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
You'd be better off wrapping the camera in a feather pillow, or
better still, do what the list member suggested with the bag full of
BB shot. But to put your hands on a camera while it's on a tripod
with the idea to dampen the mirror shock is entirely mistaken. No
way Jose can a man keep his hands that still for more than an
instant. The result will additional rocking motion, however slight,
to the setup. This motion must be much greater than any mirror shake
in the work, including the worst of the SLR's (Nikon F3, Canon
anything?) and larger format boxes. Ergo, it's hopeless. That
Olympus would recommend such a hare-brained technique just floors me.
Anyway, you do as you please. I'm keeping my hands in my pockets. <g>
Tris
Could be that Olympus tested the technique before recommending it.
--
Winsor Crosby
Long Beach, California
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