Manfrotto 293 Telephoto Lens Support (#3420)

With years of photography, there was one thing that annoyed me greatly and that was that unless you had a lens with the built-in tripod structure, odds are that you needed to find a way to balance and stabilize the lens otherwise you'd get shake when using a long lens supposed only by the camera's mount. For years, there was no options, and then a few that were expensive. Then I found this support, at a decent price, and expected something that might not be bad. I received it and saw right away that THAT was an understatement... Not bad is not close to describing this support... it's fantastic. It's very strong, heavy, extremely nice quality, not one part is sub-par. It's made of actual metal, brushed painted finish, the velcro belt is an excellent strong nylon type, the mountings are very solid and easily adjusted. The fact that there's a quick release built-in (and the way it's built), was a welcomed surprised. For the price I bought it for here on Amazon, it was cheaper than any other place I've seen it and very much worth every penny. This thing is built to last for lifetimes, great-grandkids will probably still use it (if any goes into photography, and things like the cameras don't change too much). I used to fear using my big lenses, not any more, even without a tripod I can see how you could use it just as a hand-held support to prevent the shakes by resting this against something..

Got this for my wife’s Canon 800D with the Canon 100-400mm L telephoto lens. This unit is very well made using aluminum stock, attaches to the camera/lens easily and provides a solid and secure mounting to the tripod. It also is better balanced on the tripod then just the lens ring mount. The quick disconnect has a good locking feature with an audible click. It is hefty and adds weight to an already heavy camera/lens combination, so this is not really something one would use to take snapshots. Mine did not come with any instructions but it was not difficult to figure out how to assemble it to the camera. All in all, a good value for the money that should prove durable for field wildlife photos. Side note - Amazon prime on this delivery was terrible. It took a week plus to get this unit instead of the two day normal and expected delivery .

Just like you'd expect from Manfrotto, this is a very high quality, professional-grade product. It performs as described and will no doubt provide years of use. It's heavy but I didn't take away a star for that reason. I love that this is a machined, precision device made mostly of metal and not plastic. However, as you can see in the image of the product, you use a strap to hold the lens onto the base and that makes it difficult to turn the lens to zoom or focus it. I wish you could adjust the position of the strap backwards or forward because that way I could put it around a smoother surface on my long lens. As it is, the strap goes around the knurled plastic on the lens, which makes it hard to turn. However, that's a minor complaint. This is an expensive device but it's very high quality.

OK. Use an 800mm lens >without< built-in jitter control (IS)? Of course you need a tripod. But even with electronic shutter tripping (no fingers touching), a well balanced camera on an expensive (very expensive) perfectly balanced gimbel mount shakes enough from the camera shutter tripping to ruin the image (unless shooting very high speed in good light). A well balanced system is a see-saw. Small camera body vibrations are reproduced at the other end (lens). So the reverse strategy, steady cam, requires inertia to >not< have transmitted vibration motion. This set up is simply easier to configure offset enough to dampen vibration without being unwieldy. Also it is very light weight whereas the gimbel versions are very large and heavy yet without that size & weight contributing to the stability of the image. Gimbel mounts (with IS) are great and can be used offset as well. But then the advantage is minimal for the weight and bulk of what you have to carry.

A very well built and high quality support. I have a Nikon 80-200 2.8 push/pull lens that doesn't have the tripod mount. I recently got the Nikon D5200 and the external battery pack. This will work with the battery pack attached because the camera mount is a tilt head. You just have to tilt the camera down so that the lens will rest on the front support. It looks awkward and is a large contraption when set up but it is solid as a rock. I'm very happy with it.

Too heavy and doesnt quite work

All my cameras and tripods are set up with Arca style mounts. This is not compatible with that style of mount. I wish it would have said that in the product description. If I want to use it I would have to change the mount on my camera every time because the mount on this and the mounts I use (which I thought was kind of the industry standard) will not interchange. That would be too much trouble. I am going to return it and find something else.

I'm giving this 3 stars, because I don't want people to miss it. This lens support seems like a very good idea if you have a Manfrotto tripod head, and if weight and bulk are not issues. This head definitely will not work with ArcaSwiss. Also, it is big and bulky. A friend recommended a simple 150mm ArcaSwiss QR plate instead. That works beautifully to balance the camera-lens complex on the tripod head.