Camera movement: In Yellowstone shooting with a Canon 7D and a 500 mm lens on a sirui tripod head. I focus in on a sight but the camera / lens drifts. Another photographer had an...

pokokarin Loc: California

In Yellowstone shooting with a Canon 7D and a 500 mm lens on a sirui tripod head. I focus in on a sight but the camera / lens drifts. Another photographer had an attachment to the camera foot that looked a v shape piece that stabililized the camera. He had a friend make it. Any suggestions on where to buy something like that? Also the attachment to the foot was about 6-8 inches long. I know I'm not explaining myself well...but any suggestions would be appreciated.

Screamin Scott Loc: Marshfield Wi, Baltimore Md, now Dallas Ga

Maybe try using a Gimbal head...

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

pokokarin wrote:

In Yellowstone shooting with a Canon 7D and a 500 mm lens on a sirui tripod head. I focus in on a sight but the camera / lens drifts. Another photographer had an attachment to the camera foot that looked a v shape piece that stabililized the camera. He had a friend make it. Any suggestions on where to buy something like that? Also the attachment to the foot was about 6-8 inches long. I know I'm not explaining myself well...but any suggestions would be appreciated.

W as IS off? The tripod or the head may not be stable. Was it on a level surface? Was it a lightweight tripod. They make weights that hang on a "hook" to make the tripod more stable. Was the tripod extension used? Too many questions not enough answers.

fuzzypaddle Loc: Southern Illinois

pokokarin wrote:

In Yellowstone shooting with a Canon 7D and a 500 mm lens on a sirui tripod head. I focus in on a sight but the camera / lens drifts. Another photographer had an attachment to the camera foot that looked a v shape piece that stabililized the camera. He had a friend make it. Any suggestions on where to buy something like that? Also the attachment to the foot was about 6-8 inches long. I know I'm not explaining myself well...but any suggestions would be appreciated.

Really Right Stuff (RRS) makes a bracket with small rubber rollers at the end (all adjustable for different lenses) that works well. Used to use it on a 100-400 L lens when I put a 2x extender on it.

bull drink water Loc: pontiac mi.

0h c'mon boys, up the shutter speed. think of all the good shots taken before is or vr. those taken where it was impossible to lug a tripod.

birdpix Loc: South East Pennsylvania

You don't mention which Sirui head you have. Is it one of the ball heads or their gimbal heads? A 500mm with a Canon 7D body is a heavy set up. A gimbal head is the best but only a really heavy duty ball head will work.

The other thing that may be happening, if it is not the actual lens that is drifting, is, if you have IS turned on, the image will tend to drift around as the system tries to correct but cannot find motion. My Canon 500mm f/4 does that. So, turn off IS and see if that solves the problem.

pokokarin Loc: California

I have the Gimbal head and am using the IS. I will try turning that off and see what happens. Thanks everyone for the suggestions.
Love this site.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

pokokarin wrote:

I have the Gimbal head and am using the IS. I will try turning that off and see what happens. Thanks everyone for the suggestions.
Love this site.

Actually, I not sure I have any idea what "drift", is?!
Do you mean that you lock everything down and where you have it focused moves and slowly drops down from the weight??
By 500, do you mean f4?
By V shaped contraption do you mean like a homemade gimbal? Just wondering. ;-)
SS

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

pokokarin wrote:

In Yellowstone shooting with a Canon 7D and a 500 mm lens on a sirui tripod head. I focus in on a sight but the camera / lens drifts. Another photographer had an attachment to the camera foot that looked a v shape piece that stabililized the camera. He had a friend make it. Any suggestions on where to buy something like that? Also the attachment to the foot was about 6-8 inches long. I know I'm not explaining myself well...but any suggestions would be appreciated.

Which lens? Which tripod? Which head? Try and be more specific so that you can get better answers.

silver Loc: Santa Monica Ca.

pokokarin wrote:

I have the Gimbal head and am using the IS. I will try turning that off and see what happens. Thanks everyone for the suggestions.
Love this site.

When you mount your camera on to a tripod you must turn the IS off.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

silver wrote:

When you mount your camera on to a tripod you must turn the IS off.

Yeah, with a Nikon!! : lol:
SS

silver Loc: Santa Monica Ca.

SharpShooter wrote:

Yeah, with a Nikon!! : lol:
SS

For your information. You should read this.http://digital-photography-school.com/image-stabilization-on-tripods/

smith934 Loc: Huntsville, Alabama

silver wrote:

For your information. You should read this.http://digital-photography-school.com/image-stabilization-on-tripods/

FYI you should know that some Canon lens do not require IS to be turned off when on a tripod.

silver Loc: Santa Monica Ca.

smith934 wrote:

FYI you should know that some Canon lens do not require IS to be turned off when on a tripod.

Please dont confuse people by being argumentative. The IS feature should be turned off when mounting a camera on a tripod in 99.99999999999 percent of the time.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

smith934 wrote:

FYI you should know that some Canon lens do not require IS to be turned off when on a tripod.

While this may be true, there is no free lunch. IS, OS, VR etc does not correct low amplitude high frequency vibrations caused by shutter movement, vibration caused by the stabilization apparatus, AF lens element movement, etc etc. It only works for high amplitude low frequency movement caused by hand-holding. If you are tracking a moving subject, it is not going to help much anyway. There are only two thing that can adequately dampen those vibrations is a rock-solid support system - an amazing tripod and corresponding head.