Lens too heavy

Just thought I might post this random shot I took at an event I covered on the weekend. This bloke writes for a national regional newspaper. I guess this lens is a little too heavy to hold. I must say though it looks like a mini 400mm.

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I believe that's the 300 f/4.

It's a 400 5.6

Using a monopod/tripod greatly assists certain styles of shooting. Photography is not weightlifting, so I dont understand what your talking about here?

The 400 5.6 is definitely not a heavy lens to handhold but I can see why some might use a monopod. At 400 mm the angle of view is very narrow and without IS even the slightly camera shake can cause soft images. Plus, your post mentions he is a writer and not a photographer. Maybe he had to cover an event a photographer couldn't make and he is unfamiliar with ISO, metering and shutter speed he may not be using a high enough shutter speed to stop action, or, he may be using a slow sutter speed to pan the action and get significant background blur.

Sure, it looks a little silly, but after 2 hours, holding anything up is going to get heavy.

why worry about holding the camera still when u can use a monopod and get well taken photo

Cozmocha wrote in post #12081361
It's a 400 5.6

I thought the hood on the 400 5.6 was a big larger. I could be wrong, of course. There's a first time for everything, you know. Does he have an extender on it, too?

Matt-EM wrote in post #12081310
Just thought I might post this random shot I took at an event I covered on the weekend. This bloke writes for a national regional newspaper. I guess this lens is a little too heavy to hold. I must say though it looks like a mini 400mm.

I doubt weight has anything to do with it. More likely a choice around trying to get the best quality shot.

asysin2leads wrote in post #12083540
I thought the hood on the 400 5.6 was a big larger. I could be wrong, of course. There's a first time for everything, you know. Does he have an extender on it, too?

The hood on a 400 5.6 is attached to the lens and of the push-pull type. He appears to have it retracted in the photograph.

If that's a 400, and if he's using a crop body the effective length is 640mm. Would you expect to get a sharp image hand holding a 640mm lens - especially if you had to crop the finished image fairly tight? I wouldn't. Even a 300 on a crop is 480mm.

I've seen people with Rebels and kit lenses, and even with point-and-shoots, using monopods. I watched one guy shoot a hockey game using a tripod with 3-way head to support his DSLR and kit lens. I asked if he was doing video but he said "No, stills." I chuckled to myself about it but later overheard him say that he thought I was nuts for using a 1D3 and 70-200/2.8 handheld. To each their own.

The funniest I saw was someone at a HS football game with a small camcorder on a monopod....but she held it up off the ground while shooting, then rested the pod on the ground between plays. I guess that tiny camcorder was too heavy to hold....either that, or there was an invisible air cushion under the pod.

That does look funny. However, show me your photos, not your gear. THAT's what matters!

I think he's just a big guy that makes the lens look small.