Re: Productive Christmas Day

Eric Miller wrote: 
Jerry Avins wrote:

Eric Miller wrote:

  ...

Are adaptors readily available?



It depends on what "readily" means. What's needed is a coupling between a pan-tilt head and the transit tripod screw. ...

Seems a lot easier to just buy stuff that is already made for the purpose. I wouldn't dream of denying anyone the pleasure of making their own stuff though.

Strange as it may seem, the pleasure of making it is secondary to the pleasure of having made it. The greater pleasure is having exactly what one wants instead of settling for what's available. (The important part there is knowing when to stop.) If I tries to support all my hobbies in the style they've become accustomed to, I'd have been broke long ago.

  ...

I like a monopod for the same places you do. The one I use now is a telescoping paint-roller handle, with a 3" roller screwed onto it. The roller itself has been replaced with a board that swivels on the roller shaft, allowing me to tilt the camera up and down. The camera mounts onto the board with the front of the telephoto lens near the swivel axis, so the monopod supports the front of the assembly, while I support the back. ...

I don't thinkt that I could use a monopod in the configuration that you describe. Aside from stabilizing the camera/lens combo, I use mine to support the camera's weight for long periods of time so that I can stay in a shooting position with the lens to my eye. Supporting the lens on the end would amound to only a partial solution and would not work on my primary birding lens which has a rotating hood (the lens element does not rotate). Due to the rotating hood, attaching that lens would allow rotation on your rig, but no other lens that I own would rotate that way. I think it a much better solution to simply attach to the tripod collar. The Bogen 3216 is a very versatile monopod and when it is attached to the tripod collar of my lens, it is attached to a strong attachment point that allows the monopod to be used for more than just support, such as a carrying handle when I have to reposition quickly (i.e., run to a new vantage point).

The "board" I mentioned extends back to the camera's mount unless I use my 400mm f/5 scope as a telephoto lens, in which case it attaches to its mount. With my elbows against my chest, the burden of the camera is easy, to paraphrase Scripture. I don't want the camera to rotate. I despise pictures of leaning trees and rivers running uphill. It would be easy enough to add a roll axis to my monopod swivel if I wanted one.

Jerry
--
Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get.
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