Having played with one for a while, I'm still mystified -- how do people
manage to keep monopods stable?
It's not a matter of the head I'm using -- for the time being, I'm just
using the normal ballhead I'd use on a tripod, but even if I lock it solid
(or fix the camera directly to the top of the monopod, even), I still have
problems.
I've tried the monopod-forwards, legs-backwards, lean down on it approach
to get the whole system to be a tripod -- that one works to some extent, but
even if I lean down on the thing very hard, I still get trembles left and
right as it pivots back and forth slightly around the foot.
I've tried the bottom-on-right-foot, middle-on-left-knee, top-on-right-hand
approach to stabilise it that way, and that just ends up with shakes because
my body's not completely rigid and all the shakes I have are thus magnified
all the way up.
I've tried the 'wrong' way (ie just having the monopod standing vertical in
front of me to take the weight of the camera) and that one ends up with it
rotating back and forth around the vertical axis the monopod has.
Leaning it behind me works much as leaning it in front of me; having it
horizontally wedged against a wall behind me gets somewhere, but still
doesn't stabilise everything.
Weirdly, the most successful approach so far is to shorten the monopod all
the way down until it's completely compressed, and tuck the bottom into the
front of my belt to stabilise things; somehow, I can counter the various
loads that way and things feel reasonably stable (sadly, while this feels
better, the final shots aren't any sharper).
Is there something I'm missing? None of the approaches seem to be any more
stable than just hand-holding; I'm using a 200mm lens and focussing on a
brick wall to give me something where I can easily detect shake, and it
doesn't seem to ever go away -- the amount of intrinsic tremble in the
system caused by _me_ seems irreducible, be it in my hands, or in my face
against the viewfinder if I've got it on a monopod, or in my legs, or
something.
Is this just one of those things I'll have to keep practising and do
breathing exercises and such for? Looking at the Leki hiking sticks people
are recommending, they seem like they'd be even more pivot-y at the base; at
least the one I'm using has a big rubber tip on it. (manfrotto 449-4, in
case it makes any difference -- it's the 4-section one, so it's not the most
solid, but it's definitely not flex in the monopod that's the issue here)
-- dan
The 200/4 seems to be the lens in the OM line up that needs to be
fastened to an anvil.
Take a look at Gary Reese's web site and his adventures with the
200/4 with not only a tripod but an auxiliary telephoto support.
http://members.aol.com/olympusom/lenstests/default.htm
--
Winsor Crosby
Long Beach, California
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