tripods

Five inexpensive ways to end blurry snapshots

Despite point-and-shoot camera manufacturers' best efforts to reduce the effects of hand shake--digitally, optically, and mechanically--as long as you're holding the camera there's a very good chance you'll end up with blurry shots. Add in softening caused by noise reduction at higher ISO sensitivities, and getting a sharp shot of moving subjects or in low-light conditions can be tricky. The disappearance of viewfinders from compact cameras doesn't help things either as it encourages you to extend your arms to use the LCD.

Taking the camera out of your hands and putting it on a tripod or other support is one of the best ways to improve your odds. However, when I suggest this to point-and-shoot users I typically get in response that it's not practical to carry a tripod and it kills the point of having a very portable camera. But the solution is easy: get a very portable mini tripod.

Below are five favorites ranging in size, price, and flexibility, and though they aren't all technically tripods, they'll certainly help keep your pocket camera still whether you're behind or in front of it.

In lieu of buying a support, there are free options for helping control hand shake. Look for a lamp post, wall, tree, or any solid vertical structure you can lean against for support. Don't fully extend your arms, but instead pull them into your body as closely as possible with your elbows tucked into your sides or rest on a ledge or wall. Also, even if your camera has a lot of zoom range and optical image stabilization, it's always better to move yourself closer to a subject if possible than using your zoom. Lastly, if you use a tripod or anything else that's stable to support your camera, be sure to shut off any in-camera image stabilization--in this case, more stabilization is not better. … Read more

Sunpak carbon fiber tripod is cheap, light

One of the more recent additions to Sunpak's tripod line is the 523PX Pistol Grip Tripod, an inexpensive, full-size carbon fiber tripod with a pistol grip ball head. Available for $199 from Best Buy, it's one of the cheaper carbon fiber tripods around and it's lightweight and very portable because of its carbon fiber construction.

The Sunpak 523PX Pistol Grip Tripod has seven-layer carbon fiber legs with a maximum height of 64 inches, and is 27.3 inches long when collapsed. It has three positions of leg angle locks for low-angle photography, with a minimum height of … Read more

Hands on with the Manfrotto Modopocket

While good full-size tripods are readily available, good tabletop camera supports are not always so easy to find. Tabletop supports run the gamut from bean bags to miniature tripods and usually lack somehow either in how much weight they can hold or in how adjustable they are.

The Manfrotto Modopocket, however, is a tiny but powerful camera support.

The Modopocket supports up to 1 pound, which covers almost all point-and-shoots and even some lightweight dSLRs. Its innovative design allows it to fold up flat for easy storage in a pocket of your camera bag, or almost anywhere. It looks like … Read more

Tamrac's new foldable tripod is like tent poles

Currently, most tripod legs are hollowed and allow the extensions to fit inside. Tamrac has taken a different approach and designed what is possibly the most innovative tripod we've seen this year.

The ZipShot is a compact, three-legged support whose design is inspired by collapsible tent poles. With a rugged bungee cord inside the legs, users just have to pull apart the joints and fold the tripod. The rounded edges at individual sections help to guide the aluminum legs to join together.

Tamrac rates the ZipShot as able to support up to 2.8 pounds, which means the tripod … Read more

Fit a notebook on your tripod

Professional photographers often shoot with their cameras tethered to their computers so they can see the images on a larger display. However, when out in the field, the environment may not be suitable for resting a laptop on the ground or on rocky surfaces. In such cases, the Tallyn laptop deck may come in handy.

The attachment is like a tripod's ballhead and can be fixed to most Manfrotto or Studio Titan tripods. It has an adjustable base to accommodate notebooks of various sizes up to about 7.9 pounds, and the deck can be tilted to facilitate viewing … Read more

Paper clip tripod: Use only when desperate

Besides holding sheets together, the humble paper clip has plenty of other uses. Not only is its slim tip great for poking at small reset inserts on gadgets, we're pretty sure MacGyver can jump-start a car with it. Now, you can add one more use to the paper clip's resume.

Inspired by the paper clip iPhone stand on Lifehacker, the folks at Photojojo have twisted and bent a clip into a contraception that can hold a point-and-shoot. However, given that the bottom of the stand is flat, we're not sure how well it'll support your shooter … Read more

Enjoy your iPhone hands-free with Gorillamobile

Are you an avid cyclist who wants to use the iPhone as your GPS navigator? Joby has something for you.

The maker of the recently introduced Gorillatorch announced Thursday its newest iteration of something that can stay really well on something else: the Gorillamobile for the iPhone 3G(S).

This is basically a tripod docking station for the phone which, apart from keeping the phone on any surfaces, can help securely attach the phone to object of different shapes, such as the driving bar of a bicycle.

The key to making the tripod work the way Joby claims it does … Read more

Quirky's DigiDude: The rare tripod you'll call cute

I'm a photographer. As a photographer I've owned a number of tripods and keep a mini tripod in my camera bag at all times. None of them, however, have ever qualified as "cute." These tripods, though, are exactly that.

Meet the DigiDudes. The portable camera tripod/keychain combos are little monsters most of the time, but when they need to do some work you twist off their heads and pull down their retractable legs and they're suddenly tripods. They have a standard screw mount that you put on the bottom of your camera. Now you … Read more

Scientists say bad tripods increase camera shake

We've always known that when taking long-exposure pictures, we're supposed to use a tripod that will keep the camera steady and prevent blurry shots. But now, Japanese scientists at the Nishi Lab of the University of Electrocommunications say they are debunking that fact somewhat.

They developed a tool that measures the amount and direction of camera shake, and the results appear to show that when an SLR is mounted on a tripod, the setup may actually contribute to the vibration caused by the shooter's mirror and shutter movement.

One consolation from this study is that the researchers … Read more

Bottle cap tripod steadies your shot

Lone travelers, vain photographers, or anyone too shy to ask someone to take their picture finally have a convenient way to include themselves in their photographs, thanks to Dynomighty Design's bottle cap tripod.

The $10 gadget fits (not screws) onto almost any bottle top and a universal tripod adapter on the opposite end holds your digicam in place while you sneak into the shot.

Captain Obvious says: depending on the size of your camera, be sure that the bottle you use is at least half full (or empty), or you'll find yourself waving goodbye to both gadgets at … Read more