I might as well chime in...
My space-age material Velbron monopod has been absolutely essential
recently. I've been doing a lot of sports photography (soccer, hockey)
from less-than-priveleged seats. A typical late afternoon at the high
school soccer field has constantly failing light. When shooting from
the stadium seats, the 500 f/8 is my lens of choice. On the monopod,
I'm comfortable (and happy with the results) down to 1/125 (1/60 in a
pinch). When the light makes that impossible, the 500 comes off and the
200 f/5 goes on. And then the 135 f/2.8. And then...well, then it's
just too dark.
When I can get on the sidelines, the 500 is usually too much lens, and
the 200 is closer to optimal. The monopod still lets me use slower
shutter speeds than I would feel confident with.
In both cases, I prefer to select a location on the field and wait for
the action to come within frame. The monopod provides just the right
balance of support and flexibility to follow the action over a small range
The stick itself is VERY light, and telescopes (3 sections) to a very
small package. Handy for getting out of hostile soccer pitches and
hockey arenas, too!
In these situations, there is very little call for "up and down" camera
motion. I can handle everything I've run into by simply selecting a
good height for the monopod and tilting it back and forth.
The final situation I've been in where the monopod has been a live saver
is shooting in and around a chess tournament (marginal light, no flash
allowed, lots of people milling around). The difference in "footprint"
between a monopod and a tripod is a great help.
At a rough guess, I'd say that the monopod gives me 2-stops in shutter
speed, with a little (but not too much, for me) loss in camera
positioning.
--
Kenneth Sloan sloan@xxxxxxx
Computer and Information Sciences (205) 934-2213
University of Alabama at Birmingham FAX (205) 934-5473
Birmingham, AL 35294-1170 http://www.cis.uab.edu/info/faculty/sloan/
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