Advice please - using a tripod on a beach

DonnaM

DonnaM

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Had a go yesterday trying to photograph waders off a beach near the Solway Firth. I thought, at the time, I had some nice shots, only to find when I got home that they all suffered from shake of some sort because (I assume here) that the tripod was not stable enough on the sand/pebble beach.

My tripod, a very old Velbon, does not have a hook to hang a stabilising weight on to so I would very much appreciate any advice, hints & tips on how to make a tripod more stable in the sand.
 
I have some memories of wildfowling on the Solway Firth for 3 days Donna - mostly of being the coldest and wettest I've ever been in my life. Mind you, I also saw the susnset of my lifetime!

It's a difficult one though. When I'm on soft unstable ground I erect the tripod then place it and bear down heavily on it to sink the legs as much as possible into the ground before mounting the camera.
 
buy a cheap £15 one with hook so it doesn't matter when it does get ruined by the sand.

Or get what Edinburgh Gary has. (but remortgage first)
 
Kerioak said:
If you push it down into the sand make sure only the lower part of the legs go in, NOT the extending joints. Mine was used on the beach at the end of last year and in spite of taking it apart and cleaning it out numerous times I am still finding sand in it.
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Good thought Christine, thanks for that.

CT said:
I have some memories of wildfowling on the Solway Firth for 3 days Donna - mostly of being the coldest and wettest I've ever been in my life. Mind you, I also saw the susnset of my lifetime!

It's a difficult one though. When I'm on soft unstable ground I erect the tripod then place it and bear down heavily on it to sink the legs as much as possible into the ground before mounting the camera.
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Thanks Cedric, sounds obvious really and will try it next time. Yesterday if I had stood up to do that I would have broken the skyline and the birds would have flown.

lawrie29 said:
buy a cheap £15 one with hook so it doesn't matter when it does get ruined by the sand.

Or get what Edinburgh Gary has. (but remortgage first)
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Difficult choice lawrie, I do not want to put £5K (& 4.3Kg) of kit on a £15 tripod, neither do I want to spend a fortune & expose a Gitzo to the salt and sand.
 
Or use a cable release so you aren't touching the camera?
 
Put some Pedal bin bags around the bottom of the tripod legs and fill with pebbles then keep them in place with elastic bands up the top, it protects the Tripod from sand and also adds weight. Another thing I use is get 3 bits of square wood about 4" square 10mm thick, Find 3 small aerosol deoderant caps and screw one upside down on each of the square bits of wood. The Tripod feet then slot into the upside down caps and have a 4" flat foot which doesn't sink into the sand. Use a cable release or remote just in case.
 
What you could do as long as you know in advance the height you'll be working at (standing sitting, kneeling etc) is pre-erect the tripod and protect the leg joints with insulating tape or similar, which you can then remove when you're away from that environment.

You can't be too careful though, that environment kills camera kit in record time.
 
karmaan said:
Another thing I use is get 3 bits of square wood about 4" square 10mm thick, Find 3 small aerosol deoderant caps and screw one upside down on each of the square bits of wood. The Tripod feet then slot into the upside down caps and have a 4" flat foot which doesn't sink into the sand. Use a cable release or remote just in case.
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Top tip! :thumbs:
 
Janice said:
Or use a cable release so you aren't touching the camera?
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Alas I do not have a release for my camera, sounds a bit petty & stupid not to but birds unlike landscapes move so I would need to experiment a bit to develop a technique. I think a release will now be on my Christmas present list.

karmaan said:
Put some Pedal bin bags around the bottom of the tripod legs and fill with pebbles then keep them in place with elastic bands up the top, it protects the Tripod from sand and also adds weight. Another thing I use is get 3 bits of square wood about 4" square 10mm thick, Find 3 small aerosol deoderant caps and screw one upside down on each of the square bits of wood. The Tripod feet then slot into the upside down caps and have a 4" flat foot which doesn't sink into the sand. Use a cable release or remote just in case.
Click to expand...

Sounds wonderfully "Heath Robinson" karmaan but a great idea and well worth pursuing, now where in the garage is my tool kit:thinking:
 
CT said:
What you could do as long as you know in advance the height you'll be working at (standing sitting, kneeling etc) is pre-erect the tripod and protect the leg joints with insulating tape or similar, which you can then remove when you're away from that environment.

You can't be too careful though, that environment kills camera kit in record time.
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Good idea. The environment part is very worrying though.
 
I don't think the release idea is going to work for birds unless they're very static and unlikely to move.
 
If you are shooting birds, then you will need a fast shutter speed anyway? Perhaps a monopod to take the weight rather than a tripod?

Does your lens have VR, did you ensure that it was turned off? On the canons, the older IS lenses do not detect when they are on a tripod, and the vibrations from the gyros can set up sympathetic waves in the mount etc. and make the picture all blurry.
 
You can use cling film to cover the legs, and a bit of string to tie a bag of sand/stones as an extra weight (in place of a hook)
 
What were your settings? As I regularly shoot waders at the beach some times with a tripod but normally with a 3 way head bolted onto a frisbee and I very rarely get any camera shake.
 
I'll add something - if your tripod legs have rubber feet on the end that dont screw/clamp on - take them off before you plunge the legs into any sand (especially wet sand) as digging down 12" for rubber feet that are no longer on the end of your tripod legs is no fun.

Or, get some spiked tripod feet :) (As I have done now)
 
karmaan said:
Put some Pedal bin bags around the bottom of the tripod legs and fill with pebbles then keep them in place with elastic bands up the top, it protects the Tripod from sand and also adds weight. Another thing I use is get 3 bits of square wood about 4" square 10mm thick, Find 3 small aerosol deoderant caps and screw one upside down on each of the square bits of wood. The Tripod feet then slot into the upside down caps and have a 4" flat foot which doesn't sink into the sand. Use a cable release or remote just in case.
Click to expand...


OR,

Motorbike shops have plastic pads for bike sidestands to be put on when parking on soft ground. I have a few of these so used them on the beach last time (after I put the spikes through the plastic bag the time before :D )
 
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