Hi,
rmpsrpms Your post is EXACTLY the kind of feedback I was hoping to get! Thank you very much.
I will start answering your questions best as I can
So, my first suggestion is to move the lights until they are as close to the camera/lens as possible, and possibly raise them to get highest angle possible, and put them at 10 and 2 to get a better starting point.Indeed, I did not know to put the lights at 10 and 2; now I do and will henceforth do so on all my future macro coin pics. Great advice!
I do have a few questions about the stand if you don't mind:I do not mind at all: thank you again for your time and your reply. Here goes:
How high can it go? 17 ½" is the theoretical maximum at full vertical positioning of the monopod with the camera tilted down at a 90 degree angle. But to get the camera out and away from the base of the stand to photograph any object of size, you have to start leaning the monopod forward, which means of course that you are decreasing the maximum height the more you lean the monopod forward.
And also how low? 11 ¼" minimum at the full vertical position of the monopod with the camera tilted down at a ninety degree angle, but you can lean the monopod forward at an extreme close to 90 degrees off the vertical and take pictures about two inches away from the coin. In the short monopod configuration the stand/camera combination is pretty stable.
I will take a picture of the monopod at its smallest extension and leaned forward at this most extreme angle to show you how close it can getWould be nice to know the min and max heights of the 1/4" mount The ¼ " mount that screws into the camera body is a 1" piece of metal. It is hard to turn it to mount the camera; I found it much easier to twirl the camera itself to fasten it snugly on the ¼" mounting lug. The non-screw end of the 1" metal mount is a ball that fits into a plastic ball socket on the top of the mono pod. This ball socket has a plastic/metal tightening lug which fixes the ¼" mount per the user's requirements. The ball socket itself is a 360 degree affair allowing the user to swivel the attached camera in a 360 degree manner. The ¼" mount is allowed to travel only within the ball socket in a slot that can go from a full horizontal position to a full 90 degree vertical position, as the ball socket itself provides the 360 degree function.
I will take a picture of the upper ball socket of the monopod described in this paragraph.The angle of travel of the monopod itself is
only in the forward direction towards the item to be photographed. This is achieved by a plastic/metal half-lap joint with locking lug at the bottom of the monopod. There is no ability to achieve other than a forward leaning monopod picture unless you move the entire monopod/steel base with camera attached itself ($12 price point?)
The bottom end of the monopod attaches to the metal stand with a (perfectly half-dollar sized) plastic knurled knob which has a ¼" metal screw molded into it which screws in from the bottom of the center stand section into the monopod bottom's corresponding embedded ¼" female metal screw socket .
I will take a picture of the lower half-lap socket of the monopod and the plastic knurled knob Turning now to the metal stand, it consists of three 1/8" thick steel segments permanently affixed together that fold fairly compactly for storage in the provided cardboard box. The two end segments of the stand are each 9" long and have two large and thick rubber bumpers/pads on the bottom on each end segment for scratch protection. These two end segments are designed to be opened to a maximum 45 degree orientation from the 10 ½" long center metal section of the stand where the monopod is attached. The center metal stand segment has a convex dimple stamped into it on the top that will allow the monopod to be attached only in one fixed orientation, which is pointing to the front of the fully extended stand, which looks like the letter "W" with the middle element of the "W" missing.
I will take two pictures of the metal stand in both the fully extended 45 degree position and in the fully folded position for storing in the box.How stable is it? i.e. when you push down on the camera, how easily does the camera move due to the stand flexing? The entire monopod/stand fully assembled and in use with my camera attached (Sony NEX-3N - a small light camera) is stable with the monopod at its smallest size, even when leaning the monopod itself forward at an extreme angle close to the coin.
I will take a picture of the monopod set to its shortest length in an extreme forward leaning position.The same stability does
NOT exist when the monopod is in the fully extended / tallest position and is leaning forward at anything even close to a 45 degree angle. When positioned thus, as you push the shutter button, the camera moves noticeably. I could only use this monopod /stand in that fully extended and leaning forward configuration if I set my shutter to work on a 2.5 second delay. The delay gave the monopod / stand time to quit shaking before the delay timer went off and is an easy and effective work-around to this problem.
I will take a picture of the fully extended monopod in a 45 degree forward leaning position.How easy is it to adjust height?Very easy; there is a clamp at the top of the mono pod.
I will take a picture of said clamp. I hope this answers your questions. I visited your website and liked your products. When my financial position improves, I will come back to see you about the adapted microscope stand as a good upgrade from my $12 stop-gap solution I am limited to at this time.
Thanks again,
Morgan Guy
First Page
Posted 12/15/2019 11:06 pm
