How to stabilize a long range zoom

Hi everyone! I recently up graded to a Nikon D5100 and just bought a 650-1300mm lens with a 2x converter. My current tripod will not hold this set up,way to heavy for it. Is there a better tripod capable of holding this set up or is there a better way? I like taking images of the moon so it needs to be sturdy! Thanks for any and all help. :idea:

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Originally Posted by CUDA

Hi everyone! I recently up graded to a Nikon D5100 and just bought a 650-1300mm lens with a 2x converter. My current tripod will not hold this set up,way to heavy for it. Is there a better tripod capable of holding this set up or is there a better way?

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Certainly ! How much you want to pay for it? Try Gitzo or Manfrotto. Many nature and wildlife photogs use Gitzo, but you don't need to.

By the way, what brand is that 650-1300 zoom lens?

Thanks for the info AgingEyes,lens is a Bower,not top of the line,seems like a decent lens and in my price range.

This http://www.tripodhead.com/products/wimberley-main.cfm
on top of this http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...ematic_6X.html
and you will have absolutely no stability issues.

Does the lens have a tripod mount? If it does is the lens & camera balance at the tripod mount?

If both of these questions are answered as yes you can get away with a less costly tripod head. Also how far you plan to take it will have a bearing on which tripod you purchase. The very light weight tripods are either cheap and flimsy or costly and stable. Just make sure the tripod and head are rated to hold 1.5 to 2 times the weight of your camera and lens.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CUDA

Hi everyone! I recently up graded to a Nikon D5100 and just bought a 650-1300mm lens with a 2x converter. My current tripod will not hold this set up,way to heavy for it. Is there a better tripod capable of holding this set up or is there a better way? I like taking images of the moon so it needs to be sturdy! Thanks for any and all help. :idea:

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LOL! Woah, 650-1300mm WITH a 2x converter. Yeah the moon, makes sense, you could probably find the flag at 2600mm. Fortunately, the moon is BRIGHT, so even with the 2x converter putting the lens at f/16, you still can pull off shutter speeds in the 1/100th and beyond range. Not to say you don't need a tripod, you CERTAINLY do, but getting a cutting edge top of the line tripod isn't neccessary. Post the moon images you get here, would be interested to see the crop of a 2600mm APS moon LOL!

*edit - that is assuming your bower lens has a tripod mount on it, as frey points out. I can't imagine a lens past 300mm that doesn't have one though, it really should, even being the cheap bower thing.

If this is the lens it has a mount ring on it.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...ual_Focus.html

Oh, the aperture is a variable. Could have assumed as much, but it closes down to f/16 by 1300mm. Meaning, at 2x TC, the transmissive brightness would be an f/32 equivalent. Daamn! Thats dim. It may be a long exposure by that point.

Thanks one and all for your help. I have a bit better tripod in the closet but would like to still upgrade,have my eye on a Manfrotto tripod. Here's a few images i manage to get with what i have for the time being:

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Originally Posted by CUDA

Thanks one and all for your help. I have a bit better tripod in the closet but would like to still upgrade,have my eye on a Manfrotto tripod. Here's a few images i manage to get with what i have for the time being:

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The images look soft, to me. I hope you were not using auto focus.