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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
The NEXT step after putting a 70-200 on a monopod
Eric Canha, Photographer
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Brockton | MA | United States | Posted: 11:26 AM on 01.05.10 |
->> Sorry I just could not resist. I was at Fenway Park yesterday and saw this as I was packing up from shooting a few youth games. At first I didn't even notice the camera and just thought that is was a tripod in the way. Then......
http://www.sportsshooter.com/ericcanha/vidpod/
Least the guy could do is buy carbon fiber and save his back! |
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Albert Brown, Photographer
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Washington | DC | USA | Posted: 11:34 AM on 01.05.10 |
| ->> HAHA. The tripod head completely dwarfs the camcorder that's mounted on it!! Too funny. |
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Walt Middleton, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Columbus | OH | USA | Posted: 11:48 AM on 01.05.10 |
| ->> That was great... Thanks for that smile this morning. |
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Kevin Krows, Photographer
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Forsyth | IL | USA | Posted: 12:10 PM on 01.05.10 |
| ->> Needed a good laugh. Better than Eric trying to be the shutter count king. |
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Dave Prelosky, Photographer
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Lower Burrell | Pa | US | Posted: 12:17 PM on 01.05.10 |
| ->> Perhaps there is a video version of SportsShooter with its own Fun Pix that we are all oblivious to.... |
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Jason Joseph, Photographer
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Dublin | OH | USA | Posted: 12:27 PM on 01.05.10 |
| ->> Y'all can laugh, but I think it's pretty cool! A tripod head with a built in camcorder. For all of those times that you remember the tripod and forget to bring the camera. Oh wait, now I see. That's just crazy:) |
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Bryan Hulse, Photographer
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Nashville | Tn | USA | Posted: 10:13 AM on 01.06.10 |
->> I've seen that a lot lately at sporting events as consumer video cameras get cheaper and smaller. It sure looks awkward and makes for a quick laugh.
That is...
until I bought a new consumer video camera (Canon Vixia HF200) that is tiny and had to stabilize it while shooting some action video. Then I was the source of the jokes for having a $600 video camera on a carbon fiber Gitzo that cost more than the camera.
I like the idea of the camera being built in to the tripod head! You could make millions! Well, maybe hundreds. :) |
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Mark Loundy, Photo Editor
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San Jose | CA | USA | Posted: 10:38 AM on 01.06.10 |
->> I did get a laugh out of that, but it's a fact that the lighter the camera is, the harder it is to stabilize it.
--Mark |
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Sam Santilli, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Philippi | WV | USA | Posted: 10:50 AM on 01.06.10 |
->> Eric, did you get a model release? With all of the wedding video peole closing up, there should be a crap load of good tripods out there for tiny cameras.
I just love GWC's who got a Nikon D50 and the folks at the mall camera store sold them a monopod to hold up that body and the 35-70/4.5-5.6 lense.
So...how was it shooting at Fenway Skateworld? |
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Peter Huoppi, Photographer
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New London | CT | USA | Posted: 11:14 AM on 01.06.10 |
| ->> You can do a lot with a small consumer camcorder, but one of the things you can't do is hold it steady and make smooth pans and tilts. I bet this guy's panning with the action is a heck of a lot smoother than mine. |
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Eric Canha, Photographer
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Brockton | MA | United States | Posted: 11:15 AM on 01.06.10 |
->> Sam no model release..... I actually have a picture of this rig being used behind the glass during one of the games I shot. Looks like a kid somewhere between 12-15. If it had been a hs game I would have chalked it off to him 'borrowing' the sticks from A/V.
As for shooting a frozen Fenway....... It was different. For me it was kind of surreal to see the empty seats, snow and melting ice in the stands and to hear cheering in the background. Sort of like a clip from an earth after people movie. I'm sure it was different at the NHL gigs when the stands were full and the place was rocking.
The kids had a blast and the PARENTS were beside themselves. I swear that the parents were 20x more excited to be skating in the shadow of the monster. From that end of it, I had a ball too. Lots of smiles and everyone was happy. Not once did a coach yell out anything even remotely aggressive. It was 2 hours of time on the ice for the sake of FUN and not the score. Having just come off of a 71 game tourney where winning did matter, it was great to be somewhere where the focus was getting everyone on the ice and not the score. The coaches for all 4 teams were to be commended for their focus on making sure that the kids were there for fun. |
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Landon Finch, Photographer
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Colorado Springs | CO | USA | Posted: 12:00 PM on 01.06.10 |
->> It sure does look odd and funny but it helps.
When videoing my kids' school programs I will often put my p&s Canon S5 on my monopod, it helps a lot.
One time I showed up to my kids' school with my monopod and my wife was to bring the S5. She forgot it. So I pulled out my Motorola Droid (phone) and used my monopod to help me hold the phone steady. It felt funny and I am sure you all would have made fun of me (I was making fun of myself ;-), but it was worth having some video of my kid's program. |
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Tom Knier, Photographer
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Lancaster | PA | USA | Posted: 12:56 PM on 01.06.10 |
->> I've mounted a D2H to my Sachtler Video 18P head one time in a pinch...
Looked a bit like that.
But nowhere near as ridiculous. |
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Baron Sekiya, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Keaau | HI | USA | Posted: 2:18 PM on 01.06.10 |
->> That could be used for a Canon ad.
"Our video cameras have Super Optical Image Stabilization." |
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Jon Cunningham, Photographer
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Lisle | IL | USA | Posted: 7:17 PM on 01.06.10 |
| ->> Reminds me of one of our local MWC's who shoots on the high school football sidelines. She uses a prosumer Canon body with a 300/2.8L, with the body, instead of the lens' tripod collar, screwed onto her monopod. Ouch! |
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John H. Reid III, Photographer
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Gates Mills | OH | USA | Posted: 7:58 PM on 01.06.10 |
->> Once there were two young photographers at a Browns game, and they asked me if I had any tips for them. I told them a few things (magic handshake that allows you into NFL games, super secret settings and firmware for digital SLR's that guarantee great shots, that sort of thing.) I also noticed that both had 70-200 f/2.8 lenses on monopods. I told them that would be a sure indicator that they had never been at an NFL game before, so they both lost the monopods. They were very appreciative (about the monopod advice, they never could get the handshake straight.)
In typing this I made a typo on monopd that came out momopod, which made me think that perhaps that should be the name given to the set-up that Jon Cunningham saw. |
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Joe Cavaretta, Photographer
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Ft Lauderdale | FL | USA | Posted: 8:24 PM on 01.06.10 |
| ->> sorry to rain on the parade but borrowing or renting a professional fluid head to shoot hockey is a great idea for video. panning back and forth all night is gonna look like doo doo if the motion is not smooth. I bet his stuff looked better than someone using a bigger pro camera off the shoulder. (This from someone who "shoots both ways," every day, or as I tell our assignment editor, I'm Bi-visual. |
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Alan Look, Photographer
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Bloomington/Normal | IL | United States | Posted: 8:40 PM on 01.06.10 |
->> I'm with Mark L. I know we all get a blast out of laughing at these, but I've been tempted several times to put my Canon P&S on a pod. It's impossible to hold still... No lens sticking out to rest in the 2nd hand, fumbling around trying to keep the fingers out of the image, etc.
The one thing that keeps me from it is fear. Fear that one of you will catch me and I'll end up in FunPix.
Now, I will admit to putting my 70-200 on a pod once upon a time. A little tennis elbow or arm fatigue will have you doing that in a hurry.
(I will admit, the girth of that pod with that small camera even has me puzzled.) |
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Bryan Hulse, Photographer
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Nashville | Tn | USA | Posted: 8:54 PM on 01.06.10 |
->> Jon wrote: " Reminds me of one of our local MWC's who shoots on the high school football sidelines. She uses a prosumer Canon body with a 300/2.8L, with the body, instead of the lens' tripod collar, screwed onto her monopod. Ouch!"
I covered a few games for a high school in Colorado and a dad did that too (big lens on small camera, mounted directly to a monopod).
He also put his flash on for night games and pointed it into the bounce position. At first I though he had some brilliant formula for getting great night shots with JUST that special catch light in the players eyes. Until I overheard him telling another parent how pointing the flash up softens the light. Doooooooh! I guess in theory it would eventually bounce off the stars in a few light years? |
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Yamil Sued, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Peoria | AZ | USA | Posted: 9:53 PM on 01.06.10 |
->> FWIW, when I shoot the National Level Pistol Events, I put the D3 with the 70-200 on a Monopod!!
Yes!! When you have to shoot a 12-14 hour day for ten days straight in Vegas, the Monopod comes in very handy! The Camera and lens start to get heavy after hour #4 on the first day. |
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Eric Canha, Photographer
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Brockton | MA | United States | Posted: 8:13 AM on 01.07.10 |
->> In 2005 I spent an entire spring and summer putting a 70-200 on a pod. I had blown out my elbow and couldn't event lift a body out of the bag. This past Saturday I put on the pod because shooting 30 kids coming to the redline with a trophy was more wear & tear than my arthritic shoulder needed to deal with 7 times that day.
There are reasons to do it that don't encourage howls of laughter and knee slapping. Then you have the people who put a Rebel with a 28-200 on a pod because all the 'pros' use pods. For them a good nasal sprayin of Pepsi is in order.
For me this photo just juxtaposed the two extremes speechlessly and was deserving of a good knee slap. |
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