Tips/Suggestions for Long Lens Technique with the Mongoose, Please!

[Phil Ertel]

I am starting to use the Mongoose 3.5 in combination with my 500mm lens. I would be interested in hearing from those of you that use the Mongoose about your long lens technique. Since this is a side mount, you can not use the Standard Static-Subject-Grip that Arthur Morris details in his eBook The Art of Bird Photography II (ABP II). Furthermore the “The Elbow-Lock Maximum Sharpness Technique” that is also described in ABP II is also not practical due to the lack of a swing arm knob. Therefore any suggestions on long lens technique with the Mongoose in combination with a 500mm lens would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Phil

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Phil

The first advice is be careful mounting !!! Easy to drop!!!!!!

I am using the 3.5 and occasionally on with the 600. Making it steady is a little more difficult but doable. On the camera side all is the same pressing the up and with face firmly. For the front end I wrap my arm around the side and press up on the lens. The biggest difference I have found is not being able to lock down tight as with the full Wimberly which I did on a regular basis with static subjects.

[John Chardine]

Phil- Have a look at Artie's Bulletin #254, available in the archive on the Birds as Art web site. He shows the "maximum sharpness grip" with the M3.5. I have the head and have tried the method and it works. You can also stick your arm under the lens and push up against the bottom with your wrist/lower arm on the tripod mounting of the M 3.5.

Through trial and error I've figured out that the tensioning/locking mechanism on the M3.5 can be "tuned" to work really well. The key is to have the locking pin just the right amount below the teflon pad so that the o-ring below the pad squishes the correct amount. I have tuned mine and it works great.

Now I am getting better at keeping the camera/lens system still, I realise that subject motion has a huge effect on sharpness. Bird movements, particularly of small birds, are really fast and freezing a moving subject requires a very high shutter speed. I'm now developing skills to predict when the subject becomes motionless and making the image then if possible.

[Phil Ertel]

Thank you very much for your advise Alfred and John. It has been very helpful. I especially appreciated the reference to Bulletin #254. I picture is worth a thousand words but ,then we already know that.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Phil The first advice is be careful mounting !!! Easy to drop!!!!!! I am using the 3.5 and occasionally on with the 600. Making it steady is a little more difficult but doable. On the camera side all is the same pressing the up and with face firmly. For the front end I wrap my arm around the side and press up on the lens. The biggest difference I have found is not being able to lock down tight as with the full Wimberly which I did on a regular basis with static subjects.

A big yes on being careful, esp. with a 500 and way more with a 600. (I do NOT recommend the M3.5 with a 600. The Wimberley V2 is best for the really big lenses).

As for Alfred's inability to lock the M3.5 down, do note the following. As I have been working on product development with John Zeiss for years (and he has been very responsive), he began using a new brake material about six months ago. With the latest production M3.5s, it is possible to lock the head down tightly with easy finger pressure. (That was not possible with previous generations of the M3.5.) The good news is that early purchasers can have their Mongoose 3.5 heads retrofitted with the new brake material. There may or may not be a charge depending on when you purchased the head.

You can contact John Zeiss via e-mail at: 4GDphoto@mn.rr.com

I just checked, we have eight M3.5s in stock, and five M2.3s, the latter for intermediate telephotos like the 100-400, the 80-400 VR, all the 70-200s, the Canon 400 5.6, etc. The M3.5 is the only head that we recommend for the great 200-400 VR; the Wimberly V2 is way overkill for this lens...

BTW, here is a link to BAA Bulletin 254: http://www.birdsasart.com/bn254.htm

In addition to the sharpness technique, there is tons of great (free) info on the various tripod heads.