STEDILENS SYSTEM

[the black fox]

Has anyone used the stedilens system at all , it looks to be a far lighter alternative to arca Swiss plates ,gimbals etc and looks quite well thought out .. I did also look at Speedigimbal but that looks crude in comparison .
Every ounce reduced makes life more enjoyable so any thoughts etc

 

[AndrewFlannigan]

Seems like a useful tool at a reasonable price.

 

[the black fox]

just ordered the base unit ,will update once tried and tested . seems ??? quicker that faffing about doing up area plate locks etc .. if I like it i'll order the bean bag and window mount at a later date ..
I really do like that you can fit the base unit into the bean bag something I have long wanted

 

[myotis]

Has anyone used the stedilens system at all , it looks to be a far lighter alternative to arca Swiss plates ,gimbals etc and looks quite well thought out .. I did also look at Speedigimbal but that looks crude in comparison .
Every ounce reduced makes life more enjoyable so any thoughts etc

I have posted about the Novoflex option every time this crops up, so it may not be useful to post again. However...

The Novoflex comes with or without a "clamp" option. Without the clamp, it works like the speed gimbal and the speedilens.

I originally bought the basic option, but I found it inconvenient that I always needed to support the camera, and quickly added the base clamp. This works just as quickly and easily, and doubles up as a ball head on a tripod or monopod.

On a monopod, if I'm waiting for something to happen, or if I need two hands to make a camera settings change, I can simply lock the ball in place. For me, I have found this transformed the usability of the set up.

It's very pricey, at £275 for the full kit, and £70 for the basic ball and cup option.

MagicBall "FREE" Set consisting of:

Novoflex create premium, precision engineered, professional photography equipment including lens adapters, macro bellows, ball heads, tripods and more.

novoflex.co.uk

 

[the black fox]

I have posted about the Novoflex option every time this crops up, so it may not be useful to post again. However...

The Novoflex comes with or without a "clamp" option. Without the clamp, it works like the speed gimbal and the speedilens.

I originally bought the basic option, but I found it inconvenient that I always needed to support the camera, and quickly added the base clamp. This works just as quickly and easily, and doubles up as a ball head on a tripod or monopod.

On a monopod, if I'm waiting for something to happen, or if I need two hands to make a camera settings change, I can simply lock the ball in place. For me, I have found this transformed the usability of the set up.

It's very pricey, at £275 for the full kit, and £70 for the basic ball and cup option.

MagicBall "FREE" Set consisting of:

Novoflex create premium, precision engineered, professional photography equipment including lens adapters, macro bellows, ball heads, tripods and more.

novoflex.co.uk

I’m hoping this is a useable alternative to the other systems Graham , it’s certainly a lot cheaper I.e £40 for the base set up , and the non slip base unit should work in hides to . If I like it and with advancing age I can’t see why not then I’ll order the bean bag support and possibly the car window mount .

 

[myotis]

I’m hoping this is a useable alternative to the other systems Graham , it’s certainly a lot cheaper I.e £40 for the base set up , and the non slip base unit should work in hides to . If I like it and with advancing age I can’t see why not then I’ll order the bean bag support and possibly the car window mount .

The only difference is being able to lock the ball in place, which is only relevant during "downtime". In terms of when you are actually taking pictures, I can't see there being any important difference between the three options.

Personally, I found the annoyance of not being able to lock the ball in place sufficiently irritating to force me into coughing up the extra money. But that was only after using the ball and socket part for several months, which convinced me that this was better than the other options I had tried.

So what you are getting (assuming it's well enough made) should be more than usable.

 

[the black fox]

Well it arrived early this morning . Will test out later .. gut feeling at the moment says it might not be as useful as first thought but we shall see

 

[sk66]

If this is for use from the vehicle; IMO, one of the best/cheapest/easiest solutions is a "window sling."

 

[the black fox]

Well tried it out attached to a monopod . It works as intended but monopod use makes it impractical I.e you have to physically hold the tripod foot keep it in place , plus I normally carry my camera with strap attached to the tripod foot ,and the baseplate on top of the lens , to use the set up it needs reversing and strap detached and ball attached .
Thus for the odd times I might use a monopod I’ve refitted a arca head
But nil desperandum the baseplate plate and ball look like they will be useful in a hide as the plate has a non slip base and I might yet buy the bag . I.m.h.o I think the base plate would be better on a tripod . I also have a 300 mm f4 with no I.s so will be handy on that lens

 

[the black fox]

If this is for use from the vehicle; IMO, one of the best/cheapest/easiest solutions is a "window sling."

What your possibly not taking into account steve is our cars are generally smaller than yours , even my Honda CRV doesn’t leave a lot of manoeuvring room with a big lens attached

 

[myotis]

Well tried it out attached to a monopod . It works as intended but monopod use makes it impractical I.e you have to physically hold the tripod foot keep it in place , plus I normally carry my camera with strap attached to the tripod foot ,and the baseplate on top of the lens , to use the set up it needs reversing and strap detached and ball attached .
Thus for the odd times I might use a monopod I’ve refitted a arca head
But nil desperandum the baseplate plate and ball look like they will be useful in a hide as the plate has a non slip base and I might yet buy the bag . I.m.h.o I think the base plate would be better on a tripod . I also have a 300 mm f4 with no I.s so will be handy on that lens

I have changed my Nikon tripod feet to arca swiss ones, and attach the ball to an arca quick release clamp.

I can then clamp the ball onto the tripod foot and leave the tripod thread on the foot free to attach the sling.

 

[taxboy]

Well tried it out attached to a monopod . It works as intended but monopod use makes it impractical I.e you have to physically hold the tripod foot keep it in place , plus I normally carry my camera with strap attached to the tripod foot ,and the baseplate on top of the lens , to use the set up it needs reversing and strap detached and ball attached .
Thus for the odd times I might use a monopod I’ve refitted a arca head
But nil desperandum the baseplate plate and ball look like they will be useful in a hide as the plate has a non slip base and I might yet buy the bag . I.m.h.o I think the base plate would be better on a tripod . I also have a 300 mm f4 with no I.s so will be handy on that lens

Thanks for sharing your initial thoughts. I'd be interested to hear how the baseplate works in a hide. Like you I looked at the Speedigimbal but then you need to buy their strap if you want to let go of the camera & lens

 

[the black fox]

I have changed my Nikon tripod feet to arca swiss ones, and attach the ball to an arca quick release clamp.

I can then clamp the ball onto the tripod foot and leave the tripod thread on the foot free to attach the sling.

I have changed my 180-600 foot to a haouge brand one that has a QD hole so the strap is attached and suspended by that , to access the threaded hole for the STEDILENS ball I have to remove the QD mount then turn the tripod mount to. Bottom of the lens , in practice it’s to much faffing about . Hence my thoughts . Like PP or camera set up everyone tends to do things differently

 

[myotis]

I have changed my 180-600 foot to a haouge brand one that has a QD hole so the strap is attached and suspended by that , to access the threaded hole for the STEDILENS ball I have to remove the QD mount then turn the tripod mount to. Bottom of the lens , in practice it’s to much faffing about . Hence my thoughts . Like PP or camera set up everyone tends to do things differently

With my set up either a 300mm pf +1.4tc or 200-500mm f5.6 (when I had one), I had room to attach the ball with the arca swiss clamp and still access the QD socket, so it wasn't an issue for me.

I also found it more comfortable to handhold the ball, than holding the "naked" tripod foot.

 

[sk66]

What your possibly not taking into account steve is our cars are generally smaller than yours , even my Honda CRV doesn’t leave a lot of manoeuvring room with a big lens attached

Yes, shooting from a vehicle is often difficult. The sling wraps around the upper window frame (or between it and the roof) and the camera is suspended from it (foot on top). It uses the camera's own weight to help stabilize it, but it's mostly just weight support which allows for easy(ish) panning. Making a very simple DIY one from .5 meter of 3/4" Velcro one-wrap would be very easy/cheap.

plus I normally carry my camera with strap attached to the tripod foot ,and the baseplate on top of the lens

I can't picture this... what is the baseplate attached to?

 

[Earley Man]

Well tried it out attached to a monopod . It works as intended but monopod use makes it impractical I.e you have to physically hold the tripod foot keep it in place , plus I normally carry my camera with strap attached to the tripod foot ,and the baseplate on top of the lens , to use the set up it needs reversing and strap detached and ball attached .
Thus for the odd times I might use a monopod I’ve refitted a arca head
But nil desperandum the baseplate plate and ball look like they will be useful in a hide as the plate has a non slip base and I might yet buy the bag . I.m.h.o I think the base plate would be better on a tripod . I also have a 300 mm f4 with no I.s so will be handy on that lens

I am thinking about this system for use with my Fujifilm 150-600 zoom and I've got a couple of questions for you. The main use would be photographing ships at distance, between one and up to six to eight miles on very clear days.

Q1, If I've read it correctly the base plate can be directly attached to my Leofoto tripod head is that so?

Q2, Do you consider that the bean bag/ base plate combination will give enough steady support using the body of my car and is the bean bag material unlikely to scratch the paintwork?

Apologies for what are basic questions.

 

[the black fox]

Yes, shooting from a vehicle is often difficult. The sling wraps around the upper window frame (or between it and the roof) and the camera is suspended from it (foot on top). It uses the camera's own weight to help stabilize it, but it's mostly just weight support which allows for easy(ish) panning. Making a very simple DIY one from .5 meter of 3/4" Velcro one-wrap would be very easy/cheap.



I can't picture this... what is the baseplate attached to?

should have said tripod foot Steve

 

[the black fox]

I am thinking about this system for use with my Fujifilm 150-600 zoom and I've got a couple of questions for you. The main use would be photographing ships at distance, between one and up to six to eight miles on very clear days.

Q1, If I've read it correctly the base plate can be directly attached to my Leofoto tripod head is that so?

Q2, Do you consider that the bean bag/ base plate combination will give enough steady support using the body of my car and is the bean bag material unlikely to scratch the paintwork?

Apologies for what are basic questions.

Q1 yes but its the small thread so as long as you can reverse your center screw to the smaller size most good tripods do

Q2 havent as yet bought the bag so can't give a honest answer they do a window clip though

 

[Nod]

The main use would be photographing ships at distance, between one and up to six to eight miles on very clear days.

As you're probably aware, Christopher, at that distance and focal length, heat haze/atmospheric distortion is likely to be as big a problem as stability.

 

[sk66]

Q2 havent as yet bought the bag so can't give a honest answer they do a window clip though

I'll just put this out there...
IMO, any kind of mount that attaches to the door window glass is feeble... the attachment is (almost?) always weak, the glass moves, and I would be very dubious about mounting anything with any real weight on it... not only for the weakness of the support, but also potentially the strength of the glass in that kind of stress.

IMO, the very best support for stability is just a beanbag. If you want to compromise stability somewhat for the ability to move the camera, a good panning base on top of the beanbag is a very good option. If it's in a hide with a shelf, then there are a couple other lightweight options (hide plate, hide clamp), but the beanbag w/wo the panning base is still a very good choice. Unfortunately, there is no fits-all solution I have found; flexibility/speed compromises stability, as does light weight usually.

The one thing I generally would not want is a support that isn't really a support... I.e. you have to be hands on supporting it all the time. IMO, that is really only good for stop-and-pop photography... it is not really good for anything that takes time/patience/etc.

 

[Earley Man]

As you're probably aware, Christopher, at that distance and focal length, heat haze/atmospheric distortion is likely to be as big a problem as stability.

Very much so Nod! The following mainly refers to the South and West coasts as I'm not that familiar with the other sea areas. When the wind goes around to the West as an Atlantic depression moves in, the visibility can become very clear and over 20 miles has been possible.

The shipping AIS (automatic identification system), which has literally transformed our hobby, had not long been introduced and on this particular day one of the other shipping nutters like me, was on the cliffs at Dover trying out this then new fangled system, using his computer and a signal transponder. I was trying out my new adapted for terrestial use Takahashi astroscope.

A large tanker around 300,000 tons was coming up from the West and after a bit of a struggle I read the ship's name and called it out. The other guy asked how I knew it as he had only just seen the name on his computer. I said I had just read it on the ship's bow.

His reply was that I couldn't have as the ship was 23 miles away!

Now I'm hoping to be able to get down to Dover in the next couple of months, after a long forced absence, to see just what the 150-600 can do. From the one clear image I managed to get of a ship we were passing on a cruise last year, which I now can't find on my computer, I already know that when the visibility is good, reading a name between 3 and 4 miles is perfectly possible.

 

[Nod]

I was trying to get a snap of a ship on the horizon (from sea level) a few weeks back and it was hard to tell what colour it was, let alone read the name of the line on the side! I could just about make out that it was a container ship.

 

[the black fox]

The elevation I.e cliff tops should eliminate heat haze ,

 

[Nod]

Reduce, maybe but not eliminate.