Gitzo GM-5540 monopod

[gymell]

Just got this and had the chance to use it this past weekend on my trip to Necedah National Wildlife Refuge (see this thread.) It worked great with my 500 f/4 attached directly to a RSS B2-Pro/L clamp, no ball head. Very sturdy and much easier to deal with than a tripod. We were traveling around the refuge in a van and not only was it great support when I was taking photos, but also when riding in the van. Much easier than hand holding, for sure!

Here's me and my "bazooka":

http://www.pbase.com/gymell/image/84160074/original.jpg

[cricketboy75]

wow! that's impressive gear! so you'd recommend a long prime lens and a monopod for wildlife shots? do you it flexible enough to take the shots you want?

[gymell]

Since I was on a group tour I didn't get a lot of time to play around with the setup. It was my first time using the monopod, so I'll definitely want to get more practice with it - if it ever stops raining here! I was impressed with how sturdy it was with the 500 and the setup looks very promising. WAY easier than lugging around a tripod. Here's a photo from one of the few times I was able to get out of the van and take a few shots. Note that I did still need to have a high shutter speed for this (1/1000 sec in this case). For low light a tripod would likely still be necessary.

http://www.pbase.com/gymell/image/84160109/original.jpg

[cricketboy75]

nice pic of the bird in motion!

[JonMoss]

Very good! I have the model down in size and love it - works very well with a 1 series body and 300mm F2.8LIS :-)