How important is using Tripod for DSLR cameras?

"entry level professional camera canon". Well, I've heard some oxymorons in my time, but that's a great one.

It'll depend on what you shoot. I like to shoot sports, "street photography", and other things which are fleeting; you have to get the shot NOW or it's gone. Tripods are useless in that situation. You don't have time to set it up.

I literally don't even have a tripod at the moment. The only time I've used one in the last year was shooting fireworks, where you HAVE to have one. For anything else, I consider them more inconvenience than they're worth. I have reasonably steady hands, I can hold a camera level, my lens has VR stabilisation, and my other camera is so light that I can hand hold it at a pretty low speed.

Other people (like Edwin above) almost never take their camera off a tripod.

Make of this what you will!

The majority of my photography is done with my camera on a tripod. When moving from place to place I simply throw the tripod over my shoulder, camera attached, so its quick to set up. I do loop the camera neck strap around the tripod in the unlikely event the quick release should fail.

I consider a tripod as mandatory for landscape photography.

Buy the tripod. You won't regret it.

Do you have a problem with camera shake?

Do you take shots where you need to use small apertures and low ISO? especially landscapes.

Do you shoot a lot of long exposures?

If yes to any of those - you need a tripod, if no to them all - you do not.

Only thing against tripod is that they are a PitA to carry around, many tourist venues ban them, it can be difficult to get the right view angle for a particular shot.

I have one and rarely use it for the above reasons...

£1500 will get you a twin-lens kit from just about anyone. ALL DSLRs are great for general photography, but nature takes a zoom lens with a bit of reach, and you may not be ready for that yet. Find a dealer and look at all of your options - any photographer ever born has a favourite (mine is Pentax), but you've passed the first test by NOT asking, 'Canon or Nikon ?' Thus proving you have an IQ above room temperature and may well be capable of reading a manual, and willing to invest the time and effort it takes to learn to use a DSLR properly. Sony's SLTs have the edge in video, but Pentax, Canon or Nikon will all serve you well. Just choose the one that feels right in your hands and invest the time and effort you need to get the best out of it.

Depends on the situation really

When it is sunny and shutter times are quick then really.. you don't require a tripod. It is when the light goes low or you go inside that you enter slower shutter times and that might cause movement to end up in your image.

And sometimes you want to shoot certain things. For instance a landscape, a nice bunch of fields with some trees for instance. you want to have as much sharp as possible so require a huge dept of field. This requires you go to go F16 or smaller. It isn't uncommon to go to F22 when shooting a landscape in one shot. This cuts down ALLOT of light and probably leads to a very slow shutter time. This means yes tripod.

Or stargazing, shooting images of the night sky be it a city scape or actually star photography. It isn't uncommon to have your camera go into 15seconds of exposure to get some nice stars to show up. Equally a city scape can take 1-2 seconds.. depending on how much light it belches out.

You probably would shoot that city scape at night at F16 or smaller... so again you need longer exposure times and again you yes can use a tripod of something else to put your camera on.

And for self portraits it is nice to, or shooting a video ..

Now.. do you REQUIRE a tripod? No not really there are enough photography situations where it doesn't matters much. Going to the zoo on a sunny day.. well .. exposure times are very short anyway.

In short it really depends on the situation. Yes in some you want a tripod in other situations you might not need to drag it around with you.

For a walk through town you probably don't require it. Definitely on a sunny day...

For a video .. mmm it is nice and stabile. For night photography yes. To shoot city scapes, land scapes.. yes.

You know in the film days a tripod was very usefull yes because film was slow. But now we can let our cameras go to ISO 3200 and still get decent results. With film it would be super grainy.

I have one but mostly use it to shoot videos. And sometimes a macro shot. Macro being 1:1 here.. then it matters allot. But like so many say really.. there are other solutions.

If you are going on vacation or visiting another country you could use the bean/rice bag method. A soft cloth bag that you can fill locally with dry goods like rice. And you can use that to set your camera relative secure on many strange locations.

The Gorilla Pod, it is a tripod but then differrent. Where tripods have legs that are about being sturdy and long the Gorilla pod can be used as a claw to put around a tree, on a bench, on your travel bag you call it ... very useful.. And smaller then an actual tripod.

Give a little thought to how you intend to use your tripod...what do you need it for..?

Tripods are necessary for taking shots in low light or when working with longer shutter speeds...i'd actually recommend one for nature and wildlife work...although by the time you set the tripod up you have probably missed the opportunity...

If you like to experiment with video then your investment won't be wasted...the tripod is essential for video work.

You will see that most photographers do not use a tripod for "everyday" shots.

You only need to use a tripod when using slow shutter speeds.

Tri-pods are helpful for long exposures, macro, and recording videos. Other than that I would just hold the camera to take pictures.

It's needed for landscape work, long exposures and macro work. For anything else. don't bother.

Only if you want sharp photos.