Did you know that registration to Fighter Control is completely free and brings you lots of added features? Find out more....

monopod?

Post your questions, reviews and technical issues here.
Post Reply
User avatar
nescafe37
Posts: 646
Joined: Tue Jun 09, 2015 4:36 pm
Location: Bisley, Stroud, Gloucestershire

monopod?

Post by nescafe37 » Wed Jan 24, 2018 11:02 am

Anyone use one at all? How does it affect your photography? Are they worth it or not?

User avatar
TREBAX_RAVEN
Posts: 676
Joined: Fri Aug 18, 2017 8:47 pm
Location: EGVA_EGVN_SPTA
Contact:

Re: monopod?

Post by TREBAX_RAVEN » Wed Jan 24, 2018 2:06 pm

i dont use one.
but i'am also considering getting one for video
I asked the same question in the video forum but got no reply's.
Tribute to 47 squadron

User avatar
Grahame W
Posts: 245
Joined: Mon Oct 05, 2009 8:15 am
Location: Rotherham, South Yorkshire

Re: monopod?

Post by Grahame W » Wed Jan 24, 2018 2:30 pm

I find mine a bit cumbersome, but it's useful for taxiing shots of prop aircraft. It helps when I used a slow shutter speed to get prop blur.
Grahame W

User avatar
nescafe37
Posts: 646
Joined: Tue Jun 09, 2015 4:36 pm
Location: Bisley, Stroud, Gloucestershire

Re: monopod?

Post by nescafe37 » Wed Jan 24, 2018 5:30 pm

cheers for the feedback Grahame. Most appreciated.

dervish
Posts: 1232
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 6:46 pm

Re: monopod?

Post by dervish » Wed Jan 24, 2018 6:00 pm

Will give you two or three stops extra to play with and still allow easy panning. Really useful when space is at a premium and light not as bright as you'd like.

If you get one make sure it's light and compact. Long sections or heavy and you'll just leave it behind. Get two feet for it...one wide disk type and one point. Flat ones better on flat ground (eg. nightshoot on an airfield) and spiked ones great for pinning people at ground level before they put up their ladder in front of you (also good on soft or uneven ground).

Some patience when first using one and you'll soon appreciate how useful they are...no patience and you'll have wasted your money.
The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual......
Help from without is often enfeebling in its effects, but help from within invariably invigorates

Andy_99
Posts: 964
Joined: Tue Jan 28, 2014 12:37 pm
Location: Hebburn

Re: monopod?

Post by Andy_99 » Sun Feb 04, 2018 2:37 pm

I find mine quite limiting at airshows as planes move in 3 dimensions. can be very useful for taxi shots but when in the air not so good.

Find it excellent for motorsport when the cars/bikes are only moving in one dimension.

Some say fitting a gimble head will help but I think I'd end up tied in knots & missing the shot I'd get if handheld

User avatar
B58Hustler
Posts: 265
Joined: Fri Feb 19, 2016 2:39 pm

Re: monopod?

Post by B58Hustler » Tue Feb 06, 2018 11:12 pm

For motorsport in conjuction with a ball head maybe.
For aviation,waste of time,unless you want a 1/30th pan shot of an aircraft on the deck during it's take off roll or landing run.
THE shot you want of course has said aircraft rotating whilst reatracting it's gear so it's now moving diagonally thus causing you to lift your camera and wack yourself in the chest with your monopod which has suddenly become a massive inconveniance!
Just my two penneth worth........

User avatar
C24
Posts: 3189
Joined: Thu Nov 05, 2009 10:52 am
Location: In the 51st State of the Union

Re: monopod?

Post by C24 » Wed Feb 07, 2018 8:50 am

Nescafe37.
If you have time, look at the last three years input on the Flickr account below.
I have problems with hand tremble(not the medical term but it describes the condition). Most were taken using a gimbal mounted on a tripod, earlier ones using a monopod and ball head. Practise helps but of course that can only be done after an outlay for the equipment.
If you are under fifty and relatively healthy, get yourself two tins of bake beans, sit watching a sport programme and lift them bending from the elbow to your shoulder. Ten minutes work, ten minutes rest repeated during the match will make a whole lot of difference.
Ps. Rice pudding can :roll: be used as an alternative but they are generally 400g rather than 410g for the beans.
Good luck
C24.
493d/48th - Grim Reapers Supporter.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/charlie-two-four/ FuzzyFastjetFotos, incorporating "HazyHelos"
There's no "go-round" in a glider.

User avatar
SG1
Posts: 418
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2013 9:21 pm
Location: Coningsby

Re: monopod?

Post by SG1 » Thu Feb 08, 2018 6:14 pm

Put Camera on monopod, set timer to 10 sec extend monopod raise above head and wait for the click.

Imageeap 3 by philip elcock, on Flickr
And that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity,
from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been,
and are being, evolved.

tailslides
Posts: 88
Joined: Sat Oct 24, 2009 8:19 am

Re: monopod?

Post by tailslides » Fri Feb 09, 2018 5:12 pm

Have a couple of Manfrotto monopods, great for motorsport, can be used for aircraft flying by folding forward under the lens like a rifle for more leverage.

I saw an American serviceman using a tripod to photograph flying aircraft last week, he picked it up and was waving everything around, really quite bizarre ;)

John flightpath
Posts: 714
Joined: Mon Jul 13, 2015 9:48 pm
Location: Birmingham

Re: monopod?

Post by John flightpath » Sat Feb 10, 2018 5:32 pm

Bought one 3 years ago. Used it once.
Cheers
John
Equipment
Canon EOS 750D

Sigma APO OS DG 150-500mm
Canon 55-250 IS STM Lens
Sigma APO DG 70-300 lens

User avatar
nescafe37
Posts: 646
Joined: Tue Jun 09, 2015 4:36 pm
Location: Bisley, Stroud, Gloucestershire

Re: monopod?

Post by nescafe37 » Sun Feb 11, 2018 9:05 am

Thanks for the replies chaps. Looks like I would not really benifit from one then....

Post Reply

Return to “Photography Q & A / How to post photos”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 9 guests