Hand-Holding vs Tripod

The Setup

As a follow-up to my previous tripod post, I wanted take a look for myself at practical uses of a tripod versus regular hand holding, especially with the modern image stabilization systems available today.

The trigger for this post was a comment I read on one of the photography forums, the poster said that he would never consider shooting without a tripod, even in full daylight. This got me thinking, does a tripod really make a noticeable difference even when shooting at very high shutter speeds? I set off to find out.

But what do people usually use tripods for? I can think for a few, but I bet there are much more than what I know, I would like to hear from you in the comments if you know of more:

• Slow shutter speeds (landscapes, night shooting, long exposures, etc...).
• High magnification work, like macro and close-up shooting, any vibration will be greatly magnified.
• Telephoto work, similar to the above, with long focal lengths, shake and vibrations are magnified, usually used with a gimbal head, to give a degree of stability, but enable free and smooth motion.
• Fix camera position, when you want to tinker around with your subject or composition (product photography, portraits, etc...) and want the camera to stay still.
• Fix camera point of view, when taking multiple exposures of the same scene (HDR), or taking wide panorama shots, etc...
• Top view, some tripods provide a tilting center column,so you could get a top view camera position.
• Low angle shooting, some tripods can get very close to the ground for very low angle shooting, or you could use small tabletop tripods.
• High camera position, used for portraits.
• Video work, obviously, good video requires a stable camera and smooth motion, which can be achieved with a fluid video head.
• All sorts of other things, I use mine to carry flashes, hold reflectors, etc...

Left: tripod carrying flash. Middle: gorillapod holding reflector in place (reflector fixed from the top).

TEST METHODOLOGY

I decided to make it very simple, I white dotted piece of paper, then I drew some slanted crossing lines as you see below, then I used sticky pieces of paper to know which picture was taken with a tripod or handheld, IS on or off, and whether it was indoor or outdoor in sunlight.

As you already see, this is not really scientific, but it will give me the answers I want. On the computer, I checked all pictures at 100% and 200% to see any motion blur. Apart from the crossing lines, there are very tiny dots on the paper that can only be seen by pixel peeping.

My Scientific Test Chart

Since I was already doing this anyway, I decided to answer Mic's request about the effect of leaving image stabilization on while the camera is on a tripod, and despite having experience regarding this issue before, I tested it as well.

I wanted to compare different cameras with different image stabilization systems to get a little bit more information, so here's what I used:

• Olympus OM-D EM-5 with 12-50 kit lens (for 100mm & macro tests) and the 40-150R (for telephoto tests), the OM-D has IBIS (In Body Image Stabilization).
• Canon 60D with 55-250 IS (for telephoto tests), IS here comes from the lens.
• Sony RX100 (for 100mm tests), not sure if the IS is in the lens or the body, but I believe it is the former.

Now let me tell you what tests I performed, and what results I got. For all my testing, I shot at f/8 to get the sharpest results, and avoid any DOF issues.

TEST 1: INDOOR SHOOTING - IMAGE STABILIZATION TEST

For this test, I shot the test target handheld, both with IS on and off, and both at 100mm and 300mm equivalent focal lengths, we're talking 1/30 sec shutter speeds, I took a three shot burst with each combination (which is what I do in normal shooting), here's what I found:

• Sony @ 100mm - IS ON: 2 out of 3 shots came out sharp.
• Sony @ 100mm - IS OFF: 1 out of 3 shots came out sharp.


• OMD @ 100mm - IS ON: 3 out of 3 shots came out sharp.
• OMD @ 100mm - IS OFF: 0 out of 3 shots came out sharp.


• OMD @ 300mm - IS ON: 1 out of 3 shots came out sharp.
• OMD @ 300mm - IS OFF: 0 out of 3 shots came out sharp.


• 60D @ 300mm - IS ON: 1 out of 3 shots came out sharp.
• 60D @ 300mm - IS OFF: 0 out of 3 shots came out sharp.

But are the good shots come out as sharp as possible? Or are they just good compared to the blurry ones? Next I used the tripod for reference.

TEST 2: INDOOR SHOOTING - TRIPOD TEST

Same scenario as before, but with the camera mounted to the tripod instead, I tested with both IS on and off, the shutter speed was 1/30 sec:

• Sony @ 100mm - IS ON or OFF: little sharper than the handheld shot, IS didn't matter.


• OMD @ 100mm - IS ON: similar to the handheld shot.
• OMD @ 100mm - IS OFF: best result, better than the one with IS on.


• OMD @ 300mm - IS ON or OFF: much better than the handheld shots, but remember the success rate wasn't that good (1 out of 3) in the first place, IS didn't matter.

With such slow shutter speeds, the tripod makes a considerable difference, however, whether IS was turned on or off, didn't make an apparent difference except in one case.

From experience, I had very bad results shooting the moon with the 60D & 55-250 on a tripod when I forgot the IS on, and when I turned it off, images turned sharp, so there must be a truth to this issue, it might not be 100% repeatable with all subjects, lenses, exposure times, etc... But it is there, and whenever I exert the effort to use a tripod, I would better turn IS off as well.

For the record, I tested all the camera combinations mentioned above with long (one second) exposures on the tripod with both IS on and off, but didn't find a difference.

TEST 3: MACRO SHOOTING

For this test I used the macro mode of the 12-50 kit lens, which reaches 0.7x magnification @ 84mm, I wanted to see what I can do handheld at slow shutter speeds (1/30 sec). This time I fired a long series of shots, not just three shots, results go like this:

• Handheld - IS OFF: not a single shot came out sharp.
• Handheld - IS ON: 50% of the shots came out sharp, this was a surprise for me, I got much better results in the exact same room with the exact same lighting with my 5D3 and 100L Macro IS (f/8, ISO 1600 and 1/6th), as you can see here.
• Tripod - IS OFF: best results as expected.

TEST 4: OUTDOOR SHOOTING - TRIPOD TEST

Now we come to the most important question, does it make a difference shooting at high shutter speeds (read: daylight) handheld versus a tripod?

I tested the OMD and the 60D at 300mm, and skipped the shorter focal lengths since these results would cover them anyway. The OMD metered for 1/1000 sec, and the 60D metered for 1/2000 sec, so the 60D had the advantage of a higher shutter speed. Here are the results:

• OMD - Handheld - IS OFF or ON: all shots came out sharp.
• 60D - Handheld - IS ON: all shots came out sharp.
• 60D - Handheld - IS OFF: 2 out of 3 shots came out sharp.
• Tripod - Both Cameras - IS OFF: same results as the other sharp ones, and not any better, busted.

Are they always necessary?

CONCLUSION

So what to conclude from this? You can already make your own conclusions, and you might even have different opinions about the whole matter (I would like to hear them), but here's what I learned for myself, tripods have many more uses than just trying to get the sharpest shot possible, however when seeking the sharpest possible shot (especially when printed big):

• Always use a tripod at slow shutter speeds when possible, even if the shutter speed is faster than the 1/focal length rule, and turn IS off instead of risking the 1% chance that something will go wonky and create some motion blur.
• Always use a tripod when shooting macro for the best results.
• Don't bother with a tripod in daylight and fast shutter speeds.

I guess that's it, do you have any other useful insights?

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Lastolite Brolly Grip Review: Soft Directional Light Anywhere

This is a preliminary review of the Lastolite Brolly Grip.  This unique lighting accessory allows you or an assistant to hold an umbrella, making it possible to get soft, directional light almost anywhere, without setting up.

In this review, I wanted to focus on using it by myself, without an assistant or light stand.  I also wanted to have a lot of sample shots to show the real-world potential of the Brolly Grip.

When there is no feasible surface to bounce from, one of my favorite light modifiers is a handheld umbrella, a technique that I read about from Bob Krist.  I put together my own version here and later found a rare handheld umbrella made by Propet (reviewed here).  The Propet handheld umbrella worked well, but it had two significant weaknesses: First, the coldshoe does not hold a flash securely (on one occasion, my YN560 fell into the water).  Second, the screws on some of the parts tend to come loose and are not easily replaced.  Plus, the Propet handheld umbrella itself is very hard to find.  In the last couple of years I've only seen it listed on eBay three times.

When Lastolite announced the Brolly Grip I was intrigued even though I already had the Propet bracket.  I thought it was somewhat pricey but not ridiculously so.  I finally took the leap and was surprised that it was actually out of stock.  After a few weeks of waiting, my order came a couple of days ago.

The Lastolite Brolly Grip with Nikon SB-800 and a Creative Light 25" Shoot-Through Umbrella

The Brolly Grip is made of a light but very durable plastic with a matte finish.  The top part of the handle has a removable cold shoe.  The cold shoe can be rotated if you loosen the thumbscrew that holds it in place.  The cold shoe can also be faced backwards if you prefer the grip to be tilted the other way.  The cold shoe doesn't have a receptacle for a locking pin and instead holds the flash through friction and pressure.

The grip holds the flash horizontally, placing it close to the axis of the umbrella, maximizing the use of the umbrella surface.  However, this leads to other problems with optical triggering as discussed below.  It also requires a flash that has a head that can be raised 90 degrees.  The grip has a downward angle of around 30 degrees.  I find this useful for holding the umbrella above the subject or as far off to the side as possible.  If you have a light stand or boom, this could also help you add short light or possibly even a back light (see here).

Just above the grip are two holes for an umbrella to accommodate an 8mm and 10mm shaft.  The bottom of the grip has a hollow receptacle for a 5/8 studs commonly used in light stands.

Strangely, there is no thumbscrew to hold the umbrella.  Instead, you just slide the umbrella shaft in and it is held with friction by an o-ring inside the shaft.  This leads to a few problems as discussed below.

Lastolite has a video demonstrating how the product is used:



SOFT DIRECTIONAL LIGHT ANYWHERE

Lastolite's demo shows good results but the photographer had the benefit of an assistant.  What about the rest of us who don't have VALs?  One of the key benefits of the Brolly Grip after all is the possibility of using it by yourself.  Is it really feasible to use it alone and does it really provide soft directional light in real world conditions?

I took my son to a playground and had the chance to use the Brolly Grip in sunny outdoors with no bounce surfaces available.  I used a Creative Light 25-inch Translucent Umbrella.  For my flash, I used a Nikon SB-800 triggered optically via CLS Advanced Wireless Lighting, using my Nikon D300's popup flash as a commander.  I held the Brolly Grip with one hand and the camera with the other.  When I was holding the Brolly Grip with my right hand, I would cradle the camera below the lens and press the shutter with my ring finger (it helps that I don't use a battery grip and my Tamron 17-50 VC isn't a huge lens).  An alternative to this finger stretching method is to use a remote shutter.

Anyway, here are some of the shots:

Here are some shots where the flash use is more overt:

For testing purposes, I also made some comparison shots showing the difference between ambient only versus the shot with flash (note: in the first and third comparison, the flash shot was already edited in Lightroom; the second set of comparison shots are straight-out-of-the-camera):

Even though I was using a small umbrella and I could only reach so far to the side with my arm, the light does look reasonably soft and directional.  Certainly not always as soft as bounce flash but a huge improvement over direct flash.  Plus, unlike bounce flash, I didn't have to worry about the color of the bounce surface.

CRITICISMS
I have some issues with the design.  First of all, the umbrella holder doesn't have any kind of thumbscrew or clamp to hold an umbrella securely.  Instead, there is a thin rubber o-ring inside each slot to hold an umbrella with friction.  On one hand, it is easy to insert an umbrella.  On the other hand, there is a risk that the umbrella might slide off.  I'm especially worried about the inevitable wear on the o-ring, which may make the grip more loose in the future.  Another disadvantage is that your umbrella shaft must be exactly 8mm or 10mm.  That worked for two of my umbrellas but my 19" reflective umbrella was tapered so it's too loose for the 8mm.  I also don't know how well the slots can hold umbrellas with hexagonal (as opposed to round) shafts.  My workaround for this issue is to wrap a little tape around the shaft to make the shaft thicker and allow it to be held more tightly.

The second biggest issue I have with the design is the cold shoe.  The cold shoe does not use a 1/4-20 hole.  Instead, it uses a non-standard size.  This makes it hard to use a third party cold shoe such as Nikon's AS-19 Flash Stand or a Frio Cold Shoe.  If you have a thumbscrew that is long enough, it is possible to use a Frio.  However, I haven't found a thumbscrew long enough to use with my Nikon SC-29 TTL Cord.

I have a few other minor gripes such as:

• the grip angle is non-adjustable, making it less useful when paired with a light stand;
• I wish they included a 1/4 and 3/8 spigot so that the grip can be used with a tripod.  Might as well include a hole in that spigot too so that the lower thumbscrew can securely hold the spigot and prevent the grip from rotating.

TRIGGERING OPTIONS
One of the challenges with the Brolly Grip is the need for reliable triggering.  If you're using the grip handheld, then the simplest solution is a TTL cord.  Triggering would be very reliable and simple - just like using the flash on-camera.  Plus, you can position the flash in any direction without having to worry about whether the flash will receive the signal.  Unfortunately, because of the non-standard screw size for the cold shoe, you'll need either a long enough screw to attach the TTL cord to the Brolly Grip or you'll need a shoe-to-1/4 adapter.

Using a radio trigger is another alternative.  There are many reliable radio triggering solutions such as a Radiopopper.  On the other hand, radio triggers with TTL capability are quite expensive.

The remaining alternative is optical triggering.  Optical triggering is not ideal with the Brolly Grip for at least a few reasons.  First, the Brolly Grip places the flash horizontally.  On most flashes, the sensor for optical triggering faces the front or the side of the flash (on the SB-800, the sensor faces mostly to the side but slightly to the front).  When the flash is placed horizontally, the sensor can only face one side of the flash.  With the Brolly Grip that means that if you use switch the grip from one hand to the other, the sensor will face away from the popup flash. My workaround for this is to hold the grip upside down if I switch hands.  If I will use that side for a while, then I rotate the cold shoe so that the flash sensor will again face the popup flash.

Second, if the Brolly Grip is used outdoors in bright sunlight, then a popup flash as commander may have difficulty putting out enough light to be detected by the remote flash.

Despite these limitations, optical triggering isn't so bad in the real world.  Most of the time I was able to trigger the SB-800 successfully with my popup flash.  Sometimes, when the SB-800 wasn't triggered, all I would need to do is to move the flash a bit forward to bring it within the scope of the popup flash.  Considering that I was shooting mostly in bright sunlight (i.e. almost the worst case scenario), I would say that optical triggering is a realistic alternative, even if it isn't ideal.

Picking flowers for mommy

USABILITY
We've already seen that it is possible to get soft directional light with the Brolly Grip.  However, how practical is it for real world use?

In my view, if I have the option to use bounce flash, I would prefer to bounce for simplicity, softness and directional control.  If bouncing is not an option but the ambient light is good, I might use a ring flash instead as fill for simplicity and ease of use.  For other situations when bouncing is not an option and the ambient light is not favorable, a handheld umbrella would probably be my preferred solution.  In that regard, the Brolly Grip is the best handheld umbrella I have right now.

UMBRELLA OPTIONS
The Brolly Grip can be ordered by itself or as a kit with a 19.7 inch (50cm) shoot-through umbrella (also available separately).  I already have a couple of small umbrellas (a 19 inch reflective and a 25 inch shoot-through) so I just ordered the grip.  I later found out that Lastolite also makes a 36 inch (90cm) TriFold Umbrella that folds down to just 10 inches.  I've ordered the TriFold Umbrella and will post about it shortly.  If you want to see a list of other small umbrellas, check out this post.

RELATED POSTS:

1. Handheld Umbrella - An Excellent Light Modifier
2. Handheld Umbrella Indoors
3. Small Umbrellas
4. Ultimate Handheld Umbrella - Propet Umbrella Bracket
5. Creative Light Shoot-Through Umbrella
6. Do Small Modifiers Work? 
7. 12 Alternatives to Bouncing from Ceilings and Walls

DISCLOSURE: I'm not affiliated with Amazon or Lastolite nor am I sponsored by them.  I bought the Brolly Grip for my own use and am providing this review for informational purposes.  I do have an Amazon Associates account and in this article I've linked to Amazon pages for the products mentioned, which means if you purchase the product I will get an approximately 4% commission (without any additional cost to you and which is a welcome way of supporting this blog).

MORE SAMPLE SHOTS

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