Will holding just the camera body w/heavy lens cause the lens mount to become loose?

When I have my 70-200 attached to my camera, I always try to support it by the lens because it's heavier. But sometimes I don't think about it and just support it by holding only the body.

My concern about this is will it eventually bend my lens mount and/or it may become loose?

unless the lens mount is plastic I don't think it would damage or become loose or whatever
hmm why on earth would you only hold the body anyway? It's like holding a DSLR p&s style -.-

FuturamaJSP wrote in post #8981300
unless the lens mount is plastic I don't think it would damage or become loose or whatever
hmm why on earth would you only hold the body anyway? It's like holding a DSLR p&s style -.-

i don't shoot with it holding the body only. I hold the body when I'm just carrying it.

with the lens pointing straight out or down?? if its down i wouldn't think it would be a problem. facing forward i'm not sure...

KCY wrote in post #8982643
with the lens pointing straight out or down?? if its down i wouldn't think it would be a problem. facing forward i'm not sure...

facing forward

garycoleman wrote in post #8983335
facing forward

Why would you want to hold your camera like that? It not only puts a strain on the lens mount, but also on your wrist.

The greatest wear on the interface is going to be from taking lenses on and off.

If a lens already has a loose fit then I suppose allowing a heavy lens to rock back and forth in the mount as your arm swing it could deform something.

I would think that shooting with the 70-200 f2.8 without supporting the lens would put undo strain on the lens mount. That is why the lens ships with a tripod collar. Also, I can't imagine shooting with that lens without supporting it in some way. I would think that shooting by only holding the body would be uncomfortable, not to mention unsteady.

When carrying my 20D with the 70-200 f/2.8L IS lens mounted, I frequently have the lens across the inside of my left elbow, cradling it to take the forces off the mount. The camera weighs considerably less than the lens, so carrying the combination by supporting the lens puts less stress on the mount than carrying the combination by the body.

For short times, I carry the camera using the hand strap with the lens essentially hanging down from the camera. However, I would never carry/support the camera in such a way that the lens sticks out horizontally without supporting the lens.

crn3371 wrote in post #8983371
I would think that shooting with the 70-200 f2.8 without supporting the lens would put undo strain on the lens mount. That is why the lens ships with a tripod collar.

Unless you are shooting with some really long heavy glass the collar is more about balancing the weight of the camera/lens than about the stress on the lens mount.

Of course you need to support it while shooting. Nobody in this thread has suggested that anything else.