How best to shoot with heavy lens - hand-held vs tripod


arphaxad12

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Oct 25, 2009
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West coast
Hi,
Not sure this is right place to pose my question. The question sounded so basic hence I decided to post it here. Planned to rent a 200-400mm lens to take pictures of the fighter planes flypast this National Day. However the weight would be a problem if hand-held, shaky hands. However if mounted on tripod, may have problem even looking for the planes thru view finder. Any advice from those who had tried this kind of situation before? thanks!
 

arphaxad12 said:
Hi,
Not sure this is right place to pose my question. The question sounded so basic hence I decided to post it here. Planned to rent a 200-400mm lens to take pictures of the fighter planes flypast this National Day. However the weight would be a problem if hand-held, shaky hands. However if mounted on tripod, may have problem even looking for the planes thru view finder. Any advice from those who had tried this kind of situation before? thanks!

Monopod. Haha. I would recommend the manfrotto 680b because I am selling one :p but seriously, a monopod is your best bet. Preferably with a ball head to let you adjust the angle of the lens ;)
 

I have seen some monopod that can stand on its own via 3 additional legs, so it's more stable than a monopod.
 

WBalance said:
I have seen some monopod that can stand on its own via 3 additional legs, so it's more stable than a monopod.

So it's a..... Mono-tripod? Haha! From benphoto or fotopro right?
 

How does monopod helps you look through viewfinder better than a tripod or even hand held? Usually you have you anticipate where the planes will come from and to pin point their location you have to switch between your eye and viewfinder.

Also at supertele range any movement of your lens is going to be amplified through the viewfinder that's you need more stability.

Monopods are harder to use than tripod as you need a little techinques in your posture to achieve stability. Just that a monopod is more portable to move around and take up less space.

Where are you going to shoot the planes from?
 

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Has 2 tickets to the yellow sector (highest tier) infront of the floating platform. Best would be to bring the tripod along, not sure they allow camera bag and tripod. Hence I thought of the monopod also. For fireworks I will surely require the tripod.
 

Hopefully there is space for such a huge lens, not sure if there's ample space around you without hitting anyone... let alone a tripod.

Actually if you have a camera with good high iso performance... sigma 150-500 is my choice. Smaller can be handheld... just smaller aperture.
 

I am not sure whether monopod or tripod is easier cos it varies with individuals. But one thing I know for sure is shooting fighter planes in the sky with a 200-400mm lens hand-held is almost impossible.... unless you are very strong. :)
 

every day do 12 sets of 20 repetitions of panning the sky with the lens attached. if not lens, use a 1.5L bottle (full of water, or better still, cement)
 

gundamseed84 said:
Actually if you have a camera with good high iso performance... sigma 150-500 is my choice. Smaller can be handheld... just smaller aperture.

I would suggest the same. I have some good photographs of fighters with the 150-500mm somewhere. Plus you don't need the subject isolation for the jets in the sky. :)
 

Actually... it depends on your shutter speed. If your speed is fast enough (say around 1/400mm) then it might be able to compensate for some shakes. I use a 300mm + 1.4x TC before, and shoot at around 1/300 to 1/400sec and my pics turned out clear and sharp... even at moving objects.