I lost several good shots because of the motion caused by high wind while on the coast last week. My tripod isn't the greatest, a Manfrotto, but I think anything light would've suffered the same way. Anyone have any tried and true tips for dealing with the winds?

Thanks!

Easy as adding weight. You can bring a Nalgene water bottle, or a camelback type backpack (or any weight for that matter). Hang it from the bottom of the tripod using whatever it takes (velcro, rope, chains..etc). Sandbags would work even better, but I'm assuming you want to be quick and agile (thus the water-bottle technique). On soft surfaces, dig the tripod legs in as much as possible (vs. resting them on the surface). Avoid super-telephoto, which will magnify all the shakes.

Mark - Apart from the very good tips by Oren, we have used a number of methods when shooting in driving wind and rain, by either finding a convenient solid object such as a wall to hide behind or forming a human shield, we have also used large reflector / deflectors as a windbreak (held by a couple of crew).

For one scene filming at a North Sea fishing port, where the conditions were very bad, we used our pick-up truck that is fitted with a canopy, strategically placed. I huddled in the back with camera/tripod, Hi Def monitor, keeping the camera well back as the rain kept changing directions with the wind, pouring into the rear of the pick-up bed, while 2 crew braced themselves against the side of the vehicle stopping it rocking on it's heavy suspension - got some fantastic shots of fishing vessels being pounded by waves and driving rain, and these were shot at the long end of the telephoto in Hi Def.

Of course most of these methods require more than one person, but that is how we have approached some jobs, using what we have had available at the time.

Regards: Stu
www.studioscotland.com

Thanks guys for the comments. I'll try adding weight.

best-

Sometimes you need to add weight to the top of the camera as well as to the tripod. The camera itself can be like a sail and gets quite a buffeting from the wind even when the tripod is rock steady. A double bean-bag with several pounds of weight inside draped over the camera can provide a lot of extra inertia.

Good point. I'll definitely look into this. Thanks-