Carrying heavy lenses attached to camera???

[Boswell]

Is there any special way to carry heavy lenses when they are attached to the camera, I have the Sigma 100-300 weighing in at 2.2KG and the I only have the strap on my 350d but it feels like a realy big strain on the camera with the weight of the lens weighing it down when ts hanging round my neck, I ussually hold the lens just in case.

Will it do the camera any harm or should there be another way to carry it?

Thanks

Mike

[blam]

I was wondering this as well...I've been told with the plastic bodies of the Rebels, a heavy lens may warp the body. but at the same time, putting the lens away and traking it out all the time is a PITA

[FreshTapCoke]

When I walk around with the 70-200 attached I never let the camera hang from just the neck strap. I always have my left hand supporting the lens and my right hand supporting the body, both sharing the load.

A backpack style bag really helps with this because there's no worries of the strap sliding off your shoulder.

[Tee Why]

yea, I generally use my left hand or forearm to support the lens and the right hand on the body.

[tumblew33d]

I was wondering this as well...I've been told with the plastic bodies of the Rebels, a heavy lens may warp the body. but at the same time, putting the lens away and traking it out all the time is a PITA

Doesn't the 350D/XT have an internal steel chassis?

Also, you should get yourself an Op/Tech POTN strap from the forum shop. Your neck will love you for it.

[calicokat]

Its not the best thing to do to the camera, I would support it with your left hand if possible

[Curtis N]

The camera is pretty tough. If your neck can handle the weight, the camera will be fine.

[Jaime]

I have seen a lot of people with big lenses like the 500mm or the 600mm, where the camera is attached to the lens and the lens in turn is attached to either a tripod or a monopod, with their owners just slinging the tripod or the monopod on their shoulders and then hiking. I have asked at least one person who told me it is fine. I am not sure I would myself though to be honest at times it seems like it is a lot easier to do that than to carry slung from the neck with the frail neckstrap, and not to sound rude or put the POTN neck strap down, I would not even trust it to carry my camera and expensive heavy lens period. IF I must carry it for a long period of time in a situation that the pelican case would be hard or heavy, then I have a back pack that I will use, but I never leave it in the back pack completely unattended especially in light of all the recent stories of accidental drops or incidents of coming out of unclosed carry bags.

[blam]

Doesn't the 350D/XT have an internal steel chassis?

Also, you should get yourself an Op/Tech POTN strap from the forum shop. Your neck will love you for it.

the 20D and 30D have the magnesium Chasis...the rebles are plastic I believe

[KevC]

I've worked with photographer whose 1Ds Mk2 is swung around with 70-200/2.8 bouncing around while all he's holding onto is the neck strap.

However, that is very sturdy equipment. I'd think twice before doing that with a rebel or even x0D line.

[Tee Why]

I was reading an article on Popular Photography about Mack warranty store that repairs photo gear and the say that they do get cameras/lenses with the mounts busted as people do not carry their lenses properly. First the first lens mout tab falls off and when the second one falls off, the lens falls off the camera and onto the street and that's when Mack has it sent to them for a "Malfunction."
:)

Everything is engineered to withstand a specific maximum amount of force. Once it's exceeded, things will break. It's just laws of physics.

[PhotoScout]

It's a pain in the neck (excuse the expression) to haul around a long lens and camera together all day (4-6 hours). My left wrist gets achy but I just deal with it. My lens has an L bracket on it so I grip that like a trigger and let hang upside down while I walk around. Also, a mono-pod helps give more to hold (at it's connection to the lens).

There are some neck straps that have a spongy material at the neck portion that helps, but it feels like your camera is bouncing too much as the strap stretches to support the weight.

[tumblew33d]

the 20D and 30D have the magnesium Chasis...the rebles are plastic I believe

I thought I'd read it was steel somewhere. You got me thinking, so I googled it -

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos350d/page4.asp

[Janika]

I was never comfortable carrying my 100-400 on the 350D body, eventhough I always held the lens by the collar and never let the camera hold the lens weight. Since I got the 30D, my larger lenses never go on the XT. I usually hold the lens, not the body when walking around. At times I let the 30D hang off my shoulder with the 100-400 on it, which is over 6-Lbs btw, while I grab my XT for a quick W.A shot, but I let it down very gently, and as soon as I'm done, I grab the larger lens by the collar.

[CyberDyneSystems]

There is a point at which the lens is no longer attached to the camera, but rather the camera is attached to the back of a lens.

At this point, the lens is what needs to be carried, and the strap affixed to the lens as well.

Where this point lies/ at what point the scale is tipped towards the lens side is subjective to a degree. But for me, my 100-400mm is still very much attached to my Camera, whereas my 1DMkII is most certainly attached to my 500mm prime ;)

[Tom W]

FWIW, when I carry the 70-200 or 100-400, I usually hold the lens while I walk with the camera, though at times, the whole mess dangles from my neck by the camera's neck strap. I would say that the mount can withstand that weight of lens as long as the mount doesn't get abused. Allowing the lens to hang downward doesn't present as much stress on the mount as trying to hold the lens straight out while holding only the camera.

If the lens is very large (say, the 300/2.8L or Sigma 120-300/2.8 ), I wouldn't want to have it hanging from the camera mount. I would use the strap provided with the lens instead.

[Wilt]

If there are two things connected (lens, body) always support the thing by holding the heavier item in the pairing, at the minimum. Yeah, you can hold just the body, if you don't care about the stresses on your equipment and you never change the oil in your car engine, either!

If there are more than two things connected, support it with two hands to prevent one item acting like a lever arm against the other two, unless you don't care about the stresses on your back and always stoop over to pick up heavy loads with your back muscles...your orthopedist sees 80% of the population eventually, and so will your camera repair shop see a higher incidence of damaged bodies or lens mounts or hotshoes.