To obtain a stable camera for long exposures, the tripod is only part of the overall picture. There are many accessories to add to your tripod to make your photographic life easier and to make your images even sharper.

When you purchase your camera it will come with a standard 1/4″-20 screw socket for mounting to the tripod, this is somewhat inconvenient if you need to quickly mount the camera to the tripod.

One of the most useful accessories is the quick release plates and clamps which are available as an accessory, one of the cheapest solutions is by using the Manfrotto plates and clamps. I have used these for many years successfully and some examples are shown below. With these plates and clamps you do need to be careful to ensure that they are mounted together correctly.

To illustrate these products and to indicate prices I have included links to B&H Photo Video

I believe a better solution is to use the more universally accepted Arca-Swiss style plates and clamps. These accessories are quite a lot more expensive than the cheaper Manfrotto plates, but I believe they are much more easier to use, more robust and much more safer to hold your valuable camera equipment. There are two options available with these clamps, there are screw clamps and lever clamps and you need to be aware that there is not full compatibility between some of the lever clamps from different manufacturers. I prefer to stay with the screw clamps as I feel the connection between the  clamp and the plate is more solid, but that may be a personal preference.

Some examples of a selection of these plates are shown below.

The Wimberley P5 plate is designed to be mounted to the camera and the plate will then mount on your tripod ball head. There are other Wimberley plates available such as the P10, P20, P30 and P40 and these plates are designed for mounting on different size telephoto lenses.

As can be seen, these plates are designed to enable quick changes from your camera or telephoto lens.

There are also quite a variety of ball heads which can be used with the Arca-Swiss style plates and a few of the better ones are shown below. The type of ball head you use is really a personal preference as the quality is much the same in similar price ranges.

If you use an L-Bracket with your camera it will make your life much easier. An L-Bracket will allow you to change the orientation of your camera from landscape to the portrait format in an instant. You can purchase an L-Bracket dedicated to your camera or there are the alternatives which I favour, such as the Universal L-Brackets shown below. If you have multiple cameras then it is probably cheaper to use a Universal L-bracket. The use of an L-bracket will avoid the issue of trying to tilt the camera on the ball head and then trying  to get it level again each time you change from landscape to portrait.

The new Stereo Microphone has been released by Nikon. It is compatible with the following cameras:

• D3S
• D300S
• D7000
• D5100
• D3100
• COOLPIX, P7000

This microphone is designed to give enhanced sound quality with the above cameras, providing video recording. The microphone helps reduce vibration noise during the cameras autofocus.

This is a very welcome addition for those who use their cameras for video recording.

Specifications:

• Back electret condenser microphone,
• 2 stereo channels,
• Unidirectional performance,
• Frequency response 70–16,000 Hz,
• Sensitivity -42 dB ± 3dB,S
• Signal to noise ratio of 60 dB,
• Output impedance 2.2kΩ,
• Power supply is from the camera,
• Stereo mini pin plug, 3.5 mm,
• Low cut filter with ON/OFF switch.

Buy this Nikon ME-1 Stereo Microphone at B&H Photo Video.

A tripod will make a significent improvement to the sharpness of many images. Generally a tripod will comprise two main parts, the main part comprising the three legs and the upper part comprising the head to allow movement of the camera.

Tripod

Monopod or Tripod Head

A tripod is very usefull in obtaining sharp landscape images and also very usefull when using long lenses or when the camera is used with very long shutter speeds.

Some applications where tripods are very useful are as follows:

• Long telephoto lenses, 300-500mm
• Macro or close up photography
• Fireworks
• Night scenes
• Landscapes
• Light
• Lightning
• Portrait, to enable you to direct the subject
• Any exposures from 1/60 second or longer

Having three legs on a tripod gives it very good stability, however any tripod with a centre column raised to its maximum height will add instability to the setup. Try to keep the centre column raised to a maximum of around 1/4 of the maximum height, otherwise it may become less stable.

Many images will be improved if a monopod is used to stabilise the camera and lens. A monopod will not stabilise a camera to the same extent as a tripod, hovever it will aid significantly in obtaining sharper images. The monopod illustrated below can be used by itself or it can be used in conjunction with a tripod or monopod head shown below to assist in giving more freedom for camera movements.

Monopod

Monopod or Tripod Head

The monopod gives much more freedom in crowded areas as it is much more manageable and does not get in the way of other people. The monopod will enable the photographer to take sharp images with shutter speeds which are two to four times slower than without the monopod.

This article is a general guide to building a remote control cabl for Nikon cameras with the 10-pin socket.

The MC-22 remote control cable available from Nikon is terminated with the Nikon 10 pin connector at one end and three banana plugs at the other end.

Nikon three pin bananna plug cord

The ends of the cable together with the colors of the bananna plug cables is shown as illustrated above.

Nikon Remote Cable Pinout

The pinout of the 10 pin connector on Nikon cameras is shown above.

Three of the pins are used for triggering the camera and the usage of all the pins is as follows:

• 1 - Data receive
• 2 - Battery voltage
• 3 - +5V regulated, meter on
• 4 - Shutter release signal Fully depressed release button
• 5 – Shutter Release Pulse to Second Camera
• 6 – Signal Ground
• 7 – Power Ground
• 8 – Data transmit
• 9 – Activate signal. Half depressed release button
• 10 – Not connected

The connections for the MC22 remote cord are as follows. Three of the pins of the 10 pin connector are used for triggering the camera and they terminate with the MC-22 cable with Blue, Yellow and Black banana plugs as follows. The actual wires are similarly colored blue, yellow and black.

• 1 – Pin 9, half depressed release button, blue
• 2 – Pin 4, fully depressed release button, yellow
• 3 – Pin 6, common signal ground, black

The correct sequence to operate the camera is to connect the Blue wire to the Black wire and this causes the camera to wake up or to activate the exposure and auto focus to be switched on. This simulates the first pressure on the shutter. Then connect the Yellow wire to the Black wire and this fires the shutter. This is exactly the work performed by your right hand finger when you depress the shutter button.

To manufacture a remote cable, cut the banana plugs off the MC-22 cable and terminate it in a switch box via an extension cable to enable remote operation of the camera.

The basic circuit of the switch box to remotely control the camera is as follows.

• The three connections on the right of the above diagram go to the camera 10-pin connector with the color codes shown
• The connections on the left of the above diagram can go to another remote camera initiating device or to a Pocket Wizard device to provide a longer distance radio connection by remote control
• S1 is a toggle switch which is used to wake up the camera
• S2 is used to effectively operate the shutter and to take the image, this is a push button switch which is used to take single or continuous images as required.

On switching the switch S1 to the pre-release position, the camera exposure meter and auto focus operates waking up the camera; with S1 switched to the delay position the camera will auto focus and then operate the shutter when switch S2 is pressed. There will be some delay while the camera focusses.

The camera will be in the “awake” mode continuously while switch S1 is operated in the pre-release position, in the pre-release position the camera will remain on, which will continuously consume battery power of the camera.

When S1 is in the delay mode the camera only remains on for a short period while the shutter release button S2 is pressed, however there will be a short delay while the camera focusses.

When the camera is set to ‘Bulb’ mode, closing switch S1 will wake up the camera, pressing the push button S2 will open the shutter until released.

I have used this set up with a cable of up to 80 metres, with the D2H camera and I expect it would be applicable for all Nikon cameras using the standard Nikon remote 10 pin connector described above.

It should be noted the when the camera wakes up with a dedicated flash attached, the flash will also wake up with the camera, this applies to dedicated flash units such as the Nikon SB600, SB 800 or SB 900.

As noted above this remote circuit can be used to provide a pre-release cable for a Pocket Wizard radio device and depending on the position of switch S1 can be used as a pre-release cable or a delayed release cable.

There is also the Nikon MC-36 remote release available.

Long exposure photography is generally refered to when the photographer uses shutter speeds greater than can be hand held and still get sharp images. There are several options to turn to when this occurs.

Image Stabilization or Vibration Reduction which is built into some lenses, will assist in allowing the use of longer exposure times, in some circumstances this can be by the equivalent of three to four stops. This means that a shutter speed which would normally 1/100 of a second hand held could be extended to possibly 1/10 or 1/5 of a second, using one of these lenses. Image stabilization lenses compensate for the movement of the camera and lens by moving an element inside the lens to stabilize for any movement of the image at the sensor plane. Image stabilization or vibration reduction can be very usefull in longer lenses from 100mm and upwards.

Tripods can be used as an excellent means of steadying the camera and lens to enable extremely long exposures. Exposures can be made for many minute or even hours. Tripods have the capability to improve the sharpness of images, particularly for landscapes, night scenes, fireworks and camera work with long telephoto lenses. Small and flimsy tripods are not recommended as the tripod needs to be very sturdy to hold the camera steady particularly with long lenses. Tripods are difficult to use in crowded areas due to the arrangement of the legs. Tripods also prove to be very usefull for remote control photography.

Tripod

Tripod Heads are very important and should be regarded as part of the complete tripod package. Fluid tripod heads are available which provide very smooth adjustments and should be considered in addition to quick release plates to allow fast connection of equipment.

Tripod Head

Remote Control Cables are a very good option to use with tripods to help reduce any camera movement on release of the shutter.

Camera Self Timers can also help to release the camera shutter without camera movement when the camera is used on a tripod.

Monopods are a good alternative to tripods where it is inconvenient to use a tripod. Monopods are very mobile and give excellent support to cameras and long lenses with shutter speeds down to 1/4 to 1/2 second. Monopods can also be used with tripod heads described above to give the monopod more flexibility.

Monopod