Shooting from a boat with a tripod??

So, here's the scenario. I want to do a pelagic boat trip in order to get photo's of Puffins. The tour was cancelled this year due to covid. However I was wondering about possible setups for shooting from the boat.

I was going to use my 70-200 f2.8 IS USM II with a x2 mount for this trip but I would prefer to use my 500mm f4.0 Mk1. I do not have enough endurance to shoot hand held with this attached to my 1DX and was wondering about using a tripod or a monopod.

I read somewhere that using a tripod was not feasible due to the vibrations from the boat causing blurry shots. I have never been on a small boat or attempted to do any shooting such as this and was wondering if anyone has any real world experience doing something like this.

I have included a shot of the boat that would be used. It is about a 28 footer that is used for sightseeing around Peggy's but at this time of the year does trips out to the local rookery, but not, as I said, this year.

Any and all advice is welcome.

Thanks,

John

I don't think you'll have enough room on deck for a tripod. You might want to check with the charter company. I took only a 100-400 on the pelagic I went on a few years ago, so I handheld. The ocean can be like a bathtub, or it can have a swell or chop ( I think the charter operators make sure to not take landlubbers out in really bad weather), so you may want to take a monopod along just in case. I suspect you'll be handholding, though. You may want to take your 70-200 along in addition to the 500mm, as the crew may chum the water to attract the seabirds closer ( at least they did on my boat off the Oregon coast).

And take sea sickness pills, unless you are used to being on the ocean. There's a prescription one you can get (don't remember the name) that works better than OTC like Dramamine.

Thanks for the tips.

I have been at sea many times so I'm not worried about getting seasick.

Hopefully other people will also chime in on how it well their monopods or tripods worked.

Good point about having room to set up a tripod. It's not really that big of a boat.


Thanks again for your help.

It its merely as an aid to help with a big lens and all.... monopod will be a lot better. You will be able to sway easily with the motion of the boat...a tripod in this case I think would be as much of a hindrance as it would be an aid.

A tripod on a boat in an uncontrolled environment with other people who may not be cooperative is never going to work. You will get engine vibrations through it, you'll struggle to track anything as the boat moves around, and it's a major trip hazard, as well likely to want to move and slide around the deck.

A monopod will be more usable, but even with a large rubber foot is still likely to pick up engine vibrations, and if the boat is moving around you still need to be able to hold on to it, while also holding onto the boat.

Why not take the Monopod and both lenses, then you can try the big one and if it's doesn't work you still have the 70-200 to fall back on.
Just remember a weather proof bag to protect against sea-spray is a good idea.

Not sure he is using the trick-pod for freezing motion... more just to hep with the endurance test of getting a good shot holding a large lens all day. Yes, I know you can hand hold big lenses..... I have a 600 f4... but I also have the option to set it down between action.

"I do not have enough endurance to shoot hand held with this attached to my 1DX and was wondering about using a tripod or a monopod."

So your fixing the wrong problem. Its about the endurance... not low shutter speeds. And in that case, monopod will do the job nicely... taking the weight off.

I keep looking at the photo of the boat and wondering how hard it would be to mount something to the railing or frame to support the camera weight.
But I suspect it would require building a good relationship with the captain first.

The biggest challenge on a 30' motorized boat out in the ocean is simply getting and holding your target in the viewfinder as the boat encounters chop and swell, and rocks fore and aft and side to side. On a sailboat at least the side-to-side motion is dampened by the sails, not so with a motorboat with no stabilizing sail.

So trying to stabilize YOURSELF (not being strapped to some points on the boat) will itself prove challenging as well.

I make these statements with many thousands of hours sailing/racing ocean courses as well as somewhat protected waters (SF Bay). I have also photographed sailboat races from a motorized boat on SF Bay, which has lower magnitude of chop to deal with, than out in the ocean. That still was not easy. Trying to cope with your own stability standing with a tripod or monopod can be quite challenging even in protected waters.

When the boat is moving, you're going to have spray coming over the gunwales.so you probably don't want your camera there. When the captain stop, the boat is going to be moving up and down with the swell and the gunwale isn't a good spot to rest your camera either. Best to handhold or do a monopod.

As the others have said; mono- or tri- you're going to have the devil trying to minimize the vibrations, deal with other passengers, etc. I would recommend foregoing the 500 and hiring/buying something you can reasonably handhold if you are stuck to the boat; like the old 400 f/5.6 prime or the 100-400 Mk2, and a 1.4 TC.

While the 70-200 *can* produce solid keepers when paired w/ the 2x, the number of truly good shots I've seen from that combo are much fewer than things shot natively at 400 or adapted from there.

But, even if you stick w/ the 70-200 + 2x TC, you will have much more success as you can brace your lower body against the structure of the boat and use your upper body to dampen the movement. I had fair success w/ that from a tour boat out of Homer, AK a few years back and it was rocking pretty good at the time.

Not sure what your sea legs are like, mine aren't much chop.
I worked on a small island couple years back. About 30 minutes ride in similar sized boat.
Had my camera in hand peering through the viewfinder.
Soon found it wasn't best of conditions as the boat movement and the horizon movement through the camera were rather off-putting.
I soon learnt to keep both eyes open and a constant look around me.
Probably all relate differently, but good intentions can seriously backfire, regurgitate

The engine vibrations were what I was wondering about. I read somewhere that this would be a problem, but never had anyone relate personal experience or the equipment being used at the time, nor any photos to show the effects on any shots.

I agree that the tripod is not a good idea, not in the least being the area required to setup and the bother to other people, let alone the problems with trying to manipulate it with the movements of the boat etc.

Thanks for the advice.

Thank you

Thanks everyone for all the great advice.

For further background information, I am very familiar with conditions at sea having spend 20 years in the navy. I have actually been on this particular boat once with my camera and the 200mm f2.8 + x2 extender and found that it did not seem to have enough reach. I would love to use my 500mm but as I said endurance is a problem, plus as you all have noted it is not the easiest thing to get yourself stabilized in a relatively small boat that pitches uncontrollably. I do like the suggestion for looking at a 400mm lens and then perhaps using a tc on it for range if need be.

I appreciated the advice on the water spray issue and would welcome more feedback with those who have used their equipment in a sea environment. Do you protect it in a cover or do you do unprotected shooting?? Just clean it well once your ashore??

As I said this trip will not take place this year but I want to be prepared for next year as much as possible.

Take care everyone and be safe.

Seconding Eric's thoughts about a 100-400 II. It's a great lens for this purpose, decent reach, yet compact, and with a good IS.

Have fun! The crew usually will have some technique to bring the birds closer. In my experience, they followed the fishing boats to their fishing ground, a seamount off the Oregon coast, and then used chum to draw them a bit closer.

Viewing the pelagic birds is an awesome experience. It's like a door opened to 75% of the Earth's surface that has been closed off until then. I must say though that the pelagic trip I went on was the first time I ventured far enough to be out of sight of land, and that was an unnerving experience. My mind did drift to life jackets, the temperature of the ocean (really cold off Oregon) and whether the boat's EPIRB beacons were fully serviced and operational!