Recommended Travel Friendly Macro Tripod

Shinyschnapper wrote:

EarthMurmurs wrote:

You are unnecessarily making this complicated for yourself. Right now, today, at this moment, you could be photographing fungi at ground level with the gear you already own. Using the camera upside down is not as convenient, but it's hardly a rare and unachievable skill. By all means the earlier suggestion of an L-Bracket is a great one, but until you buy one, plus the necessary head, plus a tripod to accommodate, why not start your fungi hunting with the inverted column tripod ? You may find that crawling around in the dark, dirty forest floors is not so appealing after a few outings, and may not have to spend any money on gear you may not use in the long term.

Are you planning to shoot for focus stacking ? That's one ONLY reason I use an inverted tripod. If I were taking single shots, the previous suggestion of a small 'sand' bag is enough to stabilise the camera at ground level for a single shot, and far less cumbersome to carry on long hikes through the forest.

I'm a firm believer in using what we already own. And, you already own everything you need right now.

I re-iterate my post above that @earthmurmers was referring to. Don't over complicate it. Especially as mushroom season for us is quite short and not a year-round pursuit. A small bag or cushion to put the camera on at ground level works fine. I even saw a youtube video of a respected macro photographer filling a childrens pencil case with bird seed and using that. I can auto focus stack just fine from this. I will caveat that by saying a manual focus stack would be better with the tripod.

Well, I guess I should give you the personal story which adds greatly to my feeling I need to change some gear. I'm 76 and after two lots of heart surgery last year I just can't seem to recover my stamina. So that drives me to want to carry less weight. The 76 years also contribute to my worsening arthritis in knees and hands, so I do not want (indeed I can't) to crawl around at ground level any more. Despite that, I have taken almost 200 mushroom shots in the last month (mostly not very good), and in our terrain, they are all at or very close to ground level. I can't keep bending over to that degree. I've tried putting the camera on the ground with a beanie as support, a beanbag with rice in it, and using a mirror (recently). But all of these need lots of adjustment which I'd prefer to do standing up and moving the tripod a bit. (Oh, and I do prefer to be referred to as "she" rather than they. Too old to get upset about traditional pronouns.)

I have a mini iPad and the Lumix App so I can see what the composition is like. and I can alter the DoF (my biggest problem with macro lenses) from that position too. And to do that I need to have the camera rather a long way away from my eyes.

Yes, I shoot for focus stacking using Helicon Focus.

I love EarthMurmurs images on Flickr, by the way. If only England could produce those colours ...

So ... I have a tripod which is too heavy for long walks. I have a great camera (Lumix GX9) and 2 short-is macro lenses - but maybe I'd be better off using telemacro sometimes, if I don't want to get under the gills. I have a smartphone for when I do, except the knees haven't helped so far.

I'm about to buy an L-bracket and see where I go from there. Thanks for the encouragement. If only mushrooms grew on trees around me !

Maggie

I wonder if it would be worth extending your fungi interest a little to try cultivating them (in addition to going out and shooting in the wild). At least those would grow where you want, or could be re-positioned to be more accessible.

Most results from a casual online search are about growing edible fungi which probably isn't what you want. But there are people growing inedible/poisonous ones too. Most of these are for "recreational" purposes (druggies) with species like fly agaric and psilocybin etc, but the techniques described should transfer to most varieties.

Could be an interesting sideline to pursue in it's own right. Just a thought...

Beatsy wrote:

I wonder if it would be worth extending your fungi interest a little to try cultivating them (in addition to going out and shooting in the wild). At least those would grow where you want, or could be re-positioned to be more accessible.

Most results from a casual online search are about growing edible fungi which probably isn't what you want. But there are people growing inedible/poisonous ones too. Most of these are for "recreational" purposes (druggies) with species like fly agaric and psilocybin etc, but the techniques described should transfer to most varieties.

Could be an interesting sideline to pursue in it's own right. Just a thought...

A very interesting thought, Beatsy, which had never occurred to me. I do have a small corner of the garden which has lots of shade and gets quite damp. If I can work out a way to make sure the mushrooms don't spread everywhere, I'll give it a go. Thanks very much!

BBbuilder467 wrote:

I think the L-bracket will make it even more difficult. It won't be centered and balanced like the camera reversed. You'll have to get down on the ground, to position it, plus avoid the legs. Try using portrait orientation with the column reversed and you'll see what I mean.

I see what you mean BB. But I'm not sure how much it matters that the camera isn't centred, and I have to set up the camera anyway to avoid the legs. Frankly, I don't know how sensible I'm being but it just seems worth trying options. I've ordered the 3LT Ellie Short and I can return it if it doesn't work for me, or it will always sell on eBay. All this when the biggest difficulty is finding the darn mushrooms in the first place! Thanks for your support.

maggiemole wrote:

snip

A very interesting thought, Beatsy, which had never occurred to me. I do have a small corner of the garden which has lots of shade and gets quite damp. If I can work out a way to make sure the mushrooms don't spread everywhere, I'll give it a go. Thanks very much!

If your damp corner was suitable for any (native) fungi, they'd already be growing there.

Fungi are surprisingly sensitive to environmental conditions. Different species grow in different places because they have different needs. Temperature, moisture, pH, substrate etc, all determine which species will thrive. You'll have to control their environment to get good results so I envisage growing in closed, vivarium-like conditions. Or something. Research needed there.

But your current trips out to photograph them are ideal opportunity to collect "seeds" and make notes on the conditions they seem to like etc. A single cap placed on paper will drop thousands of spores to inoculate a substrate with.

Definitely a long term thing with a lot of learning and experimenting needed to get any results at all. But at least you'd be slowly putting another option in place for the future, should your ability to get out and snap in the wild deteriorate.

It was your own website I looked at! Sorry for the error!

gugim wrote:

Greetings,

I am looking into carrying a travel friendly (small, light) tripod I could use when photographing mushrooms or early morning insects, and that could double as a monopod maybe for using with birds.

I have a light system (Olympus OMD 1iii) .

Currently I am considering the Peek Design Traveller tripod.

Any recommendations will be appreciated.

Thank you,

Ariel

I have the Peak Design Carbon Travel tripod. I like it, but I can't recommend it for low macro shots. The center column can be shortened with a hex wrench, and the legs will flatten out pretty well, but it doesn't get as low as I want in normal orientation. The center column can be inverted easily, which can get the camera quite low if you want to try using the camera upside down. Which will work if you use a remote shutter cable or the wireless remote.

But, the tripod only has two positions for the leg angle; normal and flat. I find it difficult to get it positioned on uneven terrain, and nearly impossible if you are trying to make room for an upside down camera as well.

There are tripods that can be converted to monopods. I don't have one; I just use the tripod as a monopod by keeping the legs together.

The problem with low shots is being able to adjust the height. I take two approaches; use a tripod with inverted center column, or use a plate (like the Platypod), and folding Z-head. The plate has leveling legs, the folding Z-head can adjust height.

I use the Decade Mini Tripod Base, similar to the Platypod, but it has a sliding mount screw so I can adjust where things mount on the plate.

https://www.amazon.com/Lightweight-Universal-Mounting-Compatible-Mirrorless/dp/B071ZNTWJF/

For a folding Z-head, I use the MSM Pan Tilt Head, which has tightening knobs for tilt and rotation. I also have Edelkrone Z Flex Tilt Head and a few others, but the MSM is small, light, and I don't need to dig out a hex wrench if things need tightening.

https://www.amazon.com/Easiest-Payload-Panorama-Multi-Angle-Photography/dp/B08Z8KX287

I also use a Sunwayfoto XB-28II low profile ball head, and a Sunwayfoto T1A12 Table Tripod on occasion. But these are not the lowest height, although they are quicker to use.

For my inverted column tripod, I use an L-Bracket to keep the camera in the normal position, and a nodal rail to adjust distance of the camera to the subject (so I don't have to constantly move the tripod.  I sometimes align the camera along the base of the L-bracket, so that rotation of the ball head doesn't change the distance  to the subject.

I use an Arcatech Ultimate ballhead.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/327811-REG/Acratech_1115_Ultimate_Ballhead_w_Quick.html

This ball head can be tilted up when I have the camera aligned along the base of the L-bracket.

These are some pictures of the tripod setup.

The Arca clamp on the L-bracket (seen in the second picture) can be rotated, and then camera adjustments can be done sideways with the camera base plate in the nodal rail, or front/back with the nodal rail in the arca clamp.

Bobby2Shots wrote:

EarthMurmurs wrote:

Bobby2Shots wrote:

Earth Murmers,,,did you intend on your message going to Maggiemole?

Yes, my response is to Maggiemole . I would love to see them get out and start shooting with the gear they already have, rather than be stuck in an endless state of consumerist desire and pining for esoteric mounting hardware that's going to increase image quality by approx. %0

I agree, and that's why she should be fine with the $14,99 conversion clamp I recommended above. No need to change tripod nor ballhead.

I found that DAC don’t have outlets in the UK, so I am getting a new lighter tripod and the Ellie short L brackets. Will send a shot of the setup as soon as I’m sorted!