Steady tricks and tech for 600mm f4

[Walker Golder]

I have a 600mm f4AF. Wonderful lens and I love it. But keeping it steady is a challenge, especially with a 1.4x attached. The vibration is in the lens foot, not the tripod head or tripod (they are rock solid). Anyone else with this issue? More importantly, anyone with a solution?

[Rocky Sharwell]

I have the 4th generation foot for my Canon 600F4is. I have not noticed any vibration coming from the lens foot. I do recheck the screws attaching the foot about every month or so to make sure they are tight. The other thing I do when I need to be rock solid is to tighten the lens collar so that it is fairly tight.

Are you shooting Canon or Nikon?

[Walker Golder]

Thanks for the response Rocky. I am shooting Nikon. I switched to the short lens foot, which helped a little, but not entirely. It appears to me that the weight of the lens causes the foot to flex. I am working on solving the problem and will post if I come up with something.

[James Shadle]

I'm not following you.
I have a Nikon 600mm F4 AF-S I with the short Wimberley foot and it is rock solid.
Perhaps it is your long lens technique in general?

Is the foot loose? I used blue Loctite on the screws.

A loose collar will generate a lot of vibration. Do you shoot with the collar locked down?

[Walker Golder]

James,
Thanks for your reply. Collar and foot are tight. I think I need to switch to a wimberley head and foot. I'm using a Arca-Swiss Studioball now. I never had the issues with my previous 600 (Nikon f5.6mf), but this is a different beast...
Thanks again!