How to support a heavy lens

joeinmiami

I am now the proud owner of a bigma. As must of you know, the bigma is rather heavy (about 5 pounds) I use it with a monopod which I attach to the lends tripod collar.

However, a couple of days ago I saw a photo of a suposelly pro photographer that instead of having the monopod in the tripod collar he had it on the camera support.

I think this is wrong since it may put to much strain on the camera lens mount. Who is correct? the "pro" or me?

Thanks

Joe :barb:barb

If you would like to see some of the photos taken with the bigma and my Nikon D80, go to my website www.jlm-photos.com, navegate to Sport Events > Westminster Baseball > Westminster vs Sun Devils. All the photos in this galery were taken with the bigma and all with but one are unretouched.

jonh68

I don't think either one is right or wrong, but I do know I wouldn't support a heavy lens by camera support. There's a reason they put collars on lenses, but if it works for him, I guess good for him.

swintonphoto

I wouldn't mount BIGMA on a camera that is attached to a tripod through the camera mount. I think there would be a risk to wrecking your lens mount. There is definitely a reason for the tripod collar.

pathfinder

No lens heavier than a 70-200 f2.8 zoom should be supported by holding the camera body ( or a bracket on the camera body )

For heavy lenses, use the lens foot ( or the lens barrel itself ) - the manufacturer put the lens foot there for a reason.

The leverage of a heavy lens on a lens mount is substantial, and I would worry about the lens mount getting bent.

Art Scott

joeinmiami wrote:

I am now the proud owner of a bigma. As must of you know, the bigma is rather heavy (about 5 pounds) I use it with a monopod which I attach to the lends tripod collar.

However, a couple of days ago I saw a photo of a suposelly pro photographer that instead of having the monopod in the tripod collar he had it on the camera support.

I think this is wrong since it may put to much strain on the camera lens mount. Who is correct? the "pro" or me?

Thanks

Joe barb

If you would like to see some of the photos taken with the bigma and my Nikon D80, go to my website www.jlm-photos.com, navegate to Sport Events > Westminster Baseball > Westminster vs Sun Devils. All the photos in this galery were taken with the bigma and all with but one are unretouched.

the suppoosed pro is shooting improperly.....I won't even shoot my 70-210 f2.8 that way...that is why I have a collared foot on it.....not only that it gets you a little farther away from the pod which I like .....

All it would take is for that lens to pull the mount out ot the camera and have the camera mfg'er refuse to honor the warranty on the camera for improper use or deliberate mis-use of equipment.....

Photoskipper

The reason that collar comes with the heavy lens is the balance of weight. The position of the collar is roughly about the centre of gavity of the lens and body. It makes it balance and stable so that less stress on either the ball head of the tripod or the mount on the body.
I did make mistake some time. I mounted the ball head plate on the body when I use the 24-105 or 17 -40. Suddenly, I wanted to use the 70-200 F2.8 IS. Without move the plate to the lens collar I mounted the body on the tripod. It is totally out of balance. I had difficult to lock the ball head.

Honestly, even the 70-200 F2.8 IS with a 5D body, battery grip and 550EX flash gun, it is merely 3 kg or less than 7 lbs. It is still do-able with handheld. Get support to the set up may limit the mobility. I put it on the monopod or tripod only if I need a longer exposure at dim lights.

ziggy53

The reason a person might use the body mount instead of the lens foot is to interchange lenses, assuming they only have one quick release foot. I've seen people do it and no, it is not the preferred mount point to use the body.

I greatly prefer to use the lens foot for mounting mostly so I can rotate both lens and camera between portrait and landscape orientation easily while keeping the balance of the system roughly the same.

joeinmiami

Thanks to you all for your answers to my question. I will continue to use the monopod attached to the lens foot.

Ziggy also has a good point, I have also use the lens mount to rotate the camera and lens while still mounted on the monopod to alternate between landscape and portray.

Thanks again

Joe