Camera weight...

[mehran.mo]

I just did a very amazing wedding shoot using:

Canon 5D w/ grip
Canon 24-70mm f2.8L / Canon 135mm f2L
Canon 430EX

But holding all that for 12 hours(I know it was a very long wedding. Persian and indian...) really took a tole on my wrist.

I'm wondering how you guys deal with the weight. Am I just weak or something?

[alt4852]

put it on your shoulder when you're not using it. i can't really say much else aside from suggesting you use it more often and just get accustomed to the weight. i felt as though my equipment was heavy at first, but after a couple of weeks, it becomes very normal. now smaller and lighter cameras feel strange.

[Karl Johnston]

I wrap it around my neck and arm for greater stability and it helps distribute the weight better than keeping it all on my neck

I also tend to shoot with one body wrapped around my shoulder and another one around my neck (the lighter one). I find if I wrap too much around my neck (5DII with 70-200 2.8L and the 50D with the 11-16 tokina 2.8) I get weird palpatations in my heart. Not sure why..but I don't think it's healthy to put too much weight on the neck.

[krb]

In addition to resting it on something when not actively shooting, I find that a wrist strap makes a big difference. No help when you are actually shooting since the support hand is doing all the work, but when not shooting it takes a lot of strain off the hand while just carrying the camera around.

[DC Fan]

By photographic standards, the equipment you listed is not considered to be especially heavy. Experienced photographers are more than used to carrying at least twice as much gear. However, a shoulder bag or backpack might help.

[superstes]

I just did a very amazing wedding shoot using:

Canon 5D w/ grip
Canon 24-70mm f2.8L / Canon 135mm f2L
Canon 430EX

But holding all that for 12 hours(I know it was a very long wedding. Persian and indian...) really took a tole on my wrist.

I'm wondering how you guys deal with the weight. Am I just weak or something?


Not at all.

It all comes down to technique, If you kneel down, stick the gear on your knee, if your standing next to a fence, place it on that, find respite where you can, it's all down to experience, work it out for yourself.

[kim_eij]

i struggle with the weight too. I have started taking the grip off when i dont really need it on. also been using a mono pod a fair bit, i found it quite usefull

[DStanic]

Even when I shot a wedding with my XTi and 24-60 (not all that heavy) it still took some out of me! I'm your average 5"9 dude but in the heat wedding photography is definatly a workout!