The first 'support device' I ever purchased was a Giottos Monopod. What appealed to me was that it doubled (tripled) as a tripod. This was achieved by screwing some metal rods into the rubber foot at the bottom. You could also take two of the rods and attach them up the headstock to make a "machine gun" style support.
The picture above was taken with my big lens on 'jake' in mono-mode, and I've used it quite extensively over the last 5 or 6 years that we've been together. Birds and bikes mostly.
As it happens the 'tripod' set up wasn't very good. If you extended 'jake' to his greatest height, he wasn't very stable. Wobbled about like a sailor onshore leave.
I've felt a bit disloyal to 'jake' over the last few weeks as I've been casting around for a carbon fibre monopod. I've felt that 'jake' is starting to weigh heavy. Perhaps it's all to do with me simply getting older. Anyway, whether I've been disloyal or not, it's all moot, as 'jake' suffered, as Jim Lovell said in Apollo XIII, 'a problem'.
When out after voles, I was using 'jake' as a monopod but with the three rods attached to provide a firmer base. Unfortunately, towards the end of the day, 'jakes' foot sheared off. Luckily for me this didn't happen on one of those occasions when I wasn't holding the camera/lens rig, else there'd be more bumps and scratches on the outside of the lens, and some scratches on my relatively pristine camera body.
I can no search for 'jakes' replacement without feeling guilty. I wonder if Manfrotto to a CF mono with the same quick release plate I use on my geared head......
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