Heavy lenses on a light body?

[Ryosuke]

Just wondering, lets say you are using a dslr body ard 500~600gm and the lens that you are using is ard 800~1000gm, besides being front heavy, does it affect the mounting point of the camera when you shoot with 2 hands?

Or any other detrimental effects on the physical body of both the lens and camera?:dunno:

 

[zac08]

Just wondering, lets say you are using a dslr body ard 500~600gm and the lens that you are using is ard 800~1000gm, besides being front heavy, does it affect the mounting point of the camera when you shoot with 2 hands?

Or any other detrimental effects on the physical body of both the lens and camera?:dunno:

Just hold them in both hands, master hand on grip and the other under the lens and craddle it. Actually in some cases, they mount the lens to the tripod and the whole rig is supported from the lens collar.

 

[Ryosuke]

But if you were to use the above setup handheld, will the mount be damaged in the long run, especially if you were to use only your master hand to lift the camera and lense together via the grip?

 

[Simon_84]

just hold the heavier lens if you're that worried...balance the heavy part first.

 

[Rashkae]

But if you were to use the above setup handheld, will the mount be damaged in the long run, especially if you were to use only your master hand to lift the camera and lense together via the grip?

Then it would have to be a very poorly and cheaply made body. But with that sort of "front-heavy" weight distribution, you just CAN'T shoot steadily only holding the camera body - it'll be natural for you to support the lens with your other hand (which is "best practice" for holding your camera anyway).

 

[Ryosuke]

Then it would have to be a very poorly and cheaply made body. But with that sort of "front-heavy" weight distribution, you just CAN'T shoot steadily only holding the camera body - it'll be natural for you to support the lens with your other hand (which is "best practice" for holding your camera anyway).

So what if you have to bring it around? Let's just say you've got a neck strap for your camera and the lens is heavier than the body. Naturally while walking, the camera will point downwards right? This will not damage or loosen the mount as the lens is facing downwards?

 

[flipfreak]

1kg is ok la. its not so heavy. the mount can support it without any problems. the mount is part of the chassis after all. for example the canon 450D. the mount is the red bit.

 

[Rashkae]

So what if you have to bring it around? Let's just say you've got a neck strap for your camera and the lens is heavier than the body. Naturally while walking, the camera will point downwards right? This will not damage or loosen the mount as the lens is facing downwards?

Like I said, only if it's a really really cheaply made body.

 

[Garion]

It is safe to say that generally the lens mount on current generation bodies are fairly strong enough to take the weight of a 1kg plus lens hanging off it. For e.g, it is perfectly safe to lift up say a EOS 40D (w/o BG) with a 70-200mm f2.8L IS attached to it just by the hand grip alone, or to sling the setup round your shoulder.

However when it comes to lenses > 1.5kg, it is advisable to carry the setup by the lens, and when mounting, to mount the body to the lens rather than the other way around. Also most lenses of this class come with tripod collar so as to ensure the weight distribution and load is better distributed and thus ensuring that the lens mounting is not stressed too much when mounted on tripod/monopod.

 

[karnage]

If I have a 1kg+ lens on my camera, I wouldn't just let it hang when I'm walking around. I find myself still holding onto the lens most of the time. If I let it hang loose, it'll keep banging my tummy... irritating leh. Even with a light lens, I'll still be holding on to my camera...

 

[Snoweagle]

If a large heavy lens on a small, light body will be body mount to lens instead of lens to body. Similarly like a 70-200 f/2.8 IS on a 400D. It's just a matter of how u handhold it.

 

[Kit]

When your lenses are heavier than the body, your point of support should be swiched over to the lenses.

 

[dev2k8]

I tested 70-200mm F4L non IS on my 1000D and it's really so difficult to get a clean shot handheld cos the 1000D is so light. I think adding on a battery grip might be better....

 

[Daedalus Trent]

So what if you have to bring it around? Let's just say you've got a neck strap for your camera and the lens is heavier than the body. Naturally while walking, the camera will point downwards right? This will not damage or loosen the mount as the lens is facing downwards?

Basically, if you're using any of the reknown brands (Canon...Nikon..Sony...etc etc) you don't need to worry about it :think: The lens mount is an unbelieveably strong component

 

[liarliar]

From what i know lenses which are classified as 'heavy' will have a tripod ring mount. Irregardless of how much muscles the camer has such 'heavy' lenses exceeding a certain amount of weight will have a collar mount included. SO for mounting onto tripod there will be a balance since then the centre of gravity shall be somewhere between the near-mount section of the heavy lens instead of the cam body base. So TS don't worry mechanically the designers had taken care of it.

Looking into a steardier tripod is the challenge though.

 

[dision]

I don't think the camera body weight is a good gauge of how strong the mount will be. For the exact tolerance I think emailing the manufacturer will be the best way to find out. Chances are if the lens was held in a way other than intended, the mount portion on the len has an equal chance of failure.
Anyway TS if you're talking about a 2 hand grip, the camera mount does not take much stress from the lens weight because ur left hand should be supporting the lens. For a 1 hand grip if u're using a 1kg+ lens I think ur wrist might give way first.

 

[Ryosuke]

Thank you all for all your informative feedback and details.

At least now I know that the mount wont give way so easily even if the lens is say almost twice the weight of the body. ;p

 

[DeSwitch]

Regardless of how strong the mount is or how heavy the lense is, I think the appropriate way of holding your setup is left hand on the lense and right hand on the grip. By just holding the grip to shoot seldom will give you the stability for a good shot unless you use fast shutter speed.

With you left hand on the lense also allows you to have better control of the zoom and focus assist.