Monopod for 20x80 binoculars

[David P Osborne]

I have a pair of Opticron Oregon 20x80 bins, for travelling in motorhome as my full set up takes up too much storage room.

Have been looking at various monopods. I have a decent trigger ball head grip.

Was wondering what people thought of this option: Manfrotto Xpro Video 5 Section Aluminium Monopod: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

The foot arrangement with the ball head looks on paper as if could be useful in conjunction with the trigger grip but may not be that useful, and so would |I be better off just with the monopod alone.

Many thanks for your views

[Ricochet]

I've been looking at the same series of monopods, however, I think the carbon version is the one we want as it is taller. I'm not sure about the usefulness of the foot as smooth horizontal panning isn't massively important and it just adds something to accidentally stand on. If anyone has used the foot and found it to be advantageous I would be very interested to hear their findings. 

[johninderby]

Had one of the Manfrotto monopods with the feet. The feet actually made the setup much more stable as you could tilt the monopod back onto two of the feet which stopped it swaying from side to side and thus made it more stable. The problem with a monopod is stability and any thing that helps is an advantage.

Also you could let go of the monopod and bins to do something like referring to a reference book or something. 

Edited December 27, 2020 by johninderby

[DaveL59]

I have a Giottos with the foot, well it can have if you undo the end and extract them to fit in the base. I do find it can be useful esp with a camera, tho also with binos depending on how much flexibility you need in terms of tilting the angle relative to ground. Sadly these aren't made any more I think (MM5580)

 

[Ricochet]

On 27/12/2020 at 14:33, David P Osborne said:

The foot arrangement with the ball head looks on paper as if could be useful

With the Manfrotto still out of stock everywhere I've bought a Moman A-222 monopod for testing as it has a similar ball-foot arrangement. The foot is too small for any sort of self-standing, particularly with a trigger grip head on top which shifts the centre of mass outside of the monopod footprint. However, with the foot in the "unlocked" position what you do seem to get is a more stable support than using a simple spiked monopod, and also very stable panning as the whole monopod rotates on the ball. Minor changes altitude are also easy just by leaning back or forward a bit so it really does make for a nice system for my 16x70 binoculars. Obviously, the Manfrotto will be much higher quality, but for under £20 the Moman seems well worth the money and a good upgrade over a normal monopod. 

[David P Osborne]

I went for the manfrotto in the end which works well. Just need a little more practice (and clear skies!) in using binocular and monopod set up. But this feels it will be just the ticket for trips away in the motorhome.

[Ricochet]

Did you go for the A5 as linked in the original post? Is the 153cm height accurate or does it actually go higher? 

[David P Osborne]

1 hour ago, Ricochet said:

Did you go for the A5 as linked in the original post? Is the 153cm height accurate or does it actually go higher? 

Yes I did go for the one in the original post. Have not actually checked/measured the height, but with my trigger grip, and more or less fully extended it is plenty high enough for comfortable viewing for me.

[PeterW]

To help keep the weight over the ball at high elevations (and gain a bit of extra height) I got one of these Z jigs. https://www.moveshootmove.com/products/z-v-platform-designed-with-alyn-wallace-preorder
Seems to work well with the 1.2kg 10x50 I tried it with indoors (clouds:...). The joints allow for freedom to adjust  and lock down pretty hard. Adjust it for for a decent elevation and use the ball head to adjust  around it. I need to write a post on it sometime.

Peter

[Kimboman]

HI I purchased a ManfrottoMPMXproa3 monopod with the 234rc head as a Christmas present for my grandson

This is a superb piece of kit this will take binoculars and telephoto camera lenses .

the build quality is great and the height adjustment has a good range