Since we're talking about a monopod here, and not a tripod, I
highly recommend a medium-duty ball-head. I use a Manfrotto
with the Hex Quick-Release plate. This has been a stable setup
for lenses as big/heavy as the 300/4.5 on the E-1.
The Hex QR plate is a requirement for rapid change from monopod
duty to bag or neck positioning of the camera. I don't
particularily care to carry my camera around on the end of a
monopod when hiking and I use the monopod as an adjustable
walking stick. Being able to pop the camera on/off is important
to me.
The ballhead is equally important as the main purpose of a
monopod is to add image stability without excess bulk AND to
provide maximum aiming flexibility. There are two friction lock
levers on the Manfrotto ball-head - one for horizontal movement
and the other for the ball-movement. I always keep the
horizontal movement locked and the ball movement is slightly
tight--just enough to keep the camera from flopping around but
just enough flexibility to allow me freedom of aiming.
I generally like to lean into the monopod a little. This allows
me to "tripod" with my two legs and the monopod together. doing
so means that the ball-head has to be flexible enough to allow
me to aim the camera without moving the monopod around.
Another thing I do with mine, which is slick, is that I have a
hex plate mounted to the bottom of my flash bracket. When
shooting events where I have to get a long telephoto shot--even
with flash, I pop the camera/bracket/flash rig on the monopod
and shoot with that. I usually have both friction locks tight as
the additional high weight of the flash and bracket can get away
from you and when it flops down it WILL ALWAYS pinch some flesh
and give you a nasty blood blister. Puts a real damper on the
rest of the shoot when you have to nurse a bleeding hand. Like
an idiot I seem to do this three or four times a year.
Anyway, with the camera/bracket/flash rig on the monopod I keep
everything horizontal and use my fingertips to aim and shoot.
With the A1, it's really handy because I can shoot using the
live monitor view (another real advantage of the E-330) and just
lightly press the shutter-release at the right time. This
fingertip holding and triggering of this kind of rig is really
handy because you are inducing very little motion or shake into
the rig. As it is nearly perfectly balanced you are only
guiding the aim point. If I had a remote control I could almost
take a picture without any hands on the monopod or camera.
Monopods are nearly worthless for macro work because they
address only one axis of movement and that's up and down.
Sideways movement is easy to control, but it's the
forward/backward movement that is extremely difficult to control
with a monopod. Distance shooting is rarely a problem, but
closeups are a nightmare keeping the plane of focus where you
want it.
AG
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