Posted by Howard Cihak on February 22, 2011 at 3:28 AM
Anyone have any personal experience using a monopod as a walking stick as well as a camera brace? Are they sturdy enough? The better quality ones, I mean.
Posted by Jody Grigg on February 22, 2011 at 11:28 AM
Don't use monopod as a walking stick what you need is a walking stick that can double as monopod, have a look on REI's website, they have a few. I used to have one and it worked great, I just had to unscrew off the top and screw on my camera.
If you can use a monopod, you could probably shoot hand-held, maybe with VR. I'd suggest using trekking poles for walking and a lightweight tripod for serious photography. I have a beat to hell lightweight Gitzon 1028 for hiking/trekking/fourteenering that's been everywhere and is still going strong.
Posted by Stan Rose on February 22, 2011 at 8:36 PM
I used my last CF tripod as a walking stick--bad move since it slowly disintegrated...
Posted by Arthur Lund on February 23, 2011 at 12:19 AM
Posted by Howard Cihak on February 23, 2011 at 7:49 PM
Thank you all for your thoughts and suggestions. Now, it's time for research and deliberation.
Posted by Mel Ladewig on February 24, 2011 at 3:29 PM
Howard,
I have a Manfrotto 682 digi or something like that which I used as a walking stick in the cities when I used to travel alot. What I like about it is that it fits in a 22" suitcase between the rails for travel but can raise the camera to my eye level when fully extended (I'm 6'2"), and then quickly drop back down to walking stick height. It worked well as a walking stick, but not with the rubber foot Manfrotto supplied. I wore through that in a day. I replaced that part with a proper walking stick rubber foot from REI. When braced against something like a solid railing, I was able to take quite long exposures with it, up to 8 seconds without IS or VR. A monopod has helped me gain a stop or so all around by limiting shake to the horizontal plane when I've used it.
A monopod is nowhere near as solid as a tripod, but when I'm hiking neither am I. 1/focal length definitely doesn't apply to me under those circumstances. And a monopod will definitely help in those times when you're a bit shakier than normal. But a light tripod could also be the ticket.
Discussion
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I have a Manfrotto 682 digi or something like that which I used as a walking stick in the cities when I used to travel alot. What I like about it is that it fits in a 22" suitcase between the rails for travel but can raise the camera to my eye level when fully extended (I'm 6'2"), and then quickly drop back down to walking stick height. It worked well as a walking stick, but not with the rubber foot Manfrotto supplied. I wore through that in a day. I replaced that part with a proper walking stick rubber foot from REI. When braced against something like a solid railing, I was able to take quite long exposures with it, up to 8 seconds without IS or VR. A monopod has helped me gain a stop or so all around by limiting shake to the horizontal plane when I've used it.
A monopod is nowhere near as solid as a tripod, but when I'm hiking neither am I. 1/focal length definitely doesn't apply to me under those circumstances. And a monopod will definitely help in those times when you're a bit shakier than normal. But a light tripod could also be the ticket.
Mel-