NZ Photo Info

I've always tried to support the local economy by purchasing locally. I don't mind paying a little bit extra for the local support and warranty. But, I do object to paying huge premiums for the local convenience.

I had to rethink this strategy of local procurement recently when I purchased a new Olympus 11-22mm F2.8-F3.5 lens.

The best local (New Zealand) price that I could find on the lens was around $1600 NZ. This seemed very excessive to me so it was time to do some investigations. After a quick look at the Amazon website it was obvious that I could do much better than this.

When shooting in low light conditions or with long zoom lenses some sort of support is a must to avoid camera shake and ensure a sharp image. A tripod is the obvious choice and will give the best result but it is not always the most practical.

However there are a few situations where a tripod is not the most practical accessory:

• When you are going tramping it is extra weight that you have to carry.
• Shooting images in a crowd with limited space.
• When shooting with long lenses and you want to move around. Think sports photography.

I recently purchased a Manfrotto 680B monopod and 486RC2 ball head. While I could have got smaller and cheaper I wanted something that would last me for years to come. It is rated as being capable of holding a load of 10kg and weighs in at around 0.83kg.

Rather than try to sell the benefits of a monopod, here are a couple of images taken under the same conditions. One handheld without monopod and one taken with monopod.