monopod suggestions? views on using them?

hi all,

I am thinking about getting a light ish monopod to aid my hand holding shots using my 50/500 sigma to try and alleviate shake / blurring

I do use a nice benbo / uniloc tripod but its a lump of weight...


any comments would be most useful

paul

I bought a Velbon L43, have yet to use it properly. Light and feels well made. I am unsure how useful they truly are.

a light weight tripod, like my manfrotto 055 does a fine impersonation of a monopod(just extend one leg), so I've never felt compelled to buy anything else...

I have a Manfrotto that came as a free gift with a magazine subscription.

I have used it a handful of times but on the occasions it was very helpful- one was taking shots of a family dog and the other was a primary school sports day- I set the length of the monopod at the rough height of the eyeline of both subjects so I had stability but also a good reliable angle to photograph from.

Pretty happy as it was gratis - i think it retails at about £30

I use giottos 3270B. Nice amd sturdy. essential for sports photography. Not too expensive depending on which head you put on it

Velbon RUP-43. Has a built-in head which easily supports the K7 and Tokina 80-400 (1.6kg+), and would be tall enough for, well, tall people.

Regards

I'm very pleased with the Giotto M55, come with a fluid head.

I bought a redsnapper at the same time as my 150-500 in Feb. Never used it as the IS is so good. Have shot comfortably at 1/125.

Does any one know if there is a pan/tilt head available for a Manfrotto or Velbon monopod

Bernard

I've a Manfrotto monopod, great bit of kit, I bought it to help support a Bigma that I found just too heavy for easy hand held use.
While the monopod is great it didn't really work well with the Bigma though. You need to put a head on the monopod, usually a ball and socket, if you have the head tightened up it restricts movement of the camera, if you loosen it off, because of the weight of the lens it can be quite difficult to control. Having to hold on to the camera/lens/monopod and adjust the tensioners meant I spent more time adjusting than shooting.

I've a Manfrotto 681B and I'm very happy with it. I use it with a quick release tilt head to allow me to use it in portrait mode. One thing to remember is that a good monopod doesn't need to be used on the ground to help. I've had some success with panning shots at airshows by resting the monopod in its collapsed config on my belt and then panning with my whole body. It takes the weight of the camera off your hands and onto your hips near your centre of gravity. If you use a martial arts "L stance" then you will be in a very stable position that is easy to smoothly move from one direction to the other, allowing smooth panning.

That's a trick question, right? If not, any pan/tilt head will fit with or without the 1/4 - 3/8 thread adapter.

Best regards

the purpose of a pan/tilt head is twofold, one being to isolate the left to right panning motion, and the other to isolate the forward and backward tilting motion of the tilt... both of which would be rendered ineffectual by the inherent instability of a mono pod.

go with a ball head on a mono pod or a pan/tilt head on a tripod. but a pan/tilt head on a mono pod is about as useful as putting snow ski's on a plane you intend to land in water..
just sayin'.
that is all.

On a similar note, when covering golf, I use a small rod butt belt similar to this link

I find it more stable and no dirt on your clothes from the ball or spike end of the mono pod.

Yes guys, it was. I was being mischievious, to see what the answers would be

Bernard