I splashed out last weekend on a new piece of kit to help out with the wedding photography, particularly in low light conditions, namely the Manfrotto 685B monopod and the 322RC2 head.
Amazon.co.uk were offering the best price for the monopod and Calumet (via the Amazon marketplace) for the head. In both cases the service was unbelievable. I ordered them together on the Saturday. The monopod arrived Monday morning and the head, a little slower. came on Tuesday. Not bad at all. Especially as I don’t generally buy from the marketplace but in this instance I felt happy buying from a name as large as Calumet.
So, why a monopod???Answers…
- It is significantly faster to use than a tripod.
- It is much lighter than a tripod.
- It takes up less room than a tripod (both when in use and when stowed)
- It is more discrete than a tripod.
The Neotec 685B is a fantastic bit of kit too.
There are no clamps to fiddle with, you just pull the leg to extend it to the desired length and it locks into place. Rock solid too, being able to withstand most of my body weight so is more than up to the job of supporting a head, a body and a 70-200 f2.8L lens. To stow simply squeeze the pistol-grip just under the mounting bracket on the top and push the telescopic leg into the handle. Simple. They’ve even designed a safety lock into the device to prevent accidental closure.
The 322RC2 is a ball head with a pistol grip adjustment handle. Very quick and slick to operate. Squeeze the handle, move to the desired position and release the handle. The head locks in the new position and away you go. It also employs the quick release mechanism to easily attach/remove the body and lens. I’ve adjusted mine for left-handed operation because (a) I’m left handed 🙂 (b) it means I can keep my left hand on the adjustment handle and my right index finger on the shutter release. Again, its a workflow optimisation so I don’t need to move my hands when I need to reposition for a new shot.
In summary, this combination of pod and head works really well together. It offers a very rapid deployment and really steady support. All I need to do now is thoroughly put it through its paces on a live shoot. Can’t wait.
I’m really keen to know how slow I can set the shutter. The IS on the 70-200f2.8L is pretty good and I have handheld a shots down at 1/15 second and even 1/10th second, albeit braced in the latter case. The yield at these slow speeds is quite low so the monopod will make a difference here and at the longer focal lengths too. Especially in dimly lit settings such as a church.
I’ll post some images when I use it on my next shoot.
Have fun,
Gavin
