Supporting a 200-500 Nikon zoom

[armando_m]

I'm planning a trip for next year, in preparation ordered a 200-500 zoom

I got it and wow! this ting is large and heavy
VR is really good I was able to shoot at 1/40 @ 500mm and still get no blur

On a positive side the AF is spot when used with my D800, a first for any of my lenses, every other lens needed AF fine tuning

The weight of the lens is exposing the weakness of my current tripod head , I think, for sure it does not stay where I want it and need to compensate for sagging after tightening the tripod head screws 

It is odd the lens foot needs a plate vs having and Arca profile to be mounted directly on the tripod head, also it only has one screw hole making it a very weak support
At 500mm the lens/support combination takes about 2 seconds for  oscillations to die down
I can tap the tripod legs and I see no oscillations

So I'll likely get a more sturdy head
but also suspect I need to do something about the lens foot a tiny camera plate between the head and the lens foot sure feels like a weak link , I've seen RRS and kirk make replacement collars

What are others doing to support this lens ?

[Brute]

Congratulations
Replaced the foot collar on mine with a Kirk.
The only other bad thing is watch your lens hood.

[Asle F]

The weight of the lens is exposing the weakness of my current tripod head , I think, for sure it does not stay where I want it and need to compensate for sagging after tightening the tripod head screws 

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What are others doing to support this lens ?

I do not have that lens, but I use Burzynski (not easy to find today, 60mm ball) and Berlebach module insert 3 (55mm ball) and sometimes a Sachtler DV6SB (fluid head) for my 300mm/2.8 (650g heavier than 200-500mm) with or without teleconverter. Common to these heads are they lack the neck of usual ball heads. All of them are steady enough for the weight and narrow field of view. The fluid head is the easiest for framing, but the head is also the heaviest. The bigger ball makes framing easier than the smaller ball. But the smallest ball is also the most light weight, by a good margin because it is an integrate part of the tripod.

Before we can recommend anything, it is important to know what you allready have, that is not good enough.

Something you can try to be sure the head is the weak link, is to mount the lens right on top of the tripod, and see how it behaves.

[armando_m]

...
Something you can try to be sure the head is the weak link, is to mount the lens right on top of the tripod, and see how it behaves.

I'll try that

Good suggestions, thank you

[armando_m]

Congratulations
Replaced the foot collar on mine with a Kirk.
The only other bad thing is watch your lens hood.

Thanks
what do you mean by watch the lens hood ? it falls off easily ? the thing is bigger than a bowl of soup, it's not like it is easy to loose it

[Andrew]

Just tape it to the lens with electric tape...

[ColinM]

If you are still in touch with Elsa Hoffman, she's using hers a lot and may have suggestions.

I know she's doing some of her work from a vehicle and uses a vehicle door mount made by Gimpro.

[Brute]

Thanks
what do you mean by watch the lens hood ? it falls off easily ? 

Yes. It does not have a locking system on it.
I use a Movo GH 800 Gimbal Head on a  Induro CLT 103  3 section tripod.
Have not had a problem with the weight on it. Been using this system together for a couple years now.

[Akira]

Aramando, you may want to listen to Birna's classic "Tripod Collar Blues" here (scroll down):

http://www.naturfotograf.com/index2.html

[armando_m]

mounting the foot directly on the tripod still got blurry images
shoving a book between the foot and the lens allowed for sharp images at 1/10 of a sec

my ball head is not good, only got sharp images with vr on

in the mean time here is an image of tonight's moon
1/500s f/5.6 iso 100 tripod mount vr on

[Akira]

Do you have FT1 for your V1?  If so, you should virtually be owner of a 1350mm lens...

[Mexecutioner]

Crazy that you need to spend potentially almost 20% of  the cost of this lens to get adequate support, but I guess this has been pretty common with Nikon's feet and collars in the past. Well at least there is a solution from either RRS or Kirk.

[Matthew Currie]

For the issue of having only one hole, if the alternative is to toss the foot anyway, one might as well drill another hole in the one you have.

I made a custom plate for mine, with shallow milling on the top to match the shape of the original foot so it won't turn, but also drilled an extra hole and put in a pointed setscrew. It's quite stable now on a side-mounting gimbal.  If you are using a ready-made plate which doesn't provide a good place for a hole, you can remove the foot, drill and tap a hole from the top down, and put in either a pointed setscrew or a plain bolt.  If you drill a shallow recess in the plate where the bolt hits it, you won't have to make any of the attachments gorilla tight to keep it from ever turning.

The foot itself seems pretty sturdy, and I suspect any added flex will be in the tripod and head first.   By the way, the extra 1/4 inch holes in the plate shown are for screwing it into a monopod, approximate balance points at 200 and 500.

[Bill De Jager]

In the U.S. this lens has just gone on sale again at 10% off.

[Hugh_3170]

Up to 15% here in Australia.  Discounting across all photographic brands has been heavy for at least the last six months.  Our retail sector is pretty weak at the moment.

In the U.S. this lens has just gone on sale again at 10% off.