I wouldn’t spend more than $100 on a tripod. They’re all the same.
-Wolf Camera Employee
When I was a Newbie photographer, things were complicated enough. We had to make choices between aperture priority, shutter priority, manual, or a bit later, program cameras. There were all sorts of film choices and heaven help you if you decided to develop your own film. Now, add choices of film developer, paper, paper developer, enlargers, fixers, etc. Unfortunately, camera store employees, especially in the big chains, were of little help. They had a passing interest in photography, at best. The very small stores where were you wanted to go. And, if you can believe it, there was no such thing as The Internet! Now, with digital, the choices seem endless. The situation has not improved. What’s a person to do???
Stephen’s story
Yesterday, I had a conversation with my friend Stephen, of Two Black Guys in a ditch fame, and he was relating to me his experience of going into Wolf Camera and trying to purchase a camera. He said that when he went in he kind of new what he wanted, but not really. A friend or coworker had suggested that he get a Nikon D80, but hadn’t really given him more information as to why he should make that purchase. Could he have gotten a D40, D40x, D70, or perhaps he should have gotten a D200, D300, or perhaps a D3? What about Canon? Pentax? The choices seem endless. He even said that after he got home and started looking at all of the controls, he thought that he might be in over his head!
All tripods are the same
After he got into the camera store, the sales person started offering to sell him all sorts of stuff like filters, extended warranties, other lenses, etc. He didn’t really know what to buy. He just knew that he wanted a better camera than the present one he had. The above quote, or perhaps paraphrase, is from the employee that he was talking to. Obviously, this employee has never mounted his camera on a tripod before, and if he has, it certainly wasn’t the least bit breezy outside! 
A helping hand
So I thought, why not offer a running series of posts just for the Newbies? While I was walking Hobbs this morning, I thought about some topics that I think might be useful to the uninitiated:
- Deciding between point-and-shoot and DLSR
- Choosing a DSLR camera:
- Choosing a point-and-shoot camera:
- Extended warranty. Should I get one?
- Tripod: Do I need one? How to choose one
- Pixels! Pixels! Pixels! – Explaining and showing the difference between different cameras/megapixels
- What type of lenses do I need?
- Accessories: What do I need? How many CF cards? Filters?
OK, now that I’ve chosen one, how do I use it? What are all of these strange markings on the camera?
- RAW? JPG? What should I use? (Uh oh!). That ought to be a fun one!
- Aperture
- Shutter Speed
- Exposure
- Manual mode
- Composition
So, those are the items that popped into my head immediately. That’s a lot of information that needs to be disseminated. Sure, you can find it all over web, so why not here, too. I rather like the community here. There are lots of experienced folks around here and I’m sure that they can add value to any article that I post, so after a post has cooled down, I’ll make changes to the post and promote it to a ‘page’.
Looks like I have a lot of work to do! If you are a Newbie, or an experienced person and can think of anything else that might be helpful to a beginner, please chime in! If you have any suggestions, let’s hear ‘em!
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13 Responses to “Something for the newbies”
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Just don’t bias those newbies against RAW ïŠ. I think this is a good idea at least they will get a second opinion. It is sad that there are very few “good†camera stores anymore. As much as I love the internet, it has hurt local stores. I have thought of opening a “good†camera store but felt that people would come in to my store to see/handle the equipment, ask question etc, then go order the equipment on the internet because if nothing else they do not have to pay sales tax.
The real question is “What do I want to do with the camera?” If you want to shoot your kids swimming (mine swim, so this is near and dear) you’ll need good high-iso performance and a long fast-ish lens. Picture of the birds? General snaps of the kids? Ever wish you had a video camera instead?
Every question you mentioned has the answer “It depends.” So the first question has to be, what are you trying to capture?
@Rick: Nope. I will not be trying to bias anyone, just present the other side, which is not often presented, and let them decide for themselves. It doesn’t matter to me either way, but I like to get the information out there. I think that if you did open a camera store, you’d probably get a fair percentage of looky-loos.
@Mark: Of course, it fully depends on what you intend to capture most of the time. Your camera should be suited to that ideal. Also, people grow in their abilities and tastes, so what may work for you today, may not work tomorrow.
I am 55 years old and have been using cameras since about age seven. The only piece of gear that I still use from the old days is my tripod, all other gear has been replaced or sits unused in a closet somewhere.
So, if you’re going to buy a tripod and you think you are going to stay in photography then buy a decent tripod.
I currently have four big tripods three crappy ones and one decent one along with a video head and a ball head for the decent tripod. I also have four miniature tripods.
There is much more to a tripod than three legs. Ill leave others to talk about some of the more obvious points.
Decent tripods and heads work a whole lot better than the cheap stuff. Another key piece of equipment, if you do buy a tripod is a bag for the tripod, with a comfortable shoulder or back pack system, make sure the bag can also accommodate the head while attached to the tripod. It also needs a pocket to hold key tools and other tripod accessories.
I also find that when using a tripod you are definitely going to be shooting in slow motion where things like waiting for just the right light, creative juices and the right mood are very desirable things. Creature comfort goes a long way toward promoting the above attributes and I can think of no more better additional piece of equipment than a portable chair along with food and water and whatever it takes to make you comfortable.
Despite all I’ve said about recommending tripods, I hate tripods, long live stabilization! But stabilization only takes you so far.
I hope you go for it. This sounds like the perfect project for you. Goodness knows you are highly qualified. Furthermore, elevating a topic to a page when you feel you have more fully developed the material is an excellent idea. Making the material more accessible certainly would add value. Personally, I have so much to learn that I will follow this intently. I know I will pick up some valuable tips.
Besides to follow up on Rick’s comment, we Canon raw shooters have to be certain that no one is warping the minds of those innocent newbies.
It is downright shameful that people viewed as authorities on a subject provide such bad advice to beginners. There are even some spots on the net that give the same bad advice.
Beginners and advanced users alike have a lot of crap to sort through before finally getting at the real story. I am glad you are creating a crap-free zone here Paul.
I think most ultimately learn by experience. After all, how many of us who have been at this for awhile have a clunky tripod sitting around somewhere.
Thanks, Mark. I don’t know how much of an expert that I am, but I’ll certainly try to be crap-free!
I’m not against the idea of buying an inexpensive tripod in the beginning. Most of the $100 range tripod rigs are ok in general. They always make good backup tripods and can be used for things such as holding a flash whenever you realize that you didn’t get a good enough tripod to start with. That may sound odd coming from someone who has just over $500 in a tripod rig, but I’m sure a lot of you use carbon fiber, which would run that price up even more
are there any tripod’s with shock absorber?
About five years back, I met a cinematographer in India – who worked for a discovery channel asked me a smilar question. It was more of a technical discussion – how he can reduce shocks when driving in a jungle to get better video while chasing wild animal.
@Raj: Hmmm, shock absorbers. I don’t think so. We ‘still’ photographers like to be still when shooting. None of that up and down stuff for us!
Is there room for utter silliness here? When fantasizing about most new photography equipment, I feel the need for shock absorbers—protection from the shock of the prices. I just had to get that out of my system, sorry.
Utter silliness is welcomed, respected, and highly encouraged!
On the topic “Choosing a DSLR camera” for a beginner I think the most valid answer is Mike Johnston’s “Yes, you should” – don’t think about the gear, buy it and start using it. Different from the situation of two years ago, probably all of the beginner DSLRd now offer such a huge potential for the photographer to develop her or his taste, sense of composition and so on that the brand of camera probably doesn’t have that importance any more.
I now it from my own situation: the weakest part of gear seems to be behind the viewfinder