I've no doubt at all that people believe that. However, let's try to
look at this logically.
While a pair of hands may or may not be able to "absorb" shock in
theory, for this supposedly beneficial application to have any good
effect in the present case those hands would need to be kept more
still (more stable) than the stability afforded by the existing
platform (tripod/camera assembly). Should those hands move more than
the existing platform then they'd serve to introduce camera shake,
not eliminate it.
Now, does it stand to reason that a man could hold his hands more
steadily as a tripod/camera already sits at rest? My experience
tells me that is not possible in normal circumstances. It just might
be possible to construct a scenario where hands could help to steady
a tripod (say, in gusting wind), but I put it to you that normally a
tripod/camera setup is best left untouched. This is, afterall, why
cable releases are recommended for use.
As for this application being most applicable with long-focal-length
lenses: I don't use telephotos often, but the last time I did it was
my 85-250mm and after I'd set it up I had the impression everything
was as steady as it would have been using my 28mm lens instead, for
example.
Tris
Perhaps the problem is thinking that the tripod and hands have the
same effect on the stability of the camera. It might be better to
think of them as analogous to filters. The tripod can filter out
gross, slow movement of the camera/lens but is not able to
effectively damp small, intensive transients introduced by the
mechanics of the camera/lens. Adding the hands effectively damps
those transients much more quickly than a resonant metal tripod or
the telephoto pendulum that most tripods create on the flexible pad
found on many mounting plates. The hands are not going to introduce
gross shake because the camera is screwed to the tripod. They should
just damp out the smaller high speed movements.
--
Winsor Crosby
Long Beach, California
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