John Harper
New member
Hi There
I have had a couple of requests on the setup that i use for my wildlife shots, so i thought i would post a photo showing the typical setup that i used for the Kestrel shot at the Hawk Conservancy last weekend.
If i am just using the 500mm lens and am after birds in flight i would generally be handholding it.
I find i can do that for 30-45 seconds at a time before i need to lower it down. However with the Kestrels i needed a bit more reach by adding the 1.4 TC and was sat in a hide at the side of the meadow, so i decided to use a monopod to take most of the weight and provide a bit of extra stability.
I have 2 Monopods a 20 year old Gitzo and a newer Manfrotto 682. Either would handle the load but i opted for the Gitzo on that particular day.
Because I have a Wimberley P40 lens plate on the 500mm I need something with an Arca style quick release head to mount the lens to . Now i could have unmounted the lens plate, but that takes a hex type wrench and is a hassle to do each time, so i opted for putting the Kirk BH1 ballhead onto the monopod and fixed the lens to that.
I adjusted the height of the monopod to get a comfortable shooting height out of the hide observation flaps when i was sat on the wooden benches and i was ready to go.
Panning was pretty straightforward with this setup, and i found i could help with stability by resting my left hand on the end of the lens hood, this also helped if i needed to point the lens up and down as well.
Overall it worked well and is a good compromise from the full Wimberley Sidekick head in the confines of the hide. I will post details of the tripod and Wimberley setup if anyone is interested.
Any questions please ask away, and if this is in the wrong forum section can someone please move it and let me know
John
I have had a couple of requests on the setup that i use for my wildlife shots, so i thought i would post a photo showing the typical setup that i used for the Kestrel shot at the Hawk Conservancy last weekend.
If i am just using the 500mm lens and am after birds in flight i would generally be handholding it.
I find i can do that for 30-45 seconds at a time before i need to lower it down. However with the Kestrels i needed a bit more reach by adding the 1.4 TC and was sat in a hide at the side of the meadow, so i decided to use a monopod to take most of the weight and provide a bit of extra stability.
I have 2 Monopods a 20 year old Gitzo and a newer Manfrotto 682. Either would handle the load but i opted for the Gitzo on that particular day.
Because I have a Wimberley P40 lens plate on the 500mm I need something with an Arca style quick release head to mount the lens to . Now i could have unmounted the lens plate, but that takes a hex type wrench and is a hassle to do each time, so i opted for putting the Kirk BH1 ballhead onto the monopod and fixed the lens to that.
I adjusted the height of the monopod to get a comfortable shooting height out of the hide observation flaps when i was sat on the wooden benches and i was ready to go.
Panning was pretty straightforward with this setup, and i found i could help with stability by resting my left hand on the end of the lens hood, this also helped if i needed to point the lens up and down as well.
Overall it worked well and is a good compromise from the full Wimberley Sidekick head in the confines of the hide. I will post details of the tripod and Wimberley setup if anyone is interested.
Any questions please ask away, and if this is in the wrong forum section can someone please move it and let me know
John