How to hold and carry a camera with a heavy lens
anir...@gmail.com
strap with heavy and large lenses (glass lenses 200-300mm up)
I felt uncomfortable to let the camera with a heavy lens hang on its
strap while walking around. Do most people handle the lens just at the
lens mount area to support the camera and lens while walking? If you
just let it hangs on the strap, the strap can also break. Was it just
recently a major camera brand name provided a notice about their
defective camera hand strap?
Another related question is whether there are any cases that with a
lot of usage, the camera-lens mount buckle/bend under the pressures?
I assume that most DSLR bodies are made of steel around the lens
mount. Are cheaper DSLRs (non pro type) more prone to this failure, as
perhaps the lens mount on the camera body was not designed to carry
for heavy lenses? Or is the camera body usually over-designed and this
would never be a problem at all.
Thanks for info and discussion.
Pat
Start with the premise that a 300mm lens is not a particularly big
lens.
However once you are into that range, you normally carry around the
lens with the camera attached to it, not the camera.
Probably the best method is to use a hand and/or wrist strap if you
don't want a monopod.
You can also put a small athletic bag over your shoulder and stick it
in there.
Finally, if you insist on a neck strap, you could always make/modify
one so that it has a screw on it. Then put the lens' collar so the
screw hole is pointed straight up and screw the neck strap into it.
But if all else fails, a decent neck strap will serve you well.
David Kilpatrick
Most of these lenses have a tripod mount, and it aims down like a handle
when the lens is round your neck.
Just get a conference label neck ribbon, shorten it, stick it round your
neck, and hook the tripod bracket into it so this takes the weight not
the camera strap (but of course, that is still there for when you lift
the camera to your eye).
Most cameras will support a 70-200mm f2.8 or similar lens up to 1500g
hanging from the mount. A way to check for problems is just stick your
finger where the lens and camera join, let it hand and walk a few paces
touching this joint. If you feel the lens flex the spring in the bayonet
mount at all, it's going to cause wear eventually. If there is no
movement, the lens is probably OK for normal carrying hanging off the
camera - but not, of course, for running or imposing loads of g-force on
the combo.
David
K W Hart
<anir...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:a56d2525-f102-42b9...@q14g2000vbn.googlegroups.com...
If it's a really heavy or large lens, I don't like to depend on the neck
strap, plus the neck strap can be painful after a while. I consider the neck
strap in this case to just be a safety feature- if I lose grip on the
camera, the neck strap will stop it.
I frequently go for long walks with a camera and sometimes a long lens. I
usually carry the camera backwards, holding the camera in my hand with the
lens resting along my forearm. Of course the neck strap is still around my
neck or wrapped around my wrist. You can get a small metal plate that allows
you to attach a neck strap to lens tripod socket. I've considered using two
neck straps, one attached to the camera and the other attached to the lens
with the strap lengths adjusted so that the lens hangs down but is partially
supported by the strap.
As for the lens mount issue, if the manufacturer has provided a tripod
socket on the lens, then I figure it should be used. Several of my lenses
are substantially heavier than the camera and would probably strain the lens
mount if the lens wasn't supported.
Rob Morley
anir...@gmail.com wrote:
> I am wondering what is the best way to carry around a camera in a hand
> strap with heavy and large lenses (glass lenses 200-300mm up)
>
I just hold the lens, but I tend to use a neck strap and a holster if
I have a long lens fitted, so I'm not doing that much carrying anyway.
Bob Larter
> I am wondering what is the best way to carry around a camera in a hand
> strap with heavy and large lenses (glass lenses 200-300mm up)
> I felt uncomfortable to let the camera with a heavy lens hang on its
> strap while walking around. Do most people handle the lens just at the
> lens mount area to support the camera and lens while walking?
I just let it hang at my side.
> If you
> just let it hangs on the strap, the strap can also break.
In theory. In practice, good straps are made of heavy duty woven nylon,
like the kind they use for airport luggage, & I've never heard of one
breaking. Certainly, I've never been worried about any of my straps
breaking. To be honest, I've been more worried about the straps slipping
out of the loops on the camera bodies, but it's never happened to me.
> Was it just
> recently a major camera brand name provided a notice about their
> defective camera hand strap?
Um. Was that a Nikon thing? I thought that was a bag, rather than a
strap? Maybe one of the Nikon users here can clarify that one.
> Another related question is whether there are any cases that with a
> lot of usage, the camera-lens mount buckle/bend under the pressures?
Not that I've ever heard of.
> I assume that most DSLR bodies are made of steel around the lens
> mount.
No, aluminium or magnesium alloy, usually.
> Are cheaper DSLRs (non pro type) more prone to this failure,
I've never heard of it happening even with cheaper bodies. I guess it
could happen if you dropped one, though.
> as
> perhaps the lens mount on the camera body was not designed to carry
> for heavy lenses? Or is the camera body usually over-designed and this
> would never be a problem at all.
I've certainly never heard of it being a problem.
> Thanks for info and discussion.
Sure. HTH!
--
W
. | ,. w , "Some people are alive only because
\|/ \|/ it is illegal to kill them." Perna condita delenda est
---^----^---------------------------------------------------------------
C J Campbell
Most camera manufacturers say that you should not allow a camera body
to support the weight of a large lens. You will generally find this in
the information that comes with the lens. A 200-300mm lens is
borderline, depending on how fast it is. The camera-lens mount can and
will bend or buckle if the lens is heavy enough. At the very least, the
mount can be distorted enough that the lens will no longer fit tightly,
weakening electrical contacts and allowing it to move slightly inside
the mount.
My heaviest lens is a 400mm f/2.8 VR, which I sometimes use with a
teleconverter. There is no way that anyone should allow the camera body
to support the weight of this lens. Such a lens comes with its own
strap and tripod mount. If you want to know where the borderline is,
listen to other people when you bring out the lens. If they say "Damn!"
it is too heavy to be supported by the camera.
If I want to use the 400mm handheld, I let the lens strap hang around
my neck loosely while I carry the camera and lens by the tripod mount,
which is shaped like a handle. I do not tighten the mounting ring, but
leave the lens to rotate freely inside the ring. When shooting, I bring
the body firmly against my face, supporting the lens with my left hand
under the focus ring. I leave the tripod mount above the lens, out of
the way of my hands. My right hand operates the camera controls.
However, I use the lens this way only in the event no other support is
available. That is extremely rare. Even if I do not have my Bushmaster
shoulder mount, or a tripod or monopod, I can nearly always find some
support where I can rest the lens -- fence rail, tree, post, large
rock, or whatever. Nevertheless, you should practice continually using
every method for supporting your big lens. It requires muscles you do
not otherwise use very often. Besides, the last thing you want is to be
fumbling with the lens trying to figure out how to hold it while that
fox is stalking a mouse.
--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor