Are The Tripod’s Days Numbered?

Unusually, I am going to give you the answer right at the beginning, and it’s no, the tripod’s days are not numbered. So what prompted this article, if I already knew the answer?

Put simply, the relentless march of technology has very much changed what we can do with our cameras. Thirty years ago, putting an ISO 1600 film in our camera, guaranteed very grainy images. Twenty years ago, shooting digital at 3200 promised a similar grain in the form of noise. Today, I can shoot a 61 megapixel camera at 16000 ISO and get results that look significantly better than 3200 ISO on a 12 megapixel camera 20 years ago.

Before we look at that, let’s take a look at why the tripod has been such an important part of any photographer’s life.

The Relentless Pursuit Of Image Quality

As photographers we often strive for the very best image quality that we can achieve. There are genres where this is not so important, but in fields like architecture, landscape and commercial product photography to name but a few.

Often to achieve that image quality we will need to use lenses at their sweet spot, usually around f/8 to f/11. This in turn means we tend to use a slower shutter speed to achieve these apertures, rather than raising the ISO.

Low angle long exposure shot of the River Wear and Durham Cathedral — A shot like this would not be possible without a tripod. By Rowtography

We all have limits on how well we can hold a camera at slow shutter speeds. Those limits are not only defined by our own physical ability but also by the focal length of the lens. A longer focal length, magnifies the images on the sensor and also magnifies the movement of that camera.

Those slower shutter speeds, by their very nature, mean we often will need to use a tripod. At least, that’s how it was. As we enter the second half of the 2020’s much of what I have written above is debatable. But why?

The Rapid Improvement In Camera Technology

It started with “Black Gold” in 2007. Black Gold was the nickname given to some sports photographers to the newly released Nikon D3. Whilst the megapixel race had been raging for several years, Nikon decided to keep their first full frame DSLR at 12mp and make it a low light monster. It was the first camera from which we could comfortably get usable high ISO images. But that was just the start.

Palma Cathedral shot handheld on a Nikon D3 at 4000 ISO — Handheld at 4000 ISO on a Nikon D3. By Rowtography

As sensor technology improved, higher ISOs with lower noise became the norm. They were supplemented by optical stabilisation in our lenses, often giving us an extra 3-4 stops leeway. Then came in body stabilisation, where the sensor itself moved to reduce camera shake. It was only a matter of time before both of these were combined. Using an optically stabilized lens on my Sony a7Rv can give me close to 8 stops of leeway when shooting handheld. Depending on focal length I can easily get handheld shots at ½ second or even longer with very good image quality. This, in many cases, eliminated the need to carry a tripod. But then something else came along, A.I.

Speeding tram in Lviv, Ukraine shot with a slow shutter speed — Slow shutter speed and image stabilisation enable shots like this, handheld. By Rowtography

AI Denoise A Photography Disrupter

If we are honest, A.I. caught most of us photographers by surprise. Of course the headline grabber is the increasing use of A.I. imaging and video as a threat to real photography. That’s a genuine concern and one that we must take seriously.

However, A.I. can also have a positive impact on photography. My Sony camera uses some limited A.I. for focus detection, modern editing apps allow us to mask subjects without spending hours fine tuning a selection tool in Photoshop. Then there is A.I. denoise. There wasn’t a great fanfare when Adobe introduced it into Lightroom a few years ago, yet it has revolutionised noise reduction.

Back in the day, applying noise reduction in Photoshop, even to slightly grainy images often left us with a smeary mess. If we used the sharpen slider, to reduce the smearing, it somehow looked even worse.

Now, using A.I. denoise we can turn incredibly grainy images into something resembling one shot at much lower ISOs.

Recently I shot a video, based on the subject of this video. Down on the banks of the River Tyne in Newcastle, shooting images at 16000 ISO handheld and comparing them to ones shot at 100 ISO. The results were astounding. I shot handheld at 16000 ISO, with optical and sensor stabilization, often at 1/30th of a second. I returned home and ran the images through DXO PureRaw A.I denoise and got images that were extremely close to that of the ISO 100 files shot from a tripod.

The simple fact is that this combination of technologies negates the need for a tripod in many cases. But not in all

An image shot at 16000 ISO on a 61mp camera — A 100% crop of a 16000 ISO image from the Sony a7Rv

An old bus at the Beamish Museum shot at 16000 ISO on a Sony 61mp camera — The same image treated with Lightroom AI noise reduction. By Rowtography

The Tripod Is Not Going Away

As I mentioned at the very top of this article, the tripod is not going to go away anytime soon. The reasons for this are many but here are a few.

Firstly we are still going to need to shoot ultra long exposure images. Ethereal water and skies, astrophotography are prime examples.

In camera composites and high quality panoramics all work better using a tripod.

Then there is the fact that tripods slow us down, in a very good way. They make us consider our compositions with more authority and often allow us to see details we might have missed shooting handheld. We can control the positioning of our camera with very fine movement and make sure that we maintain consistency over a series of images.

Image stacking for focus requires a camera to be locked off. Macro can be very hard without the use of a tripod.

There is as well, the simple psychology of using a tripod. The concept that by unlocking and lowering the legs, you are about to record your vision to film or sensor. You are removing the worry of camera shake and movement, freeing your mind to concentrate on composition.

Like many photographers,I have a love/hate relationship with tripods. I love the image quality I can get from them and the way they make my photography more considered. However I hate the restriction they place on me, both physically and creatively.

The recent technological advances in photography have opened up more creative choices for us. There is now a whole new world of low light photography that we can explore without the need to carry our three legged friends. It will always be there when we need it, it’s just there are more occasions now when we don’t.