battery grip & Tripod with canon

paddylonglegs

looking into buying a battery grip for my canon 400d. I want work on some time-lapse but was wondering will my camera fit to my tripod while I have the battery grip on?haven't seen a battery grip in the flesh hence the question

Cheers

Paulw

Yes, it will work.

The battery grip will be similar to the bottom of your camera, with the connector.

Saint_Mel

paddylonglegs wrote: »

looking into buying a battery grip for my canon 400d. I want work on some time-lapse but was wondering will my camera fit to my tripod while I have the battery grip on?haven't seen a battery grip in the flesh hence the question

Cheers

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paddylonglegs

Paulw wrote: »

Yes, it will work.

The battery grip will be similar to the bottom of your camera, with the connector.

perfect,cheers

Heebie

It should fit on, but you need to be aware that by having the grip on it you are adding to the overall weight being carried by the tripod, and because you are increasing the distance from the head of the tripod to the centre of gravity of the camera rig (consisting of the camera, the grip, and the lens) your camera's weight has increased leverage, so you might see reduced stability, and you might see your camera slowly "slipping" downwards on the side where the lens is if your tripod isn't up to the chore of handling that much weight.
If you're not desperate for the extra battery power, I'd leave the grip off in times when it's important to have rock-solid stability (which you generally want with time-lapse.. if you're going to animate it, you don't went the camera to have any shake/jitter.)

Paulw

I don't get your point there.

If the OP attaches the camera body (with battery pack) to the tripod, then unless he/she is using a large lens, the body will be the centre of gravity and so will be more stable?

Of course, any light tripod will be useless anyway for time-lapse photography, if it's not very stable.

If the OP was using a large lens, then the tripod should be attached to the lens collar anyway.

Heebie

When you attach the OP to the body, the distance from the bottom of the OP to the centre of gravity for the whole camera rig (body, OP and lens) has moved from wherever it was centered in the body, down a slight bit towards the OP. (The function would be some proportion of the distance added between the mount-plate of the tripod and the centre of gravity caused by the addition of the OP, and what that percentage is would depend on how heavy the body is, how heavy the OP is and how heavy the lens on the camera at the time is.)

Now.. when you take that camera rig.. and no longer have the head of the tripod standing "straight up".. your centre of gravity is no longer seated directly above the central axis of the tripod.. it has moved off-centre in whatever direction the camera-rig is "leaning" (say you have it tilted in a downwards direction at a 45 degree angle.. the centre of gravity for the camera rig is probably 3/4" - 1" off-centre from the central axis of the tripod without the OP.. add the OP, and it's probably 1"-1.5" off-centre instead of 3/4"-1" due to adding the 1-1.5" of distance of the OP between the mounting plate and the centre of gravity of the camera-rig.

Think of a simple triangular measurement. When the camera is dead-centre above the central axis of the tripod, the "triangle" becomes a single straight line, with it's length being exactly the distance between the mounting-plate and the centre of gravity of the camera-rig along the central axis of the tripod.

As soon as you tilt the camera in any direction, you end up with a triangle with one side being the central axis of the tripod [it's length varying depending on the position of the centre of gravity of the camera-rig], one being the distance the camera-rig's centre of gravity to the central axis at a 90% angle to the central axis. [this is what determines the length of the side that is along the central axis.], and the third being a line directly from the camera-rig's centre of gravity to the point on the mounting-plate where the central axis of the tripod passes through.

Gravity is always pulling the camera downwards. When the "triangle" is actually a straight line, things are closest to equilibrium, and the camera is the most stable.
When the "triangle" exists because the camera-rig's centre of gravity is no longer directly above the central axis of the tripod, stability decreases throughout the tripod, including whatever gearing/friction mechanisms hold the camera in a specific position being more likely to slip, and the tripod as a unit being more likely to sway from effects like a breeze in the direction of the "lean" of the camera-rig. in relation to the central axis.

Now.. if you take a cheap, flimsy tripod.. it's already not going to be very stable, and it's mechanism for holding the camera at whatever angle you put it at, will be more prone to slippage, and you're going to notice those effects even more with a greater distance between the mounting-plate and the centre of gravity of the camera-rig... so you're better off, with a cheap, flimsy tripod, to leaving the OP out of the equation if you can.

If you are stuck with a cheap, flimsy tripod, some of them have hooks at the bottom of the central post for adding weight to stabilise the tripod... if it's there.. by all means use it.

I guess in short, I'm saying try to maximise the stability of your tripod as much as possible.. it'll be VERY evident with time-lapse if there is any instability. (even a really good tripod would probably have some instability noticeable in time-laps.)

If you've got a tripod that weights 25 kilos, and that you could stand on the head of, then you've got no worries.

Paulw wrote: »

I don't get your point there.

If the OP attaches the camera body (with battery pack) to the tripod, then unless he/she is using a large lens, the body will be the centre of gravity and so will be more stable?

Of course, any light tripod will be useless anyway for time-lapse photography, if it's not very stable.

If the OP was using a large lens, then the tripod should be attached to the lens collar anyway.