Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/07/30
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On Sun, 30 July 2000, CapsTeeth@aol.com wrote: > <SNIP> > I am not a well-published photographer, but I do belong to NANPA and I've met > a large number of big-name well-published wildlife and nature photographers > who use 35mm SLRs and long lenses and though they disagree about many things > they all cite from their combined years of experience that some form of > steady camera support is essential to obtaining the sharpest publishable > images. Judging by the number of monopods (and some tripods) I've seen on > the sidelines at sports events, it looks like those pros (the other group of > long-lens users) generally prefer some form of support for long lenses also. > Mirror lock-up and cable release are tools many landscape and macro > photographers use, but few wildlife photographers find practical, as would > seem to be the case with sports. Most of those pros believe from experience > that even with a support, some body contact is a help in absorbing those > vibrations, and advocate keeping the left hand resting on the lens/tripod > axis and the face pressed into the camera. It could be possible for some > individual to have such a well-developed, well-balanced neuromusculoskeletal > system that he could handhold a long lens with no disadvantage over an > inanimate support. <personal reference SNIPped> > I do wonder if > he could maintain this supportive posture for an hour or two waiting for a > subject to strike just the right pose. That's what wildlife photographers > are often faced with. Trying to keep this thread civil... As perhaps the LUG's most "vocal" wildlife photographer, I find it very difficult to keep a hand-held long lens poised and ready for action for hours at a time. This is one of those times I'll consider a tripod. Among the photos on my website (URL below) there are perhaps a half-dozen photos where I had to use a tripod. Among the others are hand-held photos with long lenses at shutter speeds as slow as 1/60 sec., using a shoulder stock to damp the higher-frequency vibrations with my body mass. Many of these hand-held photos are of fleeting moments where IMHO a camera & lens stuck on a tripod would be unworkably cumbersome and too unresponsive to have made the photo. Doug Herr Sacramento http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/telyt ___________________________________________________ The ALL NEW CS2000 from CompuServe Better! Faster! More Powerful! 250 FREE hours! Sign-on Now! http://www.compuserve.com/trycsrv/cs2000/webmail/