Lens/body strength

Peter-T

Peter-T

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Pete
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So i had a thought last night and now its bugging me.
Im hiring a canon 70-200 2.8 IS for my weekend to Goodwood festival of speed. Its going to be attached to my 500d. Now the weight of the lens is just over 1.5kg and its atached to a 500 gram body. Now how strong is that link? (if you ignor the limitations of the human wrist) would the body be able to hold the lens securely if you were to just hold the camera? i hope i'm making sense here! Does it make a difference with the body? would a 1d be able to hold a heavier lens than an 400d etc
for the bigger lens' you have tripod collars but what would happen if the body was attached to the tripod?

Pete
 
as long as you support it (like you'd support a cat when holding it.. sorry bad example lol) it will be fine. Carry the camera by the lens, not the body, hold a hand under the lens when shooting, etc.

With a 1.5 KG lens you'd probably get away by just holding the body, but it might strain the mount and your wrists. Don't chance it!
 
Peter-T said:
So i had a thought last night and now its bugging me.
Im hiring a canon 70-200 2.8 IS for my weekend to Goodwood festival of speed. Its going to be attached to my 500d. Now the weight of the lens is just over 1.5kg and its atached to a 500 gram body. Now how strong is that link? (if you ignor the limitations of the human wrist) would the body be able to hold the lens securely if you were to just hold the camera? i hope i'm making sense here! Does it make a difference with the body? would a 1d be able to hold a heavier lens than an 400d etc
for the bigger lens' you have tripod collars but what would happen if the body was attached to the tripod?

Pete
Click to expand...

The lens you're hiring comes with a tripod ring, and for a good reason ;) Even with a larger body, it'd be better to mount the combo on a tripod by the lens ring as it would be much better balanced, and easier to switch from landscape to portrait orientation. And if you're hand holding, I couldn't imagine a situation where you'd be holding the lens/body with both hands on the body :shrug:
 
As above really! When you start getting your hands on bigger glass, it really does become a case of attaching the camera to the lens, not the lens to the camera!
 
trencheel303 said:
as long as you support it (like you'd support a cat when holding it.. sorry bad example lol) it will be fine. Carry the camera by the lens, not the body, hold a hand under the lens when shooting, etc.

With a 1.5 KG lens you'd probably get away by just holding the body, but it might strain the mount and your wrists. Don't chance it!
Click to expand...



Yup.............:thumbs:
 
agreed. while i haven't seen a case of lens mount breaking, wrist damage is very possible with the heavier lenses. best to hold onto the lens.
 
I`m led to believe that lenses are designed to break near the mount rather than rip the guts out of the camera by shearing at the camera mount.

Though that may be a load of BS and I have no intention of testing the theory..........:lol:
 
Every Canon lens over 1kg is delivered with a tripod ring as standard. Shear forces aren't a big issue but the tension/compression forces are probably too great to risk,

Bob
 
Hi.
Don't try to just hold the camera with this lens fitted - you probably won't get a steady shot if you tried anyway - if you want to hand hold support the lens with your left hand you most probably will anyway to operate the zoom,

This lens should have a tripod mount so you could mount a monopod on the lens if you wanted to.

Regards

Mike
 
yeah, i guessed that would be the case!

chris321 said:
As above really! When you start getting your hands on bigger glass, it really does become a case of attaching the camera to the lens, not the lens to the camera!
Click to expand...

that pretty much sums it up i guess
 
when ever the 100 400 is attached to my 50D I always hold the lens and the bdy while shooting unless on the tripod.
And i always carry by the lens unless strapped round my neck then I hold the lens too for extra support and take the weight off my neck

spike
 
Here's my take on it.

The only damage I've seen like this was when one of our customers had a Canon 500mm f/4 attached to her 400D, slung over her shoulder. As she turned round to do something or other, the shear forces pulled the lens away from the camera.

But this could easily have been avoided. Big lenses like the 500 come with their own shoulder straps, and if she'd used that as well - ie had both straps over her shoulder rather than one dangling free - then there would have been no problem.

For smaller lenses like the 70-200, I think the main issue is that whatever feels natural and comfortable to you is very probably safe.

For example:
- If you have the camera slung over your shoulder, the weight of the lens will naturally pull it into a nose-down orientation and that will be fine.
- When you want to bring it into a shooting position you will naturally hold the lens (because swivelling it up by just holding the body will be too hard), and that will be fine.
- Shooting handheld, you'll want a hand under the lens to support it, and that will be fine.
 
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