ISO, Filters, Post Processing, etc

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[Mickeymoo]

Thanks Brett, a lot of people seem to go down the HDR/blended exposure path, maybe because of lack of filters or maybe they just like the HDR look, but personally I don't like the effect in natural landscapes, however, done subtly, and by someone who knows what they are doing you wouldn't even know some are HDRs. Having the filters however, makes a HUGE difference in low light/sunset/sunrise landscape photography in achieving good quality and properly exposed photos, before I got filters I was pushing the shadow recovery way too far and it detracted a lot from the quality of the photos, it hasn't unfortunantly reduced the amount time spent on processing much as there is still a fair amount of basic processing to be done (processing the RAW file, straightening horizons, removing dust spots, nosie reduction and sharpening and often curves adjustments, dodging, burning, saturation and contrast etc.) but I am finding as I improve the time spent on each image is getting less and less as I'm getting them more how I want in camera, but processing will always need to be done even if only in its most basic form (much to my disappointment). I agree that good software is dam expensive and very hard to justify, but just as good lenses and filters are an integral part of high quality photos so to is reasonable software, a good example of this is noise reduction (mainly when doing long exposures, or using high ISOs) but poor noise reduction software will ruin a photo whereas a good one will do a beautiful and seamless job.

Also in my humble opinion quite a few dramatic photographs are better classified as digital art rather than natural photographs.

Yes this is where I tend to struggle with mine, I have been trying to move more and more towards producing more natural shots, but it gets quite hard with the long exposures (which for some reason I have always been drawn to) as part of me feels that its not a "natural" style, but then the other part has always been drawn to the use of long shutter speeds, and then how do you define "natural" or "normal"? from who or whats perspective etc etc, then I think well its about conveying a feeling or emotion as well and then it get all confusing as there is a big grey area inbetween art and the natural reproduction of a scene, so I just keep doing what I'm doing

Cheers,
Michael.

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[Mickeymoo]

Gday Brett,

I currently use Adobe Photoshop CS3 with the Noise Ninja plugin for noise reduction, I think really the two essential components is good RAW converter/processor and especially good Noise Reduction software, noise ninja is avaliable as a standalone program so you don't need photoshop to use it and I'm sure there are many other standalone RAW processors out there that are very good for much less than photoshop, and even an average program should be able to do things like crop, straighten horizons and dodge/burn. Unfortunantly I was born into the digital age and only used a film camera when I was much younger and just taking happy snaps etc so I'v grown up using programs like that etc which makes it easier to get used to it. I just use keyboard and mouse, my computer is in need of extensive upgrading as is the monitor, which needs to be bigger and calibrated!

Also photography is like any pursuit that has a strong equipment focus, in that it has people believing that they can achieve greatness by buying the next super camera when in fact it is much more complex than that plus much more hard work!

Very true just because someone has a top of the line camera and lens in their hand doesn't garuntee them of getting great photos. Luck is nearly always a big component, but you can increas your luck by studying your subject and being able to anticipate what might happen and where to be etc.

Yep GND filters are a definant addtion to the kit! and CPLs can be very handy.

Um? is overload pack carrying an Olympic sport yet?

Lol it should be shouldn't it

To tell the truth, I have very little technical knowledge and have read basically no books on the technical side of things, I have just taught myself by taking lots of photos, looking at other peoples work (like all the great photos posted on here, and other noted wilderness photographers in Tasmania) and experimenting, but then I tend to learn better by doing things rather than reading about them, and everyone learns differently, but certainly you have to be out there to get the photos in the first place, and thats the best part about it all. Look forward to seeing a few photos from you in the future then

Cheers,
Michael.

[north-north-west]

Technical schmechnical. As you've mentioned it here, I'll raise the question here but if it needs to be moved elsewhere, feel free (as long as you let me know).
Noise reduction? Please explain? (and, for the record, allow me to mention that on the ABC tech talk forum, I login as cybercretin. It's apt.) I have gathered that it's something to do with long exposures, but after that I'm lost . . .

Oh, and where can I get one of those Singh Ray variable neutral density filters? I've bumped into the term before in the past but it never really sank in. And how much will it set me back?
Hmmmm, and, while I'm at it (please excuse the importunity. Suddenly I want to KNOW all this stuff), I've noticed the ISO settings you've used on those shots, mostly 200 or 400. How much of a difference - and what kind - does varying the ISO make to the shot compared to fiddling with aperture and shutter speed?

[Mickeymoo]

Technical schmechnical. As you've mentioned it here, I'll raise the question here but if it needs to be moved elsewhere, feel free (as long as you let me know).
Noise reduction? Please explain? (and, for the record, allow me to mention that on the ABC tech talk forum, I login as cybercretin. It's apt.) I have gathered that it's something to do with long exposures, but after that I'm lost . . .

Ok I'll try and explain it as best I can, please ask more questions if you don't understand any of it, I don't have that good a grip on the technical side of it myself, so someone else more experienced may like to chip in here too?

Firstly I'll explain ISO, in the days of film you used to buy films with differnt ASAs (known as ISO these days) and the ISO related to the size of the silver "grains" that are exposed to the light where the photo is burned to the film, so a low ISO number e.g. 100 meant that the grains of silver were very small and less sensitive to light than a higher ISO e.g. 800 which is more sensitive, another words the higher the ISO the more visable the grain in a photo, but the less light that is needed to make a correct exposure.

However in the age of digital, noise and ISO are slightly different but are essentially the same thing. A low ISO will need a longer exposure/wider apeture than a higher ISO to get a properly exposed photo, e.g. ISO 100 is half as senstive to light as ISO 200 is and so on. Now digital noise comes in two forms luminance noise and colour noise, the luminance noise is the "grain" you can often see on a photo, colour noise when viewed in small size photos is less noticable.

So noise reduction relates to software that removes this luminance and colour noise from a photo, now some cameras perform better than others in the noise department, however the Canon 5D which in its day was basically the camera as far as noise performance went, and I can easily use ISOs 50, 100, 200 and 400 and even 640 in certain circumstances without much noise appearing (for a more normal exposure of 1 second or greater), at ISO 800 and above noise becomes much more pronounced. Now with a long exposure, noise gets much worse, the longer the exposure the more noise that is produced, so the lowest ISO possible is used in long exposures to reduce noise to a level that software can usually remove to an acceptable standard, this is where I noticed a big difference between the enrty level 400d and the 5d, the 5ds noise is much easier removed by software than that of the 400d, why? I have no idea

Oh, and where can I get one of those Singh Ray variable neutral density filters? I've bumped into the term before in the past but it never really sank in. And how much will it set me back?

Do you mean graduated neutral density filters? where one half of the fliter is dark the other light? Singh-Ray is the top of the line GND filters and are very very expensive at around US$160+P&H a filter (they do come with a nice felt lined pouch for the filter as a bonus ) then you also have to by a filter holder and adaptor ring! But there are cheaper options e.g. cokin filters which are much cheaper, but they aren't as good a quality and are known to produce colour casts (e.g. they can give things a reddish/pink tint especially when more than one is used) as they are not truely clear and have impurities within the filter, but if wanting to get an idea if you like them and to learn with they would be ok, lee is another good brand and a little less expensive I think.

Now just in case you aren't talking about GND filters there actually is a variable neutral density filter by Singh-Ray, they are filters that screw onto the end of the lens, and just make the whole scene darker by a given stop, the variable is like a circular polarising filter where you turn it, however the ND just gets darker, so you can make it 2 stops darker or up to 8 stops darker, these are also very espensive at US$390 a pop

The Singh-Ray filters can only be ordered directly from them in America, as they make the GNDs on demand (and can even make all sorst of weird ones, like a v shaped dark line for valleys etc) but have a look at the Singh-Ray website, as they explain and show the differnt types of filters - http://www.singh-ray.com/grndgrads.html

Hmmmm, and, while I'm at it (please excuse the importunity. Suddenly I want to KNOW all this stuff), I've noticed the ISO settings you've used on those shots, mostly 200 or 400. How much of a difference - and what kind - does varying the ISO make to the shot compared to fiddling with aperture and shutter speed

Ok all the ones with ISO 200 or 400 meant I was hand holding the camera because I didn't have my tripod with me or was in the kayak, all the ones with ISO 50 will mean I was using a tripod. Take photo 2 as an example, the details were ISO 200, f/16 and shutter speed of 1/160th of a second, the difference between ISO 100 and 200 at these shutter speeds will make very little difference as far as noise performance goes so that main thig was that it was easier to adjust the shutter speed up and down to suit the changing conditions, a faster than needed shutter speed was also desirable as it was very windy and this will help reduce any sign of camera movement (although this would be very unlikely to make much differnce). So basically I set it to ISO 200 and wanted a good apeture with a large depth of field so just adjusted the shutter speed as necassary. Now the ones where the ISO was set higher e.g. photo 9 settings were ISO 640, f/9 and shutter speed 1/60th sec, as it got a lot darker going up the Donaldson River, 1/60th sec was the minimum shutter speed i wanted to use and f/9 about the lowest I wanted to go with the apeture, so the ISO was bumped up to 640, colour noise was quite noticable but noise reduction handled this with ease, a lower quality camera like the 400d would probably have struggled to remove the noise to an acceptable level.

So I hope that in all that I have somehow awnsered your questions If not sing out and I'll try and explain them a bit better.

Cheers,

Michael.

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[Mickeymoo]

Nice one, you will have much fun playing round with the new software! I have to agree that the 400D was very good value for money and produced some very good results with just the kit lens, the real difference comes in the noise performance and the fact that the 5D has the full frame sensor. The jump in noise performance is really noticable with even 4-5 min exposures being reasonably easy to remove noise, the full frame is also fantastic, but did take a bit of getting used to, as I love the use of lots of foreground I found I had to get even closer and was quite hard to get good compositions at first, but then you get used to it quickly and its fantastic, just have to watch that focus is in the right spot! Yeah RAW makes a HUGE difference but then it does require a bit more work.

One of the problems with long exposures with film cameras was colour shift. By that film might be quite sensitivity to blue light but with careful use of the "right" mixture of chemicals this could be controlled for the "normal" range of exposures. Go to extremes of long exposures and then colour shift happens towards the blue spectrum. I would imagine that digital sensors would have a similar issue but then be controlled by the inbuilt software within the camera but probably optimised to "normal" exposure ranges.

Yes blue casts are often seen in long exposures, but with the wonders of digital a little tweak of the white balance in the RAW file and all fixed

Once again thank you to Michael for your willingness to explain a few tricks and rekindled my interest in photography.

No worries at all, very glad that some of my rambling has helped

[photohiker]

Michael,

Great shots. Which Singh Ray graduated ND are you using?

I bought a couple last year and haven't really gotten into it. The one time I tried it all seemed too dark. Must get back to them.

I've got the Singh Ray ND Reverse 3-, a Hitech 0.9 hard edge, and a Hitech 0.6 hard edge.

Regards,

Michael

[Mickeymoo]

Gday Michael,
Thanks very much. I currently have a 3 stop reverse, a 3 stop soft and a 2 stop hard, I definantly need to get more GNDs (but with the current AUD-USD I think I will be waiting a bit!) 3 GNDs is a little limiting at times, but they have generally served me well so far. The reason they may be too dark is that you only have hard graduations, depending on the type of scene you are shooting of course, the hard step isn't always good, this is where the soft step is really handy in controlling the sky and not making the hills/mountains etc too dark, that and a bit of dodging and burning at times helps getting dark lines/dark areas in a photo right, also placing them at slight angles can be really helpful. I have found that mostly the 3 stop soft and reverse get used the most as there aren't many horizons that are flat with no hills etc, although if in the distance it can work ok.

I had a quick look at your gallery, and you have some nice photos. So for example the Heemskirk Coast sunset ones a hard stop would be good, but the reverse would be even better. Using a hard stop on the lake silena sunrise would not work very well and a soft stop would be good as it would only slightly darken the hills but control the sky nicely.


Michael.

[photohiker]

Hi Michael,

Thanks for the help. Nothing like some hints from someone who has actually used the gear with success. I think I need to head down the beach and just get used to using them. Those Heemskirk coast shots would have been good candidates I agree, except the whole rig was tinkering on the balance of a 30+ metre drop onto rocks at the time. Great part of the world though. Thanks for looking.

That's the second place in Tas I've come close to losing it off the edge, the other one was on the ledge at D'Alton falls. <bump, snatch, save, sweat>

Michael

[Mickeymoo]

I quite like the effect on the Heemskirk ones, but it was more the type of composition that lends itself to the GNDs, but the best way is just to go practice, as once you get the hang of them they become easier and do make a big difference.

except the whole rig was tinkering on the balance of a 30+ metre drop onto rocks at the time

The things we do to get photos Luckily I haven't had any really close shaves like that yet! No doubt it will come though.

[north-north-west]

Now just in case you aren't talking about GND filters there actually is a variable neutral density filter by Singh-Ray, they are filters that screw onto the end of the lens, and just make the whole scene darker by a given stop, the variable is like a circular polarising filter where you turn it, however the ND just gets darker, so you can make it 2 stops darker or up to 8 stops darker, these are also very expensive at US$390 a pop
Michael.

Yes, that was the one I meant, although the discussion on the graduated filters has started me lusting after them, too.
*sigh*
The days of point and press were so much simpler.

Now, I have to see whether CS2 has noise reduction . . .

ps: Thanks.

[stoogest]

I hope this is ok, but there's quite a few of us photo-taking bushwalkers that participate in the Ausphotogaphy forum (http://www.ausphotography.net.au). It's a Tasmanian owned site that is very friendly, has a very large Tasmanian membership and has fantastic advice for beginners and experts. For those looking to improve their skills I highly recommend it!!

On the software side of things, I use Lightroom to almost all my processing as I find it very user friendly and can do just about everything. The only thing I use Adobe CS3 for is the odd dodge/burn.

Regardless of what software you decide to use, you've got to be able to get the composition right first!!

Regarding RAW, it took me a while to take the plunge but I haven't looked back. Sure there is definitely more work involved in post processing, but the results are so much better than what the camera default settings come up with (particularly the control over white balance)!!

Cheers!

[Mickeymoo]

The days of point and press were so much simpler.

Now, I have to see whether CS2 has noise reduction . . .

Lol, yes the more you get into it the more complicated it gets thats for sure, CS2 should definantly have some form of noise reduction, but if you can get hold of noise ninja I would highly recommend it. Neat Image is a noise reduction program I used (the stand alone version) for quite a while and the results were quite good plus its free! you can download it from http://www.neatimage.com/ the free version does have some limitations like not being able to save as a 16 bit image or a tiff, but I used to just use it second last step and sharpen straight after noise reduction.

I hope this is ok, but there's quite a few of us photo-taking bushwalkers that participate in the Ausphotogaphy forum (http://www.ausphotography.net.au). It's a Tasmanian owned site that is very friendly, has a very large Tasmanian membership and has fantastic advice for beginners and experts. For those looking to improve their skills I highly recommend it!!

Yeah I was thinking of mentioning that here, but wasn't sure. But I would also highly recommend this site for those who also love photography, very good for beginner or experienced alike, and you will find a wealth of information and many people willing to help.

Michael.

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[stoogest]

The humble tripod is the best investment I've made so far. It's incredible the flexibility it gives you (as well as a quality improvement).

[Mickeymoo]

It was an active weekend with purchases and setting up. I am now the proud owner of a new tripod (base model as I could not believe what some go for!) and the Cokin ND4 graduated filter in the P size. Out in the park for a few photos and the usual learning experience and back to the computer along with a book on the subject. All I can say to date is I am even more impressed by the photographs having experimented! It will take some considerable time to even cover the basics. Gee point and shot was so much easier

Cheers Brett

Yeah they do take a bit of getting used to thats for sure, its a whole new ballpark. Yep sometimes I wonder why I do it too instead of just taking a point and shoot approach, but the effort is usually rewarded by coming home with some good photos!! A tripod will help immensly, even a cheap flimsy one is better than no tripod, and I certainly done have a big heavy one, just a lightweight $100 job that does the job, although the salt water and sand are starting to take their toll

[the_camera_poser]

The humble tripod is the best investment I've made so far. It's incredible the flexibility it gives you (as well as a quality improvement).

It's a learning curve. Just stick with it, and it'll all come together for you. The best thing you can do is take your camera off of the basic settings (sports, night, portrait, landscape, etc etc), and shoot in the manual zone- I prefer Av. Unless it's for something like your daughter's birthday, when it might be better to use the camera like a big point-and-shoot.......

Also, posting your shots on a friendly forum, and I mean FRIENDLY- there's lots of not-so-nice-ones out there. The one already referred to is a great place to start off.

There's a multitude of free resources on the net to help too.

You might want to hook up with someone who knows a bit about it to get some hands-on pointers.

Enjoy!

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[photohiker]

Be very, very careful Brett.

A tripod addiction is hard to cure...

Whatever you do, don't start looking at better ballheads, and stay completely away from brands like Gitzo, Markins, Kirk, RRS (Really Right Stuff) because I can tell you from personal experience that what we are looking at here is an addiction. On the bright side, I am very close to having the right tripods now though, Only need to swap out one set of legs for something lighter and more stable.

What is this cross-bracing you talk of? Alas I have none of that, maybe I need another 'pod...

Michael

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[stoogest]

I started out with a budget of $300, but after finding out that the head and tripod are purchased separately I very quickly raised that to $500 (and I am still nowhere near a top of the line tripod!!). I ended up getting the 190XProB and about the only bad thing about it is that it's a tad heavy for extended walks. I absolutely love the fact it has the fold down clamping mechanism on the legs rather than a screw, as I am constantly changing positions (sometimes on fairly uneven terrain) and to have to unscrew and then retighten every time would be a major pain I reckon. The other thing I'm very happy with was the decision to go for a ball head (with panning ability) rather than a pan and tilt. Again, for speed of setting up it's just brilliant.

[tasadam]

Be very, very careful Brett.

A tripod addiction is hard to cure...

Whatever you do, don't start looking at better ballheads, and stay completely away from brands like Gitzo, Markins, Kirk, RRS (Really Right Stuff) because I can tell you from personal experience that what we are looking at here is an addiction. On the bright side, I am very close to having the right tripods now though, Only need to swap out one set of legs for something lighter and more stable.

What is this cross-bracing you talk of? Alas I have none of that, maybe I need another 'pod...

Michael

Ah, goodee! Someone that knows about tripods...
Can I pick your brains here...

I am looking for a new tripod because the main one I have is a piece of Chinese junk that I am sick of struggling with.
I've had a quick look at Gitzo and I know I am probably going to spend perhaps $1200, but there are so many to choose from and where to start looking... Nothing here in Tassie in any shops, so to get to see them I would have to include the cost of a trip to the mainland to visit a proper photography supplies shop.
Then there's the other brands...
I like the versatility of my current tripod, but it would be cool to have one of those swivel-arms like one of the Gitzo ones - I think they are called a multi-position column or some such.

Carbon fibre is pretty well a must, even still they come in at about 1.5 kg's. Then the ballhead that is anothyer 500 grams.
Lighter is better, but for me not at the expense of reliability or strength. I'm sick of owning Chinese junk.

So what do you reckon? What should I look at?
Regular use includes standing the legs in water and mud, being strapped to the outside of the pack in all conditions, etc.

I currently own a worn out Benro piece of junk. About $300 from memory, carbon fibre, very similar to this one.

Benro C-158, similar to the M-128 I own

benro-c158.jpg (7.34 KiB) Viewed 40088 times

I also have the KB-1 Ballhead.

We also have one of THESE - a really great tripod, though it is alloy so a bit heavy.
Also with the Benro KB-1 ballhead.
I like the leg system on this macro tripod, but it is a little slower to use than the Benro, if the Benro worked properly.
Any advice you can offer, I'd be happy to look at. Thanks.

[photohiker]

Oh dear.

The Benro is apparently a reasonably faithful imitation of the Gitzo. (I've never actually held a Benro, so I don't have an opinion of them, except the usual 'you gets what you pay for') What is it about the Benro that is worn out and/or junk?

If you like the Kirk, then I would suggest perusing the Manfrotto legs collection, as the Low Boy is a modified Manfrotto pod. The plusses are that they are stocked in many photography shops (do you have a 'Teds over there?) Parts are readily available, and they have many good and solid models. The minuses is that you might not find what you want in stock and what you want is likely quite expensive, especially if it has 'carbon' in it. I have a set of the 055 legs that I like quite a lot unless I need to carry them far. Great for places you can get to by car, and more solid than my other pod, but it redeems iteslf by weighing only 1.6kg or thereabouts with head.

I think you need to have a tripod of any type to be able to decide what suits you, by comparing it with what you see someone else with and reading reviews etc. I'm a Canon shooter (because Olympus deserted me) but there is a dude writing about Nikon gear that has written some really good info about camera support Bythom camera support.

As far as the extensions that you speak of, they look really cool, but I don't have one, mainly because as soon as you extend that column, even the standard style, you are losing stability of the tripod. My hike pod had an extension, but I replaced it with a solid base from Mr Kirk as it allows me to get lower if I want, and it actually improved the stability which was already pretty good for a smaller tripod. Most of the brands have a model with out column, or a short column option.

Once you have your basic tripod, try to adopt a 'buy once' philosophy. Even if it meand keeping your old legs or head and just upgrading the other part. It helps that all these things are interchangeable. It also helps if you buy at least reasonable gear, because there is a healthy secondhand market for items you decide to upgrade. I recently sold four manfrotto heads on ebay for good money to finance another ballhead...

Got to go, teatime. Hope that helps!

Michael

[tasadam]

Thanks for the advice.
http://www.tasadam.com/benro/ is a link with some photos of the bits inside the legs that are supposed to hold it together.

What's wrong with Benro?

The rubber twisty bits that you turn to extend the legs shouldn't need any more than a quarter turn to loosen them enough to extend.
The worn out / self destructed bits of cheap crappy white plastic inside the legs mean that you need to loosen the rubber bits a fair bit more. You need to rotate the leg into the correct position because if you don't, when you tighten the leg then put weight on it eg a camera, the leg sags. When extending the legs, one leg will extend beyond the stopper and come right out, costing a couple of minutes while you unscrew the leg completely and reassemble it. The feet have rusted so you either have rubber round feet or spikes, depending on what position they are in, not that that matters much (should have been made of stainless). The ballhead mechanism with its standard grease is too stiff and hard to move, you need to disassemble them when they're new, then clean them out and use a more pliable lubricant. The rotate (pan) locking knob came out, and it isn't available any more - I bought one from Benro Sydney but it's now a different thread size, $20 for nothing. The white plastic bits that are in the legs are less than two years old and are no longer available because they changed the design from M-128 to C-158, very different - $68 for nothing. I'll have to think about what else it is that frustrates me about this tripod. Apart from if the legs are being folded up and you don't rotate them to just the right position to slide, they're hard to push in. So you're pushing, then they give and it goes in at a great pace, pinching your finger or the web between your thumb and 1st finger (had a few nasty cuts from that). Now I just loosen them and press the whole thing against the ground, very cumbersome.
And because they are hard to get to lock without sag, I find myself having to tighten the legs more than should be needed, making it very difficult with cold hands (as is often the case here in Tassie) to use.

No Teds in Tassie. 11 in Melbourne but none in Tassie.
Any time I am using tripod extension to the point that I think movement may be an issue, I use the timer, or a remote control shutter release that I built with the mirror-up lock feature.
Main reason for the arm would be for Macro work, so for extended walks we wouldn't need to carry 2 tripods.

Thanks for ther advice, I will digest over time.

[photohiker]

Thanks for the Benro info, reads like a nightmare. I had read about the problems with the ballheads, but was not aware of the problems with the legs.

My hike pod is a Gitzo. I bought it in Hong Kong on an OS trip. I found myself in a wonderful store that had about 30 Gitzo models on display and a rack of ballheads to try. The staff were great, they just did their initial sales spiel and then left me to play. It took me about an hour to reduce the field down to 2x2 ( 2 heads and 2 tripods) and then I went away to think about it. Returned the next day and walked out with a smaller 3 section tripod that was more stable and lighter (but less compact) than the alternative 4 section one, and a Manfrotto MG ballhead which since has gone the ebay way. It was actually ok, I eventually decided I didn't like the Manfrotto plate system, so off it went. Replaced with a Markins Q3 head which is great. Gitzo has since rejigged their entire model numbering system so I have no idea if they even make that model now. It's been great and it has been in a lot of places from the OT and Tarkine coast in Tas, through Europe, the Adelaide hills and into the outback and has never given a moments trouble.

I've never seen a Gitzo in a photo shop in Australia. Sticker shock is probably a big part of the reason. That makes it hard to make a selection, but if you go that way, HK is a good place to buy them.

Michael

[photohiker]

Oh yea, I re-read the ByThom camera support article, and I'm definitely in his $1700 class of tripod 'investors'

The one thing I have done different is that I have moved the discard gear on via ebay, and my net is definitely less than the US 1700 he speaks of, and I have two pretty reasonable tripods to show for it. I also had priceless amusement watching ebayers fighting over the original tilt-pan head off my 055 legs.

Tasadam, regarding the extensions, if you are using mirror lock up and remote release, (very cool btw) the likely thing that could upset the ship is wind. If you're shooting macros in the field you already know all about that. Like all gear, understanding it's limitations and working within them is the way forward. When the limitation starts getting in the way of getting the image it also informs the decision on what needs changing,

[tasadam]

When the limitation starts getting in the way of getting the image it also informs the decision on what needs changing,

Precisely why I need a new tripod, so often it has nearly gone flying through the woods like a 3 iron up the fairway after a typical hook slice miss shot (always wanted to use the "mad" smiley...)