Who uses a Monopod?

I've been using this monopod for a few weeks after my carbon one broke. I've got an Andoer monopod head it's a Arca-Swiss.
Sean

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I have a manfrotto one with one of those fancy foot that let it free stand but i have only used it once or twice.
 
I was using a Novo Explora MP20 Carbon Fibre but changed it to a Gitzo GM2542 recently. I use it loads with my 400mm f/2.8 E FL for motorsport, mainly for head on shots but I can pan with it too. The Gitzo has a ball foot so should make panning easier.
 
A few years ago now I bought my Nikon 70-200 f2.8 and it was a heavy lump for me then, now at 71 years of age it's even heavier so stability and framing is important to my style of photography, I bought the Manfrotto 679B and it's as invaluable now as it was then,
 
About eight years ago I swapped my rather heavy Manfrotto three section monopod for a Benbo two section stick. I kept the old Manfrotto 494 head. The whole thing does what I want.
 
Mr Perceptive said:
Used a monopod for the first time in anger last weekend, having played previously with a friends! (those with a dirty mind can read into that what they want!) I've bought a Benro SupaDupa Pro MSDPL46C -I boughgt this based on teh following - it goes tall enough for what I want, the leveling head is ace, and it has a rotating foot. I used it for motosport, and left thye levelling head slightly loose, so it would follow easily my panning efforts, it worked well, as I came away with far more keepres than usual, and my arms didn't ache.
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Have been thinking of getting the SupaDupa pro, are you still happy with yours.
TIA
 
I do a lot of Architectural photography in old dark Italian monuments. At the moment I am doing a series on Romanesque Architecture. I always use a tripod when I can, but this is not always possible for a series of reasons. I do a lot of HDR and I needed some way of fixing the camera in position.

After a bit of lateral thinking, I decided to dig out my old Manfrotto monopod, that I used under my 300 2.8, when I did performing arts photography. It has three screw in feet that converts it into a free standing platform. Maybe using IBIS in the Z7 to compensate for the instability, I would have a solution.

I did a quick experiment locally, before a planned trip to Brescia, where I knew my tripod might get frowned upon in the Rotonda. It seems to work. I let the vibrations die down and with a cable release I arrived at 30 seconds in a place with no air movements. In Brescia, it gave me some good sharp HDR frames at slow shutter speeds. I obviously used a cable release.

After the Manfrotto experiment, I bought a "Three Legged Thing" Alan 2.0 Carbon Fibre Monopod . Here are a few thoughts about it after a few trail runs in real shooting situations. I always try out new gear this way on stuff I can shoot again

It seems to dampen vibrations a little better than the old one and is much lighter. But as I expected it is a bit unstable with a heavy lens moved to vertical position. Carbon fibre tubes are more flexible than aluminium tubes of the same size. So a foot pressed down on one leg is needed for security and the feet need rotation to keep the centre of gravity within the footprint of the feet. ( It is best to have the camera strap round your neck or some way that you can stop the whole rig overturning with a heavy lens). It was fine with the 14-30 F4. The Nikon F 24PC was at the limit. With the camera in the horizontal position the centre of gravity falls within the feet footprint, so even with the 24PC there were no problems. Anyway great care is needed! I use my camera bag as a counterweight with some heavy lenses.

A Manfrotto L bracket solved the problem elegantly. It keeps the centre of gravity of the camera centred above the pole, or at least in the circle traced by the feet.

IBIS in the Z7 works well to eliminate any small vibrations. It was fine for exposures up to 25 seconds. I presume it is the amplitude of the vibrations rather than the duration that is the limiting factor with IBIS. I guess nobody has ever considered the usefulness of IBIS on unsteady tripods. I use the in camera level, and it is a good indicator of the vibrations. When it is still I can shoot ( about 10 seconds).

The tripod will be obviously my first choice for Architecture, but for travel and places where a tripod might be problematic, this looks like a really good solution. It is almost impossible to get things perfectly plumb, so a bit of post is needed. But HDR frames are possible and I can shot at base ISO.

The Alan Monopod is made in the UK and seems to be well engineered, and at a price that was cheaper than some similar ones coming from the Far East, So far highly recommended. I had got the choice down to two models, so a pinch of patriotism tipped the balance. I might add their lightweight ball head, as my Manfrotto weighs more than the monopod!


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NCV said:
I do a lot of Architectural photography in old dark Italian monuments. At the moment I am doing a series on Romanesque Architecture. I always use a tripod when I can, but this is not always possible for a series of reasons. I do a lot of HDR and I needed some way of fixing the camera in position.

After a bit of lateral thinking, I decided to dig out my old Manfrotto monopod, that I used under my 300 2.8, when I did performing arts photography. It has three screw in feet that converts it into a free standing platform. Maybe using IBIS in the Z7 to compensate for the instability, I would have a solution.

I did a quick experiment locally, before a planned trip to Brescia, where I knew my tripod might get frowned upon in the Rotonda. It seems to work. I let the vibrations die down and with a cable release I arrived at 30 seconds in a place with no air movements. In Brescia, it gave me some good sharp HDR frames at slow shutter speeds. I obviously used a cable release.

After the Manfrotto experiment, I bought a "Three Legged Thing" Alan 2.0 Carbon Fibre Monopod . Here are a few thoughts about it after a few trail runs in real shooting situations. I always try out new gear this way on stuff I can shoot again

It seems to dampen vibrations a little better than the old one and is much lighter. But as I expected it is a bit unstable with a heavy lens moved to vertical position. Carbon fibre tubes are more flexible than aluminium tubes of the same size. So a foot pressed down on one leg is needed for security and the feet need rotation to keep the centre of gravity within the footprint of the feet. ( It is best to have the camera strap round your neck or some way that you can stop the whole rig overturning with a heavy lens). It was fine with the 14-30 F4. The Nikon F 24PC was at the limit. With the camera in the horizontal position the centre of gravity falls within the feet footprint, so even with the 24PC there were no problems. Anyway great care is needed! I use my camera bag as a counterweight with some heavy lenses.

A Manfrotto L bracket solved the problem elegantly. It keeps the centre of gravity of the camera centred above the pole, or at least in the circle traced by the feet.

IBIS in the Z7 works well to eliminate any small vibrations. It was fine for exposures up to 25 seconds. I presume it is the amplitude of the vibrations rather than the duration that is the limiting factor with IBIS. I guess nobody has ever considered the usefulness of IBIS on unsteady tripods. I use the in camera level, and it is a good indicator of the vibrations. When it is still I can shoot ( about 10 seconds).

The tripod will be obviously my first choice for Architecture, but for travel and places where a tripod might be problematic, this looks like a really good solution. It is almost impossible to get things perfectly plumb, so a bit of post is needed. But HDR frames are possible and I can shot at base ISO.

The Alan Monopod is made in the UK and seems to be well engineered, and at a price that was cheaper than some similar ones coming from the Far East, So far highly recommended. I had got the choice down to two models, so a pinch of patriotism tipped the balance. I might add their lightweight ball head, as my Manfrotto weighs more than the monopod!


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I don't think 3LT products are made in the UK, had this discussion before on here.
Your patriotism is likely misplaced and you have in fact purchased another Far East import.

Interesting write up though and bears out my findings that a monopod is certainly better than nothing.
 
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tijuana taxi said:
I don't think 3LT products are made in the UK, had this discussion before on here.
Your patriotism is likely misplaced and you have in fact purchased another Far East import.

Interesting write up though and bears out my findings that a monopod is certainly better than nothing.
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Rather than better than nothing, I consider it to be a good workaround in those situations where I cannot use a tripod with my geared head, which is obviously a much better solution, or where I do not want to be weighed down with a lot of gear. With care I get results that are as good as I get from using a tripod.

Sure, LT products or at least the components, are it seems actually made in the Far East, but the important money producing bits, like design and profits from sale go to a UK company. It is the Dyson model of manufacturing unfortunately. Most of my tripod gear is made by Manfrotto, which is actually made in Italy.
 
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