A most elegant, and dirt cheap, solution was published by a photographer from Vermont who is unfortunately no longer with us named Fred Picker. As a young freelancer in New York he struggled with the ubiquitous monopods in professional sports photography and found his solution with a 1/4-20 eyebolt onto which he threaded two 1/4-20 hex nuts. Threading the eyebolt into the tripod socket of his sir until it bottomed out het then backed it off 1/2 turn and jammed the two nuts together to lock them in place assuring he would not over tighten the eyebolt and punch a hole in the bottom of his camera. As added protection he epoxied a 1/4" flat washer to the top nut and then put a thin coat of silicone rubber on the washer as a cushion for the camera bottom but still allowing a solid threaded connection to the camera. A six foot long piece of clothesline tied to the eyebolt would allow him to step or kneel on the clothesline, pull the camera up to his eye for a very stable hold even with long lenses yet still have full movement of the camera in all directions. Try it, it works and costs all of a buck or two!!