Monopods

[Roof]

I was in the shop yesterday wanting to buy a Monopod.

There is quite a assortment of these things. My question is.

1. Do people use monopods a lot ?

I only want one for Macro as my 70-300 is kinda heavy and i have a hard time holding it still in Macro mode.

2. What kind of head do you have on it ?

I wanted to buy a small manfrotto with a ballhead, The head didn't fit on the monopod and i had to go for the bigger Monopod, Which i didn't want, The idea is if and when i want to travel i'd like to try and keep things small.

Hop this all makes sense.

Cheers

Roof

[Harves]

I don't have a monopod yet, have thought about purchasing one, but like you, I'm not sure what to get.

I too will be interested in this thread.

[Briancd]

A monopod relies on you holding it still. For macro work I would think they were not ideal. A solid tripod is the way to go. I have mine in tha car all the time and it is more steadier than just hand held.

[Seesee]

Personally I wouldn't bother, I have one, used it a few times and now it just sits there, they aren't the cure all, probably an asset at car race shots or similar....but

I bought it simply to transport on hikes as it has less weight, but my tripod although a bit heavier is a much better option overall, and lugging the extra bit of weight is worthwhile. Get yourself a half decent tripod is my advice, there are lots to choose from and opinions on which to get is like holdens and fords but as a rule manfrotto seems to get good marks, though at a higher price. You can pays lots for a pro tripod which will be heavy to carry, it is generally said that the heavier they are the more sturdy they will be and result in less camera shake with big lenses........however

{ I have and love my cheapish tripod of $140.00 from Teds, a Velbon Sherpa 450R, serves my purpose very well with 300 to 400 reach lenses, maybe room for improvement....but I haven't found it to be a problem and can take it anywhere ??? }

[hoffy]

one thing that has always bothered me about buying a monopod (I have tried, but I dont even see the need & I do a bit of motorsports as well!!) is why do you need a complicated &/or expensive head? You want to tilt back, you tilt back. I suppose the only reason would be portrait orientated photo's but thats it.

I have, though been tempted to buy a cheap plastic one. If all you are using a mono for is to support the weight, that should work fine (but I have flash & tripod to buy before then)

[Seesee]

one thing that has always bothered me about buying a monopod (I have tried, but I dont even see the need & I do a bit of motorsports as well!!) is why do you need a complicated &/or expensive head? You want to tilt back, you tilt back. I suppose the only reason would be portrait orientated photo's but thats it.

I have, though been tempted to buy a cheap plastic one. If all you are using a mono for is to support the weight, that should work fine (but I have flash & tripod to buy before then)

Couldn't agree more about the function of a monopod, if you want one at all buy a cheapie as it does exactly the same thing as an expensive one...different story with tripods maybe but a monopod is just a stick to support weight and that's about it.

[MarkW]

Roof,
I purchased a carbon fibre mono off the web a few months ago - its a cheapy at $80 odd, but it not really there for continuious use - more for my up-coming trip to the UK as I wont be taking the big tripod with me (too heavy). Its a convenient length at about 1.4m but folds up really small at about 36omm in 5 sections.

As for using a head on a tripod - I first thought that you don't really need one - wrong - the tilt that you need for anything more than a few degrees off the horizontal is too much for just tilting the monopod. So I purchased a Manfrotto 234 monopod tilt head which is relatively small and only gives tilt in a single plane. For portrait orientation of the camera I have a Kirk L plate on the camera and Arca Swiss plates on everything - works a treat.

As I'm travelling reasonably light, I am taking a small table like tripod - a Velbon Ultra Maxi SF (called an ULTRA-LUXi-SF on web site) for use when taking time exposures at night. This one has the same multi-stop leg features that my large manfrotto has yet the complete unit is only 350mm in length when folded.