To be honest, I'm trying my hardest to stop saying 'to be honest' as much. Honestly. New presets here if you're interested :) bit.ly/3t5hHjR

'The reason for buying a new tripod are threefold'. That would be the legs then?

tripods, presets, full frame... I am doubting all that I thought was true and good in the world!!

I’m brand new to photography, love the content, the dry sense of humour and the English accent 👍🏼

Hates tripods gets excited about his new tripod.

"Brace myself with my head between my legs" - You don't want to know what my wife said when she overheard this! :) :)

I still own a DSLR. It still does the job. I do not do video. I can still hand hold at 1/30 second, which is good enough. I shoot 90% of my photos on that camera between 1 pm and 4 pm. I know the light very well at those times of day by now. That includes overcasts days. I also have a Lumix LX100 which I have with me every time I leave the house. I ... never ... uses a tripod.

Beyond stability, I find tripods help greatly with composition. I'm one who often uses a tripod, but recently had to choose between taking my tripod, or crampons - which isn't really a choice. Light wasn't a problem and it was liberating to just 'get the shot'. But critically, I think I could have got better results if I had been able to frame shots with the accuracy of a stable platform.

Modern stabilisation systems are offering up to 8 stops advantage - equivalent of dropping 1/1000 to 1/8th second and dropping your ISO into the quality zone at the same time. Even sharp multi-second hand held shots are achievable -so my tripod seldom leaves home anymore.

I have watched every one of your youtube videos. I wanted to thank you personally for helping me with photography. Im new to photography and have learnt so so much from your videos, I love them and cant wait for the next one to come out. I never buy presets, but after using and learning and loving your free ones, when you posted news of more, I purchased them straight away. Cant wait to have a play with them. One thing you have mentioned in the past, is things you would like to see on your channel. One thing I really find useful is when you show how you edit your photos. Little quick lessons and tutorials in photoshop would be a great help to me as a beginner with photoshop. Anyway, hope this message reaches you. Keep up the great work. Love your photos and style

Glad to see your photos are all up and framed.

The box is supposed to make you think “oooh, quality” not “tripod could have been cheaper” 😂😂

The body position you used is the one I call the "golfer position", which I used for many years when I used to be a music photographer, I was able to get sharp photos even at 1/25 with a 35mm focal length, with no stabilization whatsoever, and I use it now for landscapes when I have to take a quick shot, but overall I tend to always have a (good) tripod with me.

James, we all hate frigging tripods, but the fact is they are sometimes useful. Apart from the obvious benefit when it comes to fighting off unfriendly locals and not having to give up coffee, you sometimes just need them to do a wider range of options, e.g. when the weather turns shit. Also, some of us use not-quite-state-of-the-art camera equipment with 6-stop IS etc., and so the American Sniper routine just doesn't work.

I'm waiting for an episode where you just destroy tripods in creative ways, like Top Gear did with caravans. 🤣

Handheld is much more engaging for me, but I think it's a matter of taste. I see tripod photography as a totally different style of photography. I would compare it to using a drone. But using tripods and drones can also give way better results because they are incredible tools.

I used to be violently against tripods, then I started shooting cameras from the 50s and earlier. For Large Format, it's absolutely essential to use a tripod unless it's a press type camera (tho id still recommend using one)

Honestly, i think the design peak travel tripod i got is just amasing, only 1.3 kg, its small, you dont notice its there with you. So stable and in carbon it feels just so good. So honestly yes, i always take with me a tripod. It helps me mostly to compose better:) You sir have a honestly nice weekend!

James, Great stuff as always. I recently purchased the exact same PD carbon travel tripod. Pro tip: The travel tripod tool kit can easily get pushed out of its holder on the leg. So, I took the stretchy band off the little booklet that comes inside, tied it in a loop, pushed it through the hole in the tool kit, looped the band around the leg and pushed the tool through the loop and back into its holder. This will act as a leash if it does pop out. Keep up the great work!

Emily the tripod cost £12 , just so you know, lol.

I bought the presets just because 15 pounds is a nice price to just donate to thank you for all the free advice you’re giving, so it’s nice to get something back for it too!

My favourite reason for using a tripod is at events such as car shows when it's like carrying around with you a sign saying "Excuse me please,can you just stand to one side while I take this photo"? People tend to see a camera on a tripod and get out of the way of the photo without being asked a lot more often then when you're just some random bloke holding a camera.

I only use a tripod when it's more than 1s - multi-shot/pixel-shift, dark sunset, night shots, etc. I spent a lot of time researching hand-held/auto-focus superiority systems. Pricey, to say the least. Sony a7R3, a9 and Leica SL2. And an S5 is on order. I have benign essential tremors - so, basically, espresso shake without coffee, forever. I have a few tripods for very specific purposes - one's for commercial art photography - massive carbon beast. The other, equally as important one, non-carbon version of the Peak Design. Here's the fun part: My personal favourite subject when travelling? Interiors of churches, basilicas and cathedrals. No Tripod Allowed!! Hah. So, I never even carry one.

While tripods are an annoyance, one reaches a certain age when avoiding coffee, dressing warmly, and other techniques just don’t do it anymore. One second with my G9? A dream long past...

Hates tripods so much he spends the best part of GBP 450 on a new one. Therapy? Entertaining as always James. Keep it up and stay safe.

So many questions can be answered with the word sometimes.

James.... how did you “throw” your voice like that? When you put on your new sunglasses you said “pretty cool huh?” without moving your mouth..... perhaps a hidden talent you have not showcased before? 🤣 Love the videos and what you do... please keep it up!!!

Shooting film, I’ve got used to relying on tripod any time: - the camera requires it (e.g. large format view camera) - the shutter speed is too low (slower than 1/60 or slower than 1/(2f) where f is the focal length, e.g. for 50mm I’ll go no slower than 1/100 sec) - careful composition and angle of camera is wanted (e.g. to get straight lines) - I want multiple exposures of the same scene (maybe something in it such as subject or light or clouds or my settings or film change) As bonus it slows me down, which can be a useful thing. On digital, I’d bump up the ISO, rely on IS, turn on grid lines and digital level on the display, rather than get out the tripod, unless maximum depth of field or a long exposure is wanted, or I want really low noise.

Not sure if I ever use the presets, might enjoy looking through them but bought them anyway to support one of my favorite channels.

I dislike tripods personally but I find them useful for certain situations were hand holding for various reasons is impractical. Also, any comments on bumping the ISO up some to avoid using a tripod. This trick would be somewhat dependent on your specific gear and situation.

I 've been using the Peak Design travel tripod for a while now, because I refuse to put my head between my legs.

I have the same tripod. I even bought the adapter, since I use that tripod for astrophotography and I needed a standard mount for that. Using a regular ball head works fine on that tripod as well. The compactness and ease of setup, it's really fast to setup and take down, makes it ideal for travel and saving space in a side pocket. I bought it through the kickstarter campaign, I was one of the first 100k backers. Sometimes you just need a tripod, especially in low light, at night when you have long exposures in order to take a sharp image. I've recently invested in a video monopod with a detachable tiny tripod leg base so that in tight quarters, I can still have the stability I need.

Am I the only one here childish enough to have laughed when James said, "Head between my legs..."?

I just bought your amazing presets for 15 Pounds....would have bought it for 1.000.000 but they were already cheap without a discount. So thank you very much :)

I've just thrown down some readies for your preset bundle. Tinkering (reverse engineering 👍) with your free ones helped me greatly get my noggin around Lightroom, and so 15 bin lids is a seriously reasonable price to pay for that knowledge. Your way of working (handheld, MFT user...well mostly, etc) is pretty much aligned with how I like to take photos so I'm glad I could throw some support your way! Keep up the quality work fella!

Word of caution; bicycles and (carbon fibre) tripods. Used to sling mine across the handlebars . . . and because I didn't use the tripod much; it stayed bungied there for quite a while. It wasn't till many weeks later that I realised one of the bolts, clamping the handlebars to the . . . "steery bit" . . well; the end of the bolt had almost completely drilled it's way through the carbon fibre leg. And catching hold of the roughed out bit of the leg was like broken glass. It took a bit of sanding to get rid of the ends of the fibres. I got a rear pannier rack after that. The tripod is still fine. But now it mostly lives in the back of the car . . somewhere. Oh dear; my dear old photographer lecturer, at the Plymouth school of art; always used to say; if he heard a shutter click; he'd turn round and there had better be a tripod underneath it. If I am doing special macro shots I usually use it. I am pretty sure it is still in the back of the car?

I for one reverse engineered your presets to understand how each tool in Lightroom affects the photograph. I couldn’t for the life in me figure out what and how I can make my composition presentable but your preset actually helped in filling that gap and now when I go out I actually can feel and see the end result not after the shutter has been clicked but the post edit. Sorry I didn’t mess up to pay a million pounds lol but I will pay this time. Thank you ever so much

I love my tripod... Aside from carrying, setting it up, adjusting it, taking it down and yeah.. Aside from pretty much everything about it. However, the result WHEN I use it, is why I carry it. Is it worth it though? I haven't decide yet.

For someone that hates tripods, that’s a fair bit of money to spend on one lol although the carbon fibre does look good so if it does sit on a shelf, at least it will make a nice ornament.

I’m new to photography and to your channel. Loving the content and actually learning as I watch so thank you. Hoping to upgrade my equipment this year so I can progress with wildlife photography

To be honest (to coin a phrase), as a primarily G9 shooter, the only time I carry a 'pod (Manfrotto BeFree GT XPRO Carbon) is when I plan to use high-res mode or take long exposures (mainly at night--I'm generally not a fan of the smoothing out waterfalls/raging seas cliché although I do have some NDs). I could possibly get away with hand-holding high-res (at least at shorter FLs) but why take a chance? I wish Panny would add a Mode 3 to facilitate this (if Oly can do it...).

You're right, 600 bucks is an insane price. Nice tripod though.

I primarily take pictures of the Nothern light usually at 13-22 seconds at 1.8 to 3.5 f so I'd say I need a tripod

The replacement bag is $25. That is less than 5% of the cost of the tripod. My wife got me this tripod for Xmas. I am very happy with it. I look forwarded to being able to travel again.

with myOlympus EM1X I can hand hold my 300mm, FF EQ 600mm field of view down to 20th of a second. Some people even slower. With my 12mm, FF EQ of 24mm I can hand hold downt to 1 second sometimes even 2 with sharp results.

Despite your warnings I bought quite a few preset packs over the last few years. And I ended up almost exclusively using yours! I will buy your new pack right away, even if I‘ll never use it, just as a compensation for the last one! Thanks for the great work!

I found that the in lens stabilization of my grotty old 18-55 kit lens makes this lens my best lens for hand held slow exposure shots. The short focal length probably helps a lot.

While I'm not fond of using someone else's presets for my own photos, I enjoyed using yours as a reference to gain a new perspective on my photos. Hopefully you make your first million soon James.

Bought the presets immediately, one of the easiest purchases I've made. Thanks for sharing them!

I love your videos, the way you describe photography, and the tone of your voice. Definitely one of the best channels on KZfaq 😎

Well, I'd saved up 900,990 to get the earlier set so this offer is a real bargain! Just purchased them and can't wait to try them out. To be honest, I seldom use presets but they do offer good inspiration and I love you style. Do love your channel and look forward to each new posting. Stay safe .

I really hope I'll be going out into the mountains soon, but since that requires someone to drag mountains into my country, I don't think that will happen. :)

For moving wildlife photography, definitely. For most other types of photography generally no.

Well that was an instant buy… Not the tripod of course, but the Presets.

Honestly a tripod is just too slow and inconvenient to carry for me. Anything I can do on a tripod for my regular kind of shooting, I can do _significantly_ faster handheld. In the amount of time it would take me to set one up and get a single shot, I could have manually-focused anywhere between five and ten handheld and moved on. My shooting basically says that if I need a tripod, it wasn't something I planned on shooting or particularly enjoy shooting, and if it is, I'll have a wall nearby I can rest the camera on. And if I don't, ISO 6400 on an a7III looks plenty good enough to do 1/15th of a second handheld at 35mm or 1/80th of a second handheld at 200mm.

I totally get your love/hate relationship with tripods. They can be extremely useful but it's just so....ah who am I explaining this to. Anyway, great video. 👍 Also props for putting the ad at the end of the video. Much rather watch it afterwards. Nice move. ✌️

Hey man really like your channel. I also really like your presets but I can’t really use them because I have fujifilm so I’m using capture one. Also light room does not have a free version to my knowledge and capture one does, so I use that. If there is some way you could put out a set for capture one that would be awesome. I know there probably isn’t but I figured I would throw it out there. Love your work man, keep it up

Tripods have made my life so much better, easier, more satisfying that thinking they obsolete goes against everything I've learned, experienced. Macro photography, pano, anything video, for me, it's mounted on a tripod.

With the new level of inbody and lens stabilization one doesn't need a tripod but only for long exposures.

If your going to use a Tripod the Peak Design travel tripod is a beautifully engineered/manufactured thing, got one but rarely use it because I don't want to spoil it 😛

I have to say James since watching this and having done some editing, I was using your high key punch preset (the free ones) as the starting point, and really liked the way it worked for me, so much so, I've actually gone and bought your presets, something I have never done before, and possibly will never do again, what a thing to do, honestly.....

James, love the idea of carrying the tripod on the bike and take some shots, but it seems like, at least on my camera (Alpha 7C), using the interval shooting won’t refocus at every single shot. It focus when you press the shutter, after that all shots are focused like that. What I wanted was to be able to ride the bike towards the camera while taking shots...any idea how to accomplish that?

I shoot everything hand held but use my tripod when I shoot family pictures with myself in it.

Went back to this video while trying to convince myself to get the travel tripod and be happy with it instead of lugging a hunk of steel for miles on hikes and bikes. Also, love the new presets, particularly a few specifically - I feel like they’re a tool more than a “cheat” - PLUS I made some images with my Fuji x100v and your “Old School” preset and the combination was absolutely beautiful colors and rendering. ;)

The shades are killer. They’ll look stunning with mountains reflecting in them 👍🏼

I tend to use a vintage trypods forinstance i just purchased this one HAMBURG Telescopic Camera Tripod With Leather Case Vintage Retro VGC - Fastpost and then ill stick a gimbal head on top or just a arca swiss quick release adapter plate on the standard head

I like using a tripod for certain things such as wildlife & Aurora photography. I like being handheld for sports and portraits. I just see my Tripod as just another tool at my disposal to get the shot I want.

My favorite kind of photography is astrophotography..try that handheld :P

You could upload only videos talking about binning tripods and I'd watch every one of them

I watched your first video titled: "Photography gear you shouldn't buy...", You mentioned Tripods as one of them. I got excited saying:"Yes! That's my man. He thinks in the same way as me.. Let's subscribe and binge all his videos!!" Next video was this, promoting the most expensive non-professional tripod on the planet !!!!

Good advice re tripods. Must admit since Lockdown first started I haven't used a tripod and to be honest have not felt the need, that being said, I have missed not doing long exposure work and that is primarily what my tripod is for. Bought a small travel tripod but this primarily being used for macro work. Love the new glasses!!

The money for £600 tripods has to come from somewhere I suppose. ;-)) I have the 'cheaper' aluminium one, butty. Did agonise over whether to try and stretch for the carbon version but Mr Sensible prevailed for once.

Any chance of a dedicated review of the tripod?

Of course.

I know that spot very well. Used to walk there often when I lived in Llandudno Jct. Slightly too far now living in Llandudno. Popular for night exposures of the castle. I've had a fair bit of learning experience with tripods. The first I bought was an affordable heavy duty Alu one from China. It worked well but it was quite big and heavy. Which made it pretty much useless for travel. So I bought a nice sturdy Gorillapod for a trip abroad last year (just before the travel collapse) and I found when I really needed a tripod, it was pretty much useless unless I had a bench or railing to wrap it around or a very wide and flat surface to balance on. So I decided to get a Vanguard CF travel tripod and it's so much better. Actually fits in my bag now so I don't need to hang it off my bag and advertised I've got nickable kit in there. Really good for the money. Oh and nice Sungods.

I use a tripod for most of my landscape photography because I usually bracket, and I usually shoot at golden/blue hour. Plus, I am an old guy, and I just don't think that I can hold a camera steady for that long. LOL There is nothing more frustrating than getting home and finding out that all those shots that you took handheld, and thought that they would not be blurry, turn out to be blurry. Plus, when I am bracketing, I can use one of the underexposed shots on it own, and edit that. I went through the trip-pod dilemma about a year ago, and looked at all kinds of tripods (I even looked at the one that you bought). I was most concerned about how high/low they went, and how sturdy they really are. I ended up getting a basket tripod that goes up to 62", because I am 6' tall and I don't like crouching down to look through my viewfinder. Also, a basket tripod doesn't have that pole in the middle (which really isn't that stable anyway), and it allows you to set your tripod up a lot lower. I am curious how stable that tripod is. I am sure it supports your camera, but how do you think it would do in a strong wind? My tripod is pretty sturdy, but if it is real windy, I may as well try to hand hold it.

I have a fairly high res body (D800) with 0 stabilization, so I seldom go below 1/60th at 50mm. Definitely jealous of the IBIS.

For lumix S series turn on the scope feature and practice. I’ve got good results with the scope at up to two seconds.

As i have gotten older, i found keeping my camera still enough for sharp images becoming more difficult. now I use a tripod when ever i can, when i cant, i use a monopod. Advances in technology are not always the answer.

As a (partially) colourblind photographer I really value presets, they help me get instantly away from the flat raw image and into something lifelike and/or artistic - loved your first preset pack, have no doubt the second pack will be just as good if not better - instantly ordered :) Thanks for the great content, James! P.S. are you doing anything Photography Show related this year?

I do mostly handheld, I thank my other hobbies for my ability to drop my heart rate and only take my shots when my lungs are empty (if your rib cage is moving your arms are moving) - my other hobby is target shooting, your stance is reminiscent of standing position of 3p target shooting.

BUT....imagine what a great marketing coup for any tripod company that could say "WE GOT JAMES POPSYS TO USE A TRIPOD....If he needs it than you do too! Million dollar marketing campaign.

I use tripod for astrophotography and timelapse.

Short answer, yes.

Thanks, James I've purchased your presets. After watching your work for some time, I'm happy to contribute.

Hi James. Have you tried using electronic first curtain (or EFC) for your shutter setting? I have a G80 and even though it produces hardly any shutter shock, I have found I still get sharper results under 1/20th. It's a great mode as you get the advantages of an electronic shutter without having to worry about banding or rolling shutter issues. I'd highly recommend giving it a go if you haven't already. It doesn't work with flash and is limited to 1/2000th but that's no issue really.

Hi James. Have you tried the posture with the left foot in front instead of the right one? It looks to me that it'd be more stable. Anyway, I also hate tripods

I used to hate tripods but I've grown to love them now. But I do spend a lot of time playing around with filters too. :-)

Love the videos, Thanks James!

For quite a while, I was taking my tripod with me regularly. Shooting with a Nikon D5600 and two of my lenses don't have stabilization can make it tricky. At this point, it really depends on my mood whether or not my tripod comes with me. The portability and weight of the Peak Design does make me want that though.

Awesome video. I really stand behind everything you said about presets. Also really enjoy trying to reverse engineer other peoples work for inspiration.

I also got this Peak Design tripod and I do not like it at all. You cannot do panorama and the controls are rubbish as you have to loosen up everything. I went back to my older slightly larger tripod for landscape

Yes.

James, we haven't had a drone based video from you in some time. Or where some drone footage is included. Or have I missed something?

What would a session with a psychologist cost? Cheaper than a Peak Design Tripod I think. Maybe one could cure your TRIPOD phobia!!

Sungod glasses? I think they are awesome 😎

Another great video James which was really helpful to me. I wonder a lot about how low I can go with my shutter speed without a tripod. I really dislike them myself and rarely take mine out with me. Being more senior in years I want to travel as light as possible when out with the camera. I prefer taking a sandwich and a flask of tea when picnics are allowed. I received my order of your book this week. Great work. Thanks for your cheerfulness and inspiration.

Is this another one of those late night buys on Amazon James ? Pricey choice, but it is always your choice. Thankfully I don’t have any push bikes to cater for. Went the iFootage route myself, and it’s designed in the UK. Interesting as always. Stay safe 😷🇦🇺

If you’re going to spend a lot of money on a tripod you should get a good one, stable one. A tripod with 5 leg sections is doesn’t fall into that category. Might as well use one made of toothpicks.

Hey, I’d have brought your presents as £15 is a fair price and a little less than I was expecting. Sadly I don’t use Lightroom instead preferring Capture One Pro, so I’m assuming the presets are not compatible. :-( p.s. you are my favourite content creator currently.