How do you hold your large lens?

How do you hold your large lens?

I hope this hasn't been covered before. If so, please point me to the right thread

I'm not asking about stance, or bracing. I've found comments about that all over the net, and some very amusing as well.

I am just asking about how you hold the lens with your hand. The reason I'm asking is I thought I knew how everyone does it, but I read something recently which suggested others may have completely different techniques. I'm always willing to learn or try different techniques

Now, I'm talking about reasonable size telephoto lenses, like my Canon 70-200mm f/2.8, hand held.
The options I can think of are:

1. The one I use most of the time!
I have the tripod collar with the mount down, and rest the mount in the palm of my hand. This enables me to keep my hand still and change zoom with just my fingers.
I've tried to find attachments to make the mount fit more nicely in my palm, but I've failed. If you know of such a thing, please point me the right direction

2. Move the tripod collar mount out of the way.
Then you can either hold the lens and use fingers to zoom, or hold the zoom ring. The trouble with the latter is that zooming makes your hand move round, which IMO wrecks the support/bracing.

I see the objective of any technique to be:
1. Good bracing to minimise camera shake.
2. The ability to zoom without wobbling all over the place and losing the subject, specially while using AI servo.

So, how do you do it?

I do pretty much the same with my 70-200 .. Collar resting in my palm.

Bigger lenses require moving my left hand farther out along the barrel of the lens. With the 500mm f/4, my hand is all the way out to where the hood mounts.

Big or small I hold them almost the same way. Left hand underneath carrying pretty much the whole weight of the camera lens combo and right hand free to operate the controls. This is one of the reasons I don't understand the whole big lens/small camera balance issue. Using one hand to be the load bearer, all it takes is a move back or forth to find the center of rotation and the pair are in perfect balance. This pic pretty much shows my technique.
http://www.imagemaven.​com …m/rotator/hold-camera.jpg

JJ,
Thanks for that
I agree about taking the load with the left hand, and the centre of mass. I looked at the pictures, and tried it a few ways, but I just can't find a comfortable position. With my arm/hand and lens, it just makes my wrist ache, and my fingers feel too long to use the zoom ring.

FlyingPhotog,
Good to know I'm not unique

I find the distance between mount and zoom ring a little bigger than I think it could be. I'm surprised there aren't attachments for this. And my palm tells me "I'm not a tripod, how about something shaped to fit me?"

gjl711 wrote in post #11637023
Big or small I hold them almost the same way. Left hand underneath carrying pretty much the whole weight of the camera lens combo and right hand free to operate the controls. This is one of the reasons I don't understand the whole big lens/small camera balance issue. Using one hand to be the load bearer, all it takes is a move back or forth to find the center of rotation and the pair are in perfect balance. This pic pretty much shows my technique.
http://www.imagemaven.​com …m/rotator/hold-camera.jpg

That's me as well with anything smaller than the 300. I've found however, if I try to keep the left elbow in close with the large primes, and actually have the left hand under the balance point, I get too wobbly. Sliding the left hand farther out makes both hands share the weight and I'm much steadier and can pan more accurately and consistently.

3. Take the tripod collar OFF.

70-200 isn't what I'd call large but anyway...pretty much like this (me in the middle)

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FlyingPhotog wrote in post #11637195
That's me as well with anything smaller than the 300. I've found however, if I try to keep the left elbow in close with the large primes, and actually have the left hand under the balance point, I get too wobbly. Sliding the left hand farther out makes both hands share the weight and I'm much steadier and can pan more accurately and consistently.

The heaviest lens I have is the 100-400 and I actually went and picke it up to see how I hold it. And your right, with that lens zoomed to 400, my left hand is actually is actually beyond the center of mass more towards the end of the front element. I can still support the whole weight with one hand but it does have a slight tendency to be back heavy. I'm guessing if the lens was heavier my left hand might slide a bit further up the barrel for more stability.

philwillmedia wrote in post #11638350
70-200 isn't what I'd call large but anyway...pretty much like this (me in the middle)

Hi Phil,
Great pictures
I'm not sure, but in picture #2 it looks like you have the tripod collar on. Are you resting the mount in your palm?

I'm mainly interested in how you change the zoom. I know for many it will be second nature and you'll have to think about it.
If you rest the weight on your palm, then your fingers are free to move, and can move the zoom ring.
But, if you're using your fingers to support the weight, how do you move the zoom ring round? Do your fingers do some sort of walk, or does your whole hand end up moving round.

Or am I wrong to assume that people typically zoom while maintaining the composition/focus?

Re "large" - yes, all things are relative

A little hard to tell, but my palm is under the black "padding" or whatever its called. And its the 100-400 lens.
I just hold it how ever until I'm comfortable and stable with it. haha.

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If its a lens on which I have a tripod collar, I'll typically rest the collar in my palm.

I wouldn't call the 70-200 a large lens but it is all in the interpreation. If a lens does have a collar on it and I am going to hand hold I will turn the collar to the top of the lens, I prefer to not have that resting in my hands. I do pretty much like everyone else here when holding them, proper stance and all. I will even hold my 500 if the lighting allows for a high shutter speed and do get quite a percentage of keepers. Sometimes the situation just doesn't allow for tripod.

Alex.K wrote in post #11640628
A little hard to tell, but my palm is under the black "padding" or whatever its called. And its the 100-400 lens.
I just hold it how ever until I'm comfortable and stable with it. haha.

Oh Alex, do you realise you've made this even more complicated?
It looks like you might be holding the focus ring, which makes me realise, in some cases you want to control zoom, in others the focus.
That mucks up the tripod collar mount idea - for both anyway.

And then you make me realise, you might have more than one hold as well!

=============

OK, I'd better try and explain one method I use. Please don't laugh too loudly
I have a slim piece of wood with a bolt, so I can fix it to the tripod collar.
It's flat on the top and rounded underneath.
That means I can rest it in my palm, and move my hand backwards and forwards along it, and use the same basic hold.

It also gives me a rather crude way to rest the lens on something I'd rather not rest the lens on directly, and at the far end of the lens.

It's very basic and I'm trying to develop something better.

I also have a bracket which fixes to the end, so I can rest the lens just off the ground, and that's when I use the angle finder. Again, still rather crude and hopefully will become much better with some thought.

It's still the detail of moving the rings that interests me. Is there some non-obvious way to do it?

CaptivatedByBeauty wrote in post #11640434
Hi Phil,
Great pictures
I'm not sure, but in picture #2 it looks like you have the tripod collar on. Are you resting the mount in your palm?

Yep, the collar is still on the lens. I sometimes mount it on a small tripod for use with remotes etc.

CaptivatedByBeauty wrote in post #11640434
I'm mainly interested in how you change the zoom. I know for many it will be second nature and you'll have to think about it.

Haha - I had to pick up the camera to check.

CaptivatedByBeauty wrote in post #11640434
If you rest the weight on your palm, then your fingers are free to move, and can move the zoom ring.
But, if you're using your fingers to support the weight, how do you move the zoom ring round? Do your fingers do some sort of walk, or does your whole hand end up moving round.

Or am I wrong to assume that people typically zoom while maintaining the composition/focus?

Re "large" - yes, all things are relative

The toe of the collar foot just touches the middle of the palm of my left hand and I control the zoom through the whole range with just the tips of my thumb and middle finger.
My second (index) finger usually extends and rests under the hood to support the lens.

philwillmedia wrote in post #11642173
The toe of the collar foot just touches the middle of the palm of my left hand and I control the zoom through the whole range with just the tips of my thumb and middle finger.
My second (index) finger usually extends and rests under the hood to support the lens.

Brilliant Phil, that's exactly the detail I was looking for

Interesting your index finger does that, I find myself doing that to.
I feel a little more confident if someone of your experience is doing it more or less the same way I am, I know I'm not being completely stupid