Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Digital Cameras & Shooting Techniques => Topic started by: cookielida on May 05, 2007, 07:53:53 am
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Hello all!
I am about to be engaged in a three serie stage photography project. I am using a set of 135 f/2, 85 f/1.8 and a 50 f/1.8 for this task, but due to the low level of lighting condition, I need an additional hand support. All of these lenses don't have a collar attachment point, so it seems I will need to use a monopod. THing is, I am altering quite alot between horizontal and vertical shots, so I need a quick shift between the two. I would be happy to hear your suggestion for a reasonable cheap monopod that will support the above lenses + a 20D...
10x
Chen
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check out the RRS angle bracket plus their monopod solution with a quick-release clamp
depending on the situation, you can put an clamp directly on top of the monopod and just tilt the monopod back and forth
switching from vertical to horizontal is pretty quick with the angle bracket after a bit of practice, particularly with the quick-release clamp
when using a lens heavy enough to cause a balance problem, you can add a short rail to get the center of gravity directly over the monopod
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I put a small ballhead on the monopod. Makes it easy to adjust the holding angle and orientation.
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Maybe this might be of help.
http://www.custombrackets.com (http://www.custombrackets.com)
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check out the RRS angle bracket plus their monopod solution with a quick-release clamp
depending on the situation, you can put an clamp directly on top of the monopod and just tilt the monopod back and forth
switching from vertical to horizontal is pretty quick with the angle bracket after a bit of practice, particularly with the quick-release clamp
when using a lens heavy enough to cause a balance problem, you can add a short rail to get the center of gravity directly over the monopod
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I concur with Stever's recommendations. If you don't already have a monopod I would recommend checking out the [a href=\"http://www.feisol.com/english/feisolen.htm]Feisol[/url] carbon fiber units. They are available on E-bay, but I purchased mine directly from Taiwan. It arrived in about a week and the shipping cost was very reasonable.
If you use a swivel or ball head on the monopod, the center of gravity becomes unbalanced when using the camera in the vertical format, and the L-bracket solves this problem. I went with the RSS L-bracket and their monopod (http://www.reallyrightstuff.com/tutorials/monopods/index.html) solution with the Manfrotto swivel. To save some money, I went with the cheapest Kirk clamp, which I find sufficient for monopod use. I have the RSS lever release clamp for my tripod ball head and it is very nice and quicker to use than the screw type clamps, but I thought it was overkill for the monopod.
Note that with the standard RSS mounting of the clamp on the monopod, the axis of the clamp is parallel to the axis of the lens, allowing the lens to be tilted upward or downward when using a lens with a tripod collar. With the camera mounted directly on the monopod, you can not use the swivel to go from horizontal to vertical but must use the L-bracket.
Bill
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I concur with Stever's recommendations. If you don't already have a monopod I would recommend checking out the Feisol (http://www.feisol.com/english/feisolen.htm) carbon fiber units. They are available on E-bay, but I purchased mine directly from Taiwan. It arrived in about a week and the shipping cost was very reasonable.
If you use a swivel or ball head on the monopod, the center of gravity becomes unbalanced when using the camera in the vertical format, and the L-bracket solves this problem. I went with the RSS L-bracket and their monopod (http://www.reallyrightstuff.com/tutorials/monopods/index.html) solution with the Manfrotto swivel. To save some money, I went with the cheapest Kirk clamp, which I find sufficient for monopod use. I have the RSS lever release clamp for my tripod ball head and it is very nice and quicker to use than the screw type clamps, but I thought it was overkill for the monopod.
Note that with the standard RSS mounting of the clamp on the monopod, the axis of the clamp is parallel to the axis of the lens, allowing the lens to be tilted upward or downward when using a lens with a tripod collar. With the camera mounted directly on the monopod, you can not use the swivel to go from horizontal to vertical but must use the L-bracket.
Bill
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Hey Bill!
Well, I looked for RSS but it doesn't sell in Israel, where I come from...
At the end I bought a light monopod of manfrotto's (678 digi, if I am not mistaken) combined with the 486RC2 ballhead. Reading abit in RSS, i found it true that the swivel works faster, but on the other hand, I don't have a collar for my lens (all short telephoto) so I needed some flexibility on all axis, something i might have found difficult in the case of the swivel. I might have done wrong buying the ballhead, I yet didn't used in field to fill how quick and flex it is for my work (stage photography)
Chen
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Hey Bill!
Well, I looked for RSS but it doesn't sell in Israel, where I come from...
At the end I bought a light monopod of manfrotto's (678 digi, if I am not mistaken) combined with the 486RC2 ballhead. Reading abit in RSS, i found it true that the swivel works faster, but on the other hand, I don't have a collar for my lens (all short telephoto) so I needed some flexibility on all axis, something i might have found difficult in the case of the swivel. I might have done wrong buying the ballhead, I yet didn't used in field to fill how quick and flex it is for my work (stage photography)
Chen
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I agree that the ball head is better for your purposes than the swivel. I formerly used the Manfrotto quick release system, but find the Swiss Arca type QR of the RSS to be much more convenient. RSS does not sell through dealers and one orders directly from them. I think that they would ship internationally. If your current setup meets your needs, then obviously you need not look further.
Bill