FS100: How heavy a lens before it needs support?

J

Jeff Kirkland

Member
I've read in various places about adding support to heavy lenses on the FS100 as people feel the mount is a little less well built than it could be. So, is that really the case? And how heavy do you think is too heavy?

I'm asking because I was just given a Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm lens that weighs in at around 950g (2lbs) and I'm pretty sure I should add a some extra support to use that. Or am I just being overly cautious?

Anyway, it just got me wondering what's considered too heavy for the mount to support on it's own?

Cheers,
Jeff K
 
I'm curious as to why Bloom wasn't using a support system with his FS700 test then?

*I also didn't mean to sound smart on this. Just a curious question..
 
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Good ol' question. Someone mentioned at one point that with the 18-200 mm attached to the FS100, you should never lift the camera by the lens.
The housing weighs roughly 1kg, which means that the lens mount cannot safely support more than 1kg by itself.... maybe even less.

Turn it around... if your lens weighs more than 900g I'd put a support under it every time.

I just bought a cheap one with adjustable height off ebay, gets the job done.
 
legrevedotcom said:
Good ol' question. Someone mentioned at one point that with the 18-200 mm attached to the FS100, you should never lift the camera by the lens.
Click to expand...

By the lens? If the lens is heavier than the camera, you should never lift the camera without supporting the lens...
 
Jus,t to revisit this, does anyone want to volunteer a definite weight above which they'd add some sort of support? I think we've agreed 950g is too much. The kit lens is about 550g so I guess that's ok...

Guess I'm just one of those people that likes to quantify everything.

Cheers
jeff K
 
moldcad said:
By the lens? If the lens is heavier than the camera, you should never lift the camera without supporting the lens...
Click to expand...

I see you totally misunderstood what I was saying... I made a simple backwards deduction about the max weight of a lens before you need support for the FS100 because the original question was how heavy a lens could be before it needed support.
Based on the statement that you can't lift the FS100 by the 18-200 lens means that the max weight of the lens mount would be no more than 1kg (the weight of the housing).... = the max weight of a given lens without support is around 1kg. But like I already said... I'd support a 900g + lens every time just to be safe.

There you have it, cardboard and neon.
 
I picked up one of these off of a seller on eBay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Long-Telesc...962?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a6a79949a

because I'll occasionally mount my Nikon 28-70 f2.8 ( a heavy beast) as well as my 80-200 2.8 and an old 300mm f4. It was the best priced unit I could find and the additional 3/8th threaded mount on the unit made a nice extra touch. I'm sure there are other units out there that are heavier built, but for no more often than I need this support, it was perfect for me.
 
I only use a heavy lens occasionally and didn't want to spend much, so I pieced this together for about $350. The shoulder setup comes off, never actually used it but in a pinch it's there. I don't use anything else attached, so it's not a system you can trick out, but if you are simply looking to support a long lens on occasion, it gets the job done.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...RSA1580D_SPE_Shoulder_Pad_System_Package.html
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...n_R15_LS25100T_Lens_Support_with_Trimmer.html
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/241139-REG/Manfrotto_577_577_Rapid_Connect_Adapter.html
 
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