Walking pole / monopod

Adrian Godwin said:

A mount with the stiffness of a walking pole and the price of a tripod ?
Or is that just cynical ?

It's twice the price of the Leki Sierra that I use.

Chris

Adrian Godwin said:

I've seen recommendations for walking poles that have a screw-off top
to provide a camera mount.

Here's one that's come from the other direction - a Gitzo pole.

http://www.gitzo.com/products/metric/monopods/monotrek/rightscreen.php3

A mount with the stiffness of a walking pole and the price of a tripod ?
Or is that just cynical ?

-adrian

Interesting - I got a zoom that goes to 300mm for my SLR recently and
found that just resting on the top of an extended walking pole acted
perfectly satisfactorily as a monopod. There will always be a market
for specialised items I suppose, and it may well be that for an even
longer zoom a screwed in mount is necessary but an ordinary walking
pole does me well enough.

Rob

I bought one for Leki a while back but to be honest the amount of faf it
made, it was easier just to take a mini tripod.

"Adrian Godwin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

I've seen recommendations for walking poles that have a screw-off top
to provide a camera mount.

Here's one that's come from the other direction - a Gitzo pole.

http://www.gitzo.com/products/metric/monopods/monotrek/rightscreen.php3

A mount with the stiffness of a walking pole and the price of a tripod ?
Or is that just cynical ?

-adrian

I'm waiting for a gadget that clips to three poles to make a tripod....

Quoted message said:

I'm waiting for a gadget that clips to three poles to make a tripod....

Show me someone walking with 3 poles and I'll see what I can do.

-adrian

Quoted message said:

Show me someone walking with 3 poles and I'll see what I can do.

I use two as does the guy I often walk with, so three between us is
easy.......

I look forward to seeing it :-)

More seriously. The cost, usefulness and weight advantages over
my tripod would probably make it worth buying and carrying an
extra (spare)pole.

Mark

Quoted message said:

Interesting - I got a zoom that goes to 300mm for my SLR recently and
found that just resting on the top of an extended walking pole acted
perfectly satisfactorily as a monopod.

Actually screwing it to the top makes a big difference to stability.

Quoted message said:

There will always be a market
for specialised items I suppose, and it may well be that for an even
longer zoom a screwed in mount is necessary

It's not a question of how long your zoom is, it's a question of how short
your shutter speed. The more stable your monopod (screwed to the camera,
jammed into the earth) the slower the shutter speeds you can use.

With a wide angle lens, a short monopod, and very careful bracing against my
body, I've managed to get sharp shots as long as 1 second, but I wouldn't
recommend going below 1/15th at full length, and that's with a wide-angle.
You might be able to get away with 1/125th with a 300mm if you're careful,
but for long zooms I always recommend a bean bag on a rock.

Paul

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Show me someone walking with 3 poles and I'll see what I can do.

Quoted message said:

More seriously. The cost, usefulness and weight advantages over
my tripod would probably make it worth buying and carrying an
extra (spare)pole.

Actually Mark, I don't know if you're aware of this, but you can actually
buy cheap lightweight tripods these days! :-)

I know they're not as good as heavy tripods, but I doubt that cobbling three
walking poles together would be either.

A lightweight tripod is quite usable provided there's no wind and you have a
mirror lock on the camera.

Paul

"Paul Saunders" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Show me someone walking with 3 poles and I'll see what I can do.

Quoted message said:

More seriously. The cost, usefulness and weight advantages over
my tripod would probably make it worth buying and carrying an
extra (spare)pole.

Actually Mark, I don't know if you're aware of this, but you can actually
buy cheap lightweight tripods these days! :-)

I know they're not as good as heavy tripods, but I doubt that cobbling
three walking poles together would be either.

A lightweight tripod is quite usable provided there's no wind and you have
a mirror lock on the camera.

And tie the rucsack ti the bottom of central column.

J Smith

Hi Paul

Quoted message said:

Actually Mark, I don't know if you're aware of this, but you can
actually buy cheap lightweight tripods these days! :-)

I own a very light gitzo but compared ti the weight of one extra pole
it losses out :-)

Quoted message said:

I know they're not as good as heavy tripods, but I doubt that cobbling
three walking poles together would be either.

I'm sure you are correct, just a passing daft thought,

Mark

I'll tell you I made a purchase out Lidl's today that made me really
think about the price of tripods. For £10 I got a laser level - that
is a 40cm level with a laser in it plus plug-ins for doing a line or
turning the beam through 90 degs to cover the ceiling. What really
made me think was that this also comes with a remarkably acceptable
full size tripod complete with wind-up lift for the centre post. OK
it's not a camera thread, not that that couldn't be easily solved ,
but it just goes to show what profit margin the camera guys are making.

Rob

rob graham wrote

Quoted message said:

but it just goes to show what profit margin the camera guys are
making.

Or perhaps the atrocious working conditions in which the cheaper
brands are manufactured ?

Chris

Chris Gilbert said:

rob graham wrote

Quoted message said:

but it just goes to show what profit margin the camera guys are
making.

Or perhaps the atrocious working conditions in which the cheaper
brands are manufactured ?

Chris

Probably both. And the camera people likely use the same factories.

Andy