Should My Nonprofit Invest in a Tripod?

brhodes · Mar 5, 2012

Many of my clients are small nonprofits without a large photography budget. We're trying to help them identify basic necessities if they need to do some work themselves, particularly for events and promotional materials about their organizations. There has been some debate as to whether nonprofits should invest in a tripod as one of their basic photography needs and I wanted to get thoughts from forum members. Any opinions?

Josh220 · Mar 5, 2012

A GOOD tripod is essential IMO. A poor quality one is worthless, and you are better off hand-held.

What is your budget? What kinds of photo's do they take? (i.e., people, portraits, landscape, etc...) Are the events all the same and only snapshots of people at the event? What's the lighting like at these events?

MReid · Mar 5, 2012

Depends on what the subjects are. I shoot people and never use a tripod. Landscapes almost always.
Shooting products will always need a tripod.
My guess is that the answer is probably Yes.

Bitter Jeweler · Mar 5, 2012

It depends.

Overread · Mar 5, 2012

As said a lot of it will depend what kind of shots they are going for as well as what kind of gear that they have to work with. If they have reason to need a tripod then investing in one is a suitable approach - however if their gear and situations don't need the added support it would be a waste for them.

They can also get some fairly cheap ones on ebay - a lot of older tripods, which are still very stable, go for low costs on ebay (they devalue fairly fast). The only downside is that they are likely to be fairly heavy (if you want light and stable it costs sadly).

brhodes · Mar 5, 2012

Clients' budgets are a bit varied, but many of them are focused on storing six kinds of photos: headshots and environmental portraits, location shots, mission shots, events and sponsor photos. All are geared toward communicating the nonprofits' message through imagery.

imagemaker46 · Mar 5, 2012

Chances are the cameras they are using have little weight to them so buying a big expensive tripod would be overkill, also from what you have described as the photos they are doing, I don't really see the need for one.

KmH · Mar 5, 2012

Are you a professional photographer? Or are you in some other type of business that has non-profits for clients?

Having a tripod around won't take the place of a photographer knowing how to do photography.

If they plan on putting a camera in the hands of someone that doesn't know how to use it, they won't get very good photos even if they do use a tripod.

Unless they want to promote their non-profit with less than professional imagery.

BlairWright · Mar 5, 2012

Honestly, if you don't know weather or not you need one you more than likely don't.

Not trying to be snide, another way to put it is that you will know when you need one, your photos will all have camera shake.

ClintBalsam · May 9, 2012

2 Things:

1. Yes, it's always good to have a tripod when you need it. The time will come when you need it.

2. No, you don't need to invest in a pricey tripod. You should be able to find an adequate tripod for under $100. Don't go too cheap though, tripods under $50 end up being junk. For $100-$200 you could get something decently nice. It may be worth spending the extra money for something that will last for years.

zamanakhan · May 9, 2012

ClintBalsam said:
2 Things:

1. Yes, it's always good to have a tripod when you need it. The time will come when you need it.

2. No, you don't need to invest in a pricey tripod. You should be able to find an adequate tripod for under $100. Don't go too cheap though, tripods under $50 end up being junk. For $100-$200 you could get something decently nice. It may be worth spending the extra money for something that will last for years.

i dont know about the 2nd part, i have yet to find a tripod under $100 that is half decent. Even with 100-200 they are not that great. I have a manfrotto 190xprob with a 496(?) head and i clearly see the limitations of the head and the weight of the legs. I wish i would of spent as much as a decent lens on a tripod.

However for just regular work and not doing long exposures or using heavy lenses like a 70-200, a cheaper tripod will suffice. Sure you can probably do 1/30th with a 70-200 non vr even on a $30 walmart tripod, but it will probably break quickly with the weight nor would i trust my camera ontop of it. I would rather invest in a flash maybe to freeze the motion, especially if you are simply shooting people.