I'm still trying to work out why we need to spend £20 on a bit of metal with a slightly smaller ring than the one that comes with the manfrotto quick release plate. Any reason to buy it over the standard one, other than the fact it has BR on it...?
'straps' for heavy kit?
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You don't, just sling the tripod with the lens attached over your shoulders.
Otherwise you remove the tripod and attach a strap, but few if any straps will make a 120-300mm f/2.8 feel at all comfortable. And if you do continually remove the tripod you will miss shots, and still have the issue of where to attach the tripod.
Just leave the camera attached to the lens and then lens attached to tripod. Fold in legs and optionally shorten a little while walking. Put the tripod up onto a shoulder with the lens across the top of your back so your whole back takes the load - just like the way people used to carry heavy loads attached to both ends of a stick/rod.
For longer walks you need to get a good quality backpack that can store your gear comfortably, putting much of the weight on your hips.
+1 for the black rapid system. I went for a Classic (RS4) and hung a 70D with 3.3kg worth of Sigma 120-300 OS f/2.8 off it and it was comfortable. I was walking around a race track with it for 3 days and I didn't feel sore or achy. The Fastenr screwed into the lens tripod collar to keep the weight balanced. You'll obviously need to get a tripod screw as per above.
It's expensive yes but considering you are hanging expensive equipment from it, is it really worth cheaping out? I bought some hardware from ebay and it was shocking, you get what you pay for.
Oh and stop using the standard strap straight away, that's way too much strain to be putting on the mount.
With the body on it's pretty much perfectly balanced and the body isn't under strain.
It's expensive yes but considering you are hanging expensive equipment from it, is it really worth cheaping out? I bought some hardware from ebay and it was shocking, you get what you pay for.
Oh and stop using the standard strap straight away, that's way too much strain to be putting on the mount.
With the body on it's pretty much perfectly balanced and the body isn't under strain.
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Well, the one on the release plate is meant to allow you to turn it i think, not take the lens/camera hanging from it. I don't think I'd want to have a few KGs off it.
But after a year of using it I haven't had a single incident of the quick release plate becoming loose (or the clip turning) on either the lens or the camera. It's just a bit extrenous IMO and a moneyspinner for them ( the bit is about £20!).
Edit: Just to clarify it's got exactly the same bolt system, just the BR bolt has a slightly smaller loop at the top.
Edit: Just to clarify it's got exactly the same bolt system, just the BR bolt has a slightly smaller loop at the top.
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Another shout for the Blackrapid, Just bought a RS-7 for my 5D mkii and its great, when i have the 70-200mm f4 (biggest lens i own) on its very well balanced, also use the FastenR-T1 but its less than £20 as others have mentioned as i picked mine up for £13 while still expensive for what it is its worth it
Ah ok. Yeah it's probably just a case of people assuming, as I did, that the standard one wasn't designed to hang a few KGs of kit from and so didn't want to take the chance when they could spend £20 on something that they know is supposed to be for that task.
If I had the time I'd try and get both and hang a bag of rocks from to see which one held up.
That was my assumption when I first started it but didn't have the time to buy the extra bolt before I went away (with the aim of buying it when I got back). I was very cautious when I first did it for the reasons you mentioned. Once I realised it wasn't going anywhere I never got round to buying the bolt as I couldn't see the point. 