• Use the sturdiest tripod you are willing to carry with you on your excursion. As a minimum your tripod and tripod head needs to be able to support weight of your camera and your longest telelens.
• The tripod head needs to have all adjustments (and preferably including fine adjustment capabilities) and a balanced weight distribution.
• Suspend a weight from the center column to make the tripod more stable (for example your backpack).
• Avoid extending the center column
• When using shutter speeds less than 1", use a remote control. For shutter speeds longer than 1" this is less critical.
• When using long lenses, choose to attach the lens to the tripod instead of the camera. This gives a better weight distribution.
• An L-bracket on your camera gives you the possibility to take horizontal as well as vertical pictures with a good balance of the camera.
• Before setting up your tripod, find the right point of view with your camera handheld.
• Use a quck release for attaching your camera and/or lens on your tripod.
• The "Vibration Reduction" technology enables us to make hand held shots at longer shutter speeds. Some camera/lenses are even capable to produce good sharpness at speeds upto 5 stops less. This gives us the ability to make more handheld shots making the use of a tripod not needed for these circumstances. The main advantage of this is the freedom of movement you get with this. The VR function though needs to be switched off when used on a tripod.
• Use a camera strap which can be detached when your camera is on a tripod. This will avoid the strap to flutter in the wind resulting unsharpness due to movement.
• I usually use "Live View" when my camera is on a tripod. This enables me to check if the camera is level, to zoom in to verify focus, no microvibrations due to the movement of the mirror, etc…
• Personally I use the following equipment: Gitzo Mountaineer GT3542L, Arca-Swiss D4 tripod head with flip-lock, RRS L-Bracket, and Op/Tech Utility Strap Sling.

Tags: Tripod, long exposure , big stopper