Benefit of monopads?

[cnhoff]

Hi,

 

what are your experiences with monopods? How many stops of

"handholdability" can they give you, when used properly?

 

Thanks!

[cnhoff]

Sorry, wrong forums, admins please delete this thread!

[yakim_peled1]

It's about two stops.

 

Happy shooting,

Yakim.

[savas_kyprianides]

Are monopods one of the most unused pieces of equipment in every photographers kit? I

get that feeling after having read about them in the other area of Photo.net. I have owned

a monopod for a long time. I never use it. It seems that outdoor wildlife photographers

benefit from the monopod suppoting heavy lenses; lack of area to open a tripod and the

need to move quickly from spot to spot. Otherwise, I suspect people buy a monopod,

become dissatisfied, then go and buy a tripod, which is what they should have bought to

begin with.

[gaetano catelli]

i shoot available light, if at all possible.

 

recently i bought a monopod and used it at a birthday party. i was so pleased with the results, i'll never shoot an indoor event again without my monopod.

 

figure on a 1-to-2 stop advantage -- which is a lot when shooting available light.

[digitmstr]

I own one and have used it ONLY for sports, mainly to help hold the cmaera for a long time while panning to follow the action.

 

I rarely use tripods, monopods or any other form of camera support.

[oceanphysics]

I've never seen a wildlife photographer using a monopod. They use tripods. Monopods are used mainly by sports photographers for lenses that are too big to hand-hold. For lenses that can be held by hand, I think two stops is optimistic.

[peter_white2]

As I've gotten older, my ability to hand hold has diminished. I used to shoot hand held most of the time, only using the tripod for landscapes and studio work. Now I rarely shoot hand held. Anything I used to do hand held I now do with a monopod, and for landscapes and studio work I use the tripod. Though I am looking into getting a camera stand for the studio. Tripods are a pain. :-(

[savas_kyprianides]

Do monopods work well with IS?

[ferensen]

I use one for birds, with an IS lens, example:

http://www.pbase.com/ferensen/image/53139739/original

[whwhitejr]

Chris,

I find that a monopod helps most in low light conditions. I use it at sporting events mostly at night when it is hard to use a shutter speed above 1/250th. It also helps support the big lenses (and me after running up and down the field). I also use it at weddings to help stableize the 24-70 f2.8L. They are inexpensive for the most part so try one. You can always use it for a walking stick.LOL,Bill

[calvin_vickery]

I have a monopod and it does help, but I'd be guessing how many stops I gain. The problem most people seem to have is that they use the monopod to strictly carry the weight of the lens. While this probably saves your strength I doubt you gain much of an advantage exposure wise. The way to use the monopod that gives the most advantage is to use the monopod, in combination with your two legs to form a tripod as is shown here: http://www.outdooreyes.com/photo5.php3

I doubt this will help much if you have a 1200mm monster, but with a 200-300mm it should make a significant difference.

Cal

[mark u]

Monopods can be great with long lenses used low down. At any major cricket match, you will see the press photographers supporting their 500/600mm (usually plus 1.4x TC) lenses on a closed monopod, lying prone as if they were shooting at a rifle range. Some also supplement the monopod with the Moose Peterson long lens technique (draping an arm over the lens to damp vibrations). This technique would also work well with shooting wading birds.

 

The big advantage is that key support is provided much closer to the centre of gravity of your rig, which takes a lot of the strain of holding it away.

[yakim_peled1]

>> Do monopods work well with IS?

 

Yes.

 

 

Happy shooting,

Yakim.

[babette_ross]

It helps... but its not a substitute for a tripod.... i have an ems walking stick where the handle screws off and a tripod head screws on - i perfer the monopod/walksing stick to hiking with a tripod

[jimstrutz]

Looking at the responses I see some good answers, and some pure speculation thrown in too. Too bad it's not good speculation. The question wasn't asked about holding the weight of heavy lenses, but some people think that the only good use of a monopod. As others have responded, there is more to a monopod than a weight support.

 

I get about 2 stops of additional hand holdability. Sometimes 3 stops. It's not always reliable though, so I generally take a few shots if the shutter speed is marginal.

[rstilley]

I use a monopod for shooting football. During an entire game, your arms could get pretty

tired holding the weight of a 70-200 f/2.8. I figure for an inexpensive $20 monopod (Wal-

Mart), the investment is worth it. Even at 1/500th, I think it does help me steady the lens.

Hope this info helps.

[henrik_jacobsen]

I have both monopad and tripod. Using the monopad for sport is obvious, not only because of weight issues, but when you have to fire when the right situation is there, you don't shake the camera so easily. There are however 2 reasons why I bought the monopad. Indoor I get much sharper pictures, but this is also the case outdor when speed is about 1/60 sec - 1/30 sec, and that might be due to mirror vibration. I have tested that, and even without enlargement of the photos, all 3 members of my family could identify the sharp pictures which was either taken with monopads or mirror lock up compared with shooting with no Mirror Lock Up and no monopad. So in my opinion Monopads reduce the mirror induced vibrations which have impact on your pictures with 1/60 - 1/30 sec.

I would estimate/guess that a monopad could give 2-3 stop extra, comparable to Image Stabilization.

I am so happy with my current monopad, that I am going to buy a lighter version for trips. I hardly use the tripod, but would not be without.

/HRJ