How usefull is a monopod for wildlife?

Hello to all,

I have a tripod, but for wildlife I was wondering if a monopod with my 300mm f/4 IS lens will be usefull to get sharp results, and a lot more light to travel.

What is the lowest speed we can get with IS on a monopod and get a sharp photo? What is your opinion about this combo canon 300mm f/4 IS + monopod for wildlife?

I know that for low light the tripod is essencial, but if the animal is moving we need speed anyway to freeze the movement.

I'm thinking on buying one, but I don't know if it is a good investment, specialy because I can get sharp pictures with my 300, with IS on and handholding it as lower as 1/60.

paulo anjo

Hi Paul If you can get sharp pictures with your lens down to 1/60 why get a monopod?

I have one and used it on occasion with the longer lenses There is a great tutorial on the Really Right Stuff website on how to set up You use a couple of simple parts for the head A Bogen part and a plate

To check how good you are with your hand holding try a test target and check Much better than real shooting A newspaper taped to a wall will do Tripod wise for your wildlife shoots I would take a light tripod You never know when you will need it !!! If it doesn't get much in your way !!!

..... and big Welcome and glad you are with us !!!!!!

Hi Paul
I had a really good sturdy monopod which came apart !!!
So I bought a cheap one which surpisingly still does the job.
If my intention is to go for BIF pix I won't use it, but for waves,scenery and birds or animals on land I will keep it attached and extend as required.
Ian Mc

Hi Paulo,

Welcome to the forum!

I tend to either hand hold or use a monopod for my wildlife images. Unless I'm in a hide, in which case it's tripod all the way.

I find I can hand hold for a lot of my images, but if I get tired or the light's too low then a monopod does the trick. You can pick them up quite cheaply and try one out. I started with a cheap Manfrotto (are they Bogen in the USA?) monopod but ended up with a Gitzo which is a lot more expensive, but much lighter, sturdier and easier to adjust (one of the best purchases I've ever made!).

One thing I'd recommend (although others may not) is to attach your kit directly to the monopod rather than use a head of some kind.

Afraid I can't comment on th 300 f/4 as I've never tried one.

Hope this helps.

Welcome, Paulo! You cannot use the 300f4IS with IS on on a mono or tripod since this lens doesn't detect it. It's either IS on and handheld or monopod and IS off. I always use it handheld. If you can handhold 1/60s then I don't see an advantage in using a monopod.

Hey Paulo,
I agree with Axel's comments and have to add that I use only a bushhawk and it allows me to accurately track BIF about 30% better than just handholding. It helps if you have shot a gun as a kid, have great reflexes and can sometimes keep your other eye open and can track the bird with it, when needed. I find I can lift the system up and almost immediately get focus lock (mark III) and follow the little guys (ie swallows, etc).

Not sure if this is your kind of shooting or not, hope this helps.

My expensive tripod is collecting dust :)

Bill Sharkey