At Yellowstone falls I hand held an 8x10 shot with a 600C Fuji and it was more about the congestion on the viewing platform than a tripod. Out of the side of the dark cloth when I got the focus set I could see one of the side set knobs lining up with a specific point in the scene and closed down the shutter, set the shutter speed at 1/30th and f16 I believe lining up with that spot I pulled the slide and held the camera in both hands and used my chin to stabilize things and took the shot. Turned out great much to my surprise. T Max 400 and a long subject surely helped. When you ask for permission to photograph ie. use a tripod, hand then a business card from your day job. Sometimes you just need to get creative.