Ideally would like a tripod, but at the mo funds are short, as I don't want to buy a 15quid one only to have to replace it with a better one at a latter date, so these are both hand held, although not pin sharp I was happy with them..... Chicken by SiCrit, on Flickr Who's watching who? by SiCrit, on Flickr
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vanguard-Alta-Pro-263AT-SBH-100/dp/B002VEMY7K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1290710645&sr=8-1 rhis is what i now have and it is fantastic for what you get!! Vanguard do all that the expensive Giottos and Manfrottos do but have a less well spread name so are cheaper by i little. only thing i would have done differently would be to get a carbon fibre one as it is a heavy bast**d
Great pics bud, especially the squirrel (Nice depth of field) What camera and lens were you using? I bought a Manfrotto 685B Neotec Monopod which is awesome when in the field. Doubles up as a walking stick too
You can get some decent tripods at very decent prices on Ebay. Check it out, more useful than a monopod.
yeah have been looking, i like the sound of a monopod, but know a tripod will give you better results
You're right bud, much better results from a tripod but for convenience, the monopod is very useful in situations like yours, i.e, the squirrel and wild life in general. By the time one would have set up the tripod, the subject's probably done one?? I must say though, the quality of your picture is very good on that particular lens giving the fact that you were holding the camera by your hand!! I have a 170-500mm lens for my Nikon and it is so, so difficult to keep a steady hand when one is striving for steadiness. Nice job
Thanks DOOBY, i did have 2 other pictures that where just not up to the job, from the unsteady hand, and a 500m would be near impossible to use with out a tripod for me.... Is it the type where the tripod fits to the lens rather than to the camera?
mono pods are great for those that prefer.... myself i like the luxury of a tripod for panning and so on it makes it easy with a ball head with a friction setting lossely-ish done up on a tripod as i seem to get better results than i did on a monopod. plus a tutor of mine said many years ago "what do you have when you put two of the legs on a tripod up?" i put the legs on my tripod up all the time and use it as a monopod if i have to... works fine. my tripod/500mm lens set up is fantastic probally my favourite combination of lenses and tripods iv had through the years
It is. That is only possible with the tripod though for obvious reasons. Here are a couple of samples with the 170-500 without using a tripod. as you will see, the second picture is quite good apart from the squirrel moved its head as I took the shot, as a consequence, the sharpness isn't that much cop. There's more to this than meets the eye! A lot of practice is necessary using a telephoto lens and that is the main reason I brought a monopod. BTW, I was at 270mm zoom with both of these pics.
there is alot of practice involved with large lenses, getting just your arms and hands locked in and comfy is the hardest part. image stableized lenses always help...
very true but to work on hand holding technique using OS or VR helps to get to grips of holding large focal length lenses and then you can start to ween off it and practise using it without. bit like riding your bike as a young'en with stableizers and then learning to ride it properly....
that was one of the reason i went with the pentax as the stabiliser is in the body so makes the lens a little lighter
Practice, practice, practice. You won`t always have time to get the mono/tripod set up in time, so best (IMO) to perfect your technique without, for quick-reaction shots, then it becomes a useful tool rather than a necessity. 300mm f5.6 1/50sec; hand-held, low-light and manual control...
I'm very impressed with that Stu!! Having your setting to the exposure time, as little as it seems, seems to be an eternity. Great skills you have there my friend
'Luxury' would be to have both Monopods have their place, and it's usually at fast-paced events where the shooter needs just enough support to pull off low shutter-speeds or get that extra stop down on the aperture. Used properly, they are a fantastic invention and much more compact than an equivalent-length Tripod. A small Ball+Socket head makes one very versatile for attaching to long lenses via their collars too. Tripods have advanced enormously in the last few years and you no longer have to pay top-dollar for something good. Velbon is another name to add to the list, along with the usual Manfrotto, Vanguard, Slik and of course Gitzo. I bought my Gitzo Series-5 about six years ago, the legs alone were around 400. Plus another 100 for a rapid-adjust centre-column, and then even more dough for a nice Giottos Ball+Socket Head. Really thought I had bought a Tripod for life, as the CF offerings back then were near a thousand quid, and often shattered in very cold weather (or in the hold of Aircraft if not contained in a hard case). If I were to go out and spend again I'd likely come home with a CF Manfrotto number of some sort. If you aren't going for CF, and will usually be travelling by car to where you shoot, go for the tallest, heaviest tripod you can afford. You never know when you might need a bit of height...
i agree but people are missing my point.... im not saying you should use one all the time every time. im saying that it is usefull to have an 'aid' to help you get use to it.... i had a 70-300mm sigma lens and it was awsome and very light so you could hand hold and achive good settings. generally i use a shutter speed relevent to the lens size i.e 100mm - 1/100s, 500mm - 1/500s and so on. i agree that you should learn to hand hold without aids but when getting used to my heavy 500mm lens a tri-pod that i could use as a monopod really helped me learn and get comfortable with the lens.....
What make is the tripod mate? And do you ever have problems with shake/vibration when you press the shutter button? I have a Velbond Sherpa 200R tripod and noticed last weekend that I get a terrible vibration when I take the picture! I have set to timer delay and also saw the tripod vibrate a little when activated! I have thought about the remote activation kit but this isn't going to solve the problem fully. Faithless Have you reached a decision regarding a tripod? I do like the look of the tripod N/B has posted but it's a bit big and I don't fancy carrying a step ladder around with me
