggiemole wrote:

..Bobby2Shots wrote:

EarthMurmurs wrote:

I am an avid fungi photographer. My goal is to take shots as close to ground level as possible, to show a perspective unseen by humans who tower over these small, fascinating organisms.

To achieve this, I have a tripod with the centre column inverted, which allows my camera to be at ground level, and very stable to set up 10-20 shots on manual focus, which are then stacked when I get home.

This does mean operating the camera upside down, which takes some learning. Fortunately my camera has tilting display, so I do my focusing and metering from the screen.

Hello EarthMurmurs,

There's no need to shoot upside-down if you have an L-bracket for your camera. Using the same set-up you're using now,,, with the column inverted,,, just drop the ballhead's top-plate into its' 90* portrait-notch, then attach the side of your L-bracket to the ballheads' quick-release.

Bobby, could you post a photo of this set-up, please? I’m having a hard time (actually total failure) visualising it. I’ve never used an L-bracket which might be the reason. Let alone a balhead with bracket attached, I always see them attached to the camera. I really don't like shooting upside-down, and have been playing with the mirror solution proposed by Beatsy. This works for small flowers (thank you, Beatsy!) but I think the L-bracket might offer more compositions for larger mushroom groups.

Many thanks.

I think what he's describing is when the L-bracket is attached to the camera, the camera will be right side up with the column reversed. If it was on top of the tripod, in portrait orientation, the camera would be upside down. You'd have to make sure the camera and subject matter clear the legs.