How to choose a tripod

Hola amigos, como estas? Now that I have shown off my Spanish skills (thanks to Google Translate), lets get down to business. In this post, I am going to discuss about tripods. Now, when you are just starting out, discussing about a tripod may seem a little odd. In most cases, when you are buying a DSLR, the shop keeper will be more than happy to include a free tripod in the deal to sweeten it a bit.The shop keeper will be happy that he didn't have to reduce the price of the camera and you will also be happy that you have received a tripod for free. It's a win-win situation for both right? WRONG. Before diving into the details, let me inform you at first that those tripods are good for nothing and using them may do more harm than good. At best those el cheapo tripods can be used as flash stands but never ever mount your camera on them. Why you may ask. Read on to find out.

So basically a tripod is for mounting your camera on top of it. The most basic and absolute necessary function of a tripod is holding the camera steady when the shutter is pressed. The aforementioned cheap tripods fail in this very basic function. In most of those tripods, you can visibly see the shake in the tripod when the shutter is pressed. So there goes your photo straight to the trash due to camera shake. Not only that, using those tripods can potentially destroy your camera. Normally those are made of aluminium and are very lightweight and wobbly. If you are not holding them, they can easily topple over and destroy your whole equipment. So, in nutshell, never ever buy cheap tripods, not even one is being given to you free of cost by the seller. Take something else, like a memory card as that will be more useful than these good for nothing trash.

Now since that is out of our way, lets discuss things in detail. You may be surprised to know that how many different kinds of tripods are there in the market. There are the normal tripods that usually come with a Pano head, then there are more professional offerings where the legs and the heads are sold separately, there are carbon fiber tripods which are extremely sturdy and lightweight, there are video tripods which are specifically designed for video cameras and so on. Instead of trying to discuss them all at one go, lets break up the discussion in various parts of the tripod. 

First Impression- Tamron 90mm f2.8 AF Di Sp Macro

Whats up guys? I am a bit excited about this post as this is going to be my first product review post. Recently I was diagnosed with GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) and as a result, had to get something to quench my craving. So I got myself a new Macro lens and since I am not at all good in taking macro photographs, I thought of taking some photos of the lens itself and make a new post. But before I begin, I should make this clear that, this is not a detailed, in-depth review of the lens with lots of stats, MTF charts and whatnot. You will find many such reviews online. I am just sharing my first impression as an amateur.

I got myself this lens only a couple of days back. I must thank Mr Prabir Bhattacharyya, a senior photographer, for accompanying me and giving me the final 'push' for buying this piece of glass. (He is a veteran bird photographer. You can take a look at his flickr link here) Though I am not skilled enough yet to take proper macro shots, I still got this lens for using it as a standard portrait/close up lens for taking photos of flower, food etc. (Plus at around 20k, I didn't have much to lose anyway :P ).

Five YouTube Channel that a Photographer must subscribe

If you are just like me who doesn't have any time (or money :'( ) to attend any Photography Course, fret not, IIN is there!!!! Jokes aside, today Internet is such a medium that one can learn anything and everything, if the desire is there and Photography is no exception. In fact, there are so many high quality materials and tutorial videos freely available for teaching Photography, one hardly has to spend any money (apart from the internet bills that is) to learn the art.

There are many quality websites that give some very good tips and tutorials but in this post, I shall concentrate only on the YouTube channels. There are many good channels available that offer quality content and advise on Photography. In fact there are some illustrated photographers who have managed to build their entire career out of the publicity they have received by making YouTube videos. Their channels have millions of viewers (literally) and upload videos almost everyday. Not all the videos may be useful to us, but it doesn't hurt to watch and in the process, we may get something in return as well. So lets go and take a look at the following channels-

The first post

Hello friends. This is the first post in this new blog. So let me take this occasion to welcome you all to my new blog. To tell you the truth, this is not my first attempt at blogging. In fact, this is the third (hoping to get third time lucky). It is said that we learn from our past mistakes. In my case, I will try hard to do exactly the same.

My first attempt at blogging was an absolute disaster. It was way back in 2009 and I didn't know anything about blogging and I started a blog only because one of my friends was doing the same and it was more of a challenge for me to outdo him. As you can guess, that didn't go very well. It simply had no vision and after some 10-15 random posts (which were poorly written, ill-conceived and in case of one, downright disgusting) and some not-so-kind comments, it died its death. I just decided blogging is not my cup of tea and quit it.