not exactly a walk around lens

I am hoping to take delivery of my 70-200 2.8 IS lens tomorrow and I am excited but a bit intimidated by the thought of that thing hanging off my little 400D. How the hell do I hold it without it ripping the guts out of my camera. I take it you cant walk around with camera and lens around your neck.

Hanging off one shoulder might be a bit more comfortable.

The lens is pretty heavy would the weight of it need to be supported so it's not all just being held on by the camera? It might sound like a dumb question but I dont want to end up with a dropped lens and a busted camera.

Whippeticious wrote in post #8699521
I am hoping to take delivery of my 70-200 2.8 IS lens tomorrow and I am excited but a bit intimidated by the thought of that thing hanging off my little 400D. How the hell do I hold it without it ripping the guts out of my camera. I take it you cant walk around with camera and lens around your neck.

Hold it by the lens, not the body. When you shoot, support the lens with your left hand. When you're not shooting, I found the R-strap very comfortable to wear. The strap attaches to the tripod collar on the the lens, not the body.

If you don't want to spend money on the R-Strap, there are plenty of cheaper DIY alternatives if you want to save a few bucks.

Here's an intro:
http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=14Q1IxI_Opw

int2str wrote in post #8699567
Here's an intro:
http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=14Q1IxI_Opw

cool! thanks!

Might be a while before I can get it, I dont know how I will manage until then. Just very carefully I suppose.

I used to walk around all day with that lens at sporting events. I either had it slung from my shoulder or I carried it by the lens itself, so the camera was hanging off of it essentially.

Don't worry about the camera. The lens isn't that heavy that it will put any undue mechanical stress on the camera, unless you happens to drop them on the ground.

When walking around, it works well to have the camera hang from your shoulder.

When taking pictures, you would take most of the weight with your left hand below the lens - not because of mechanical stress on the camera, but because you get less camera shake when taking the center of gravity into account.

The only time weight will matter is that when you use a tripod, you should use the collar instead of mounting the camera body to the tripod. The tripod hole in the bottom of the camera body isn't intended for use with lenses reaching out a long way infront of the camera. And most tripod heads will sag significantly because of the bad placement of the center of gravity.

Enjoy the lens, and don't spend any time worrying.

Based on what i've seen, by the time the mount breaks, you'll be wondering where the rest of the camera is (worst case is you drop it and the pins jam or the lens gets stuck)
If the lens weighs < 1kg, then no worries.
If the lens weight = 1~2kg, then you should use a collar when tripod mounted.
If the lens weighs > 2kg, camera should be on a tri/monopod most of the time and carried by the lens.

I walkaround with my 100-400/40D with just a regular op-tech strap (connected to the 40D) hanging off my shoulder. It's a bit of a pain with the 100-400 as I have to remember to tighten the "zoom lock thingy" before I do this, otherwise the lens will drop from 100 to 400mm when I sling it to my side.

I use a 70-200 2.8L IS as well but only on a gripped 400D with e1 hand strap. Can't handle it without a grippy camera.

I also switch between using the CC or Rstrap. Nothing goes on the neck. Ever.

Carrying by the lens near the camera mount seems to work well and balance the rig nicely. My bad habit is holding on the battery pack area on the camera carrying the camera with lens pointing down. Could be why my mount has more play now than when the body was new!

dave

Although it adds the slightest ammount of additional weight, I sometimes find holding it by the lens's tripod mount helps me to be more stedy

Whippeticious wrote in post #8699521
I am hoping to take delivery of my 70-200 2.8 IS lens tomorrow and I am excited but a bit intimidated by the thought of that thing hanging off my little 400D. How the hell do I hold it without it ripping the guts out of my camera. I take it you cant walk around with camera and lens around your neck.

It does not rip the guts out of your camera, I walk around generally holding it by the ring mount, but I often just use the hand strap to hold the camera and let it hang.
I use it a lot as a walk about, as the 100-400mm on my FF body/1.3 crop