Art and Photography

Monopod with Legs

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  • Sep 22nd, 2017 10:25 pm
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Deal Fanatic
Aug 4, 2008
5752 posts
2585 upvotes
Toronto

Monopod with Legs

I've been toying with the idea of investing into the newer monopods with legs.

I find it a bit tedious to set up my travel pod in places that are swarming with folks, or having to set up, shoot, collapse and move onto the next spot.

Brands like Surui and Manfrotto offer monopods with legs. Any input?

My primary use would be for traveling and occasional long exposures.
7 replies
Deal Addict
Jun 29, 2008
1897 posts
557 upvotes
North York
You'll want a tripod for long exposures.
Deal Expert
Jun 15, 2012
15662 posts
10440 upvotes
Southern Ontario
Using a monopod with legs for long exposures is like extending the middle column of a tripod all the way up, not recommended, except worse, very top heavy.
Any bit of shake from supporting it with your hands to a mild breeze hands-free will cause blur in static objects like buildings, and parts around a waterfall otherwise still.
They're great to help support large sport/wildlife lenses or in the bleachers to gain some handheld partial stops, just not tremendously useful for true long exposure shots.

You might notice that even with tripods, people will hook a hanging backpack underneath to anchor any movement, and use a remote shutter release or turn on 2s timer, along with mirror lockup (on DSLR's). The name of the game is zero camera movement while the shutter is open.
Deal Fanatic
Aug 29, 2006
7750 posts
1635 upvotes
Is an idea but besides the problems mentioned, I just don't think it would be as convenient as you may think. I have one and it is still a bit of work to retract the monopod legs back into the pod on mine and I find myself worrying about the people moving around it since it is not only much easy to knock over but it takes less physical space so making it that much more likely for people to not notice it.

I think the idea of monopod with legs is for people to take a selfie or just a quick and dirty shot while not needing to hold it. For your suggested purposes, it would be pretty useless I would think.
The Devil made me buy it - RFD. :twisted:
Member
User avatar
Mar 14, 2017
244 posts
162 upvotes
I bought a Trekpod kit a few years ago at Henrys but they no longer carry them.
Deal Fanatic
Aug 4, 2008
5752 posts
2585 upvotes
Toronto
AncasterRFD wrote: Using a monopod with legs for long exposures is like extending the middle column of a tripod all the way up, not recommended, except worse, very top heavy.
Any bit of shake from supporting it with your hands to a mild breeze hands-free will cause blur in static objects like buildings, and parts around a waterfall otherwise still.
They're great to help support large sport/wildlife lenses or in the bleachers to gain some handheld partial stops, just not tremendously useful for true long exposure shots.

You might notice that even with tripods, people will hook a hanging backpack underneath to anchor any movement, and use a remote shutter release or turn on 2s timer, along with mirror lockup (on DSLR's). The name of the game is zero camera movement while the shutter is open.
Any thoughts on the 3 Legged Thing line from UK?

I've been eyeing the Albert and Leo.

They work with Peak Design clips too for the added bonus.
Deal Expert
Jun 15, 2012
15662 posts
10440 upvotes
Southern Ontario
rebel_rfd wrote: Any thoughts on the 3 Legged Thing line from UK?

I've been eyeing the Albert and Leo.

They work with Peak Design clips too for the added bonus.
Sorry, I don't know much about those. I have a Manfrotto BeFree for travelling, get the carbon fiber version if you have the funds. I also like the MeFoto Roadtrips but I'm not that into twist locks. For local work, I don't mind lugging around a MTO55XPRO3.
Deal Addict
Sep 16, 2005
4899 posts
100 upvotes
Local
I'm considering getting a monopod with legs as well. I feel it really would help for 1-2 second exposures where you mostly wanna run and gun and you need something a bit longer than a handheld shot. Save the longer 5-10+ second photos for an actual tripod. Setting up a tripod on the go on a incline or unflat ground the getting the head to aim where you want can take some time...though I'm not using the best tripods.

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