Manfrotto 393 Long Lens Monopod Bracket

Comments about Manfrotto 393 Long Lens Monopod Bracket:

Great price.Seems too loose for Panning Shots but
maybe it is adjustable with a key??(not supplied)

Comments about Manfrotto 393 Long Lens Monopod Bracket:

Perfect for sport or wildlife bought because two friends use same equipment no regrets at all
Weight does let down especially for older enthusiasts

Comments about Manfrotto 393 Long Lens Monopod Bracket:

This bracket is great value for money and at a great price. It it's strong in construction but the trade-off is the weight. Not sure I would want to carry it with a camera & long lens attached for any length of time.
It provides a great platform for my Nikon 200-400mm lens and D3X with and without a 2x converter fitted.
Ignore the illustration from the manufacturer, it works perfectly with the lens sat on the bracket rather than supported by it. As many others have said, this is the best way to use it unless you need to get shots in extreme elevation either overhead or towards your feet.
It will work from a monopod but I suspect many will prefer to mount it on a tripod. It's a simple screw-on mount.
Nice and simple piece of kit and well worth the money.

Comments about Manfrotto 393 Long Lens Monopod Bracket:

This product is perfect for both camera's with long lenses,
Birding scopes and telescopes for Astronomy.
If a camera is on a monopod with a Pistal Grip you can move the
Camera diagonally in one sweeping movement with one hand
while operating the camera controls with the other hand. This
product is described as a Mono Pod mount. Personally I would
rather use a pistol grip as previously described. It should be
remembered that this product moves up and down and left and right.
HOWEVER --- put this manfrotto mount on a tripod and you
have a dream piece of kit.

Comments about Manfrotto 393 Long Lens Monopod Bracket:

a well built bit of kit. but please advertisers redo the picture this is not the way the lens attaches to the head it sits on it. not hangs from it

Comments about Manfrotto 393 Long Lens Monopod Bracket:

Great gimal!!! and for the price a bargain it is a bit on the heavy side but other than that it's a great buy.i would not want to carry it around for long though they show it on a monopod have tried it on mine works ok but with a big lens it can be a handful to walk around with.

Comments about Manfrotto 393 Long Lens Monopod Bracket:

I am very impressed with the quality of this gimbal head, it is well engineered and holds my 500 f4 with ease. The foot is very secure and will not slip out due to the locking pins.The u shape makes focus adjustments trickier than with a Wimberley type head but I simply rest my hand on top of the bracket and adjust focus with two fingers.
The u bracket has extra holes for adjustment which I used to attach a flash bracket, I see no benefit in attaching a lens in the way shown in the advert unless this has advantages with a spotting scope.
This represents stonking value compared to the competition and really cannot be matched.

Comments about Manfrotto 393 Long Lens Monopod Bracket:

This is used for photographing birds and I have found it easy to use and it does exactly what I bought it for

Comments about Manfrotto 393 Long Lens Monopod Bracket:

As good as OS/VR/IS is these days, hand holding at super telephoto zoon lengths is always tricky at the best of times to get sharp photos, not to mention takes little time to knacker your arms. I had previously only ever used a ball head on my tripod, mainly due to their small footprint making them easier to transport, however after discovering first hand the limitations of such a head for supporting a large lens that needs to be able to pan and track smoothly and doing some research, I was sold on the gimbal head idea, and with the price of the pro standard Wimberley out of my reach, the price point of the Manfrotto 393 seemed the perfect option.

The whole thing really feels rock solid, no flex at all in the bracket that I can see. The included foot plate fixes to your lens securely with one or more of the included screws and has a safety feature in that once it slides into the bracket mounting, it cannot slide back out again accidentally thanks to a sprung peg that prevents the plate from leaving the mount without being depressed. The plate allows the lens to be easily positioned so that the center of balance of the lens/camera combination sits nicely over the middle of the frame so that it is nicely balanced, and a combination of this balance and the adjustable friction enables the lens to be moved smoothly in all directions and happily stay put wherever you position it without needing to be locked down. This makes tracking fast moving subjects without killing your arms a breeze (not to mention making simply aiming elsewhere a smooth transition), and giving you the peace of mind that your lens isn't going to attempt to fall over as soon as you let go

Some people have commented on the weight being a negative, and indeed it may be a slightly more cumbersome design that the much lauded Wimberley, but when you consider the weight difference is only about 170 grams, it's really not a difference I feel is worthy of complaint.

My only criticism is one echoed by other users in that you cannot lock the head position in place to safely carry the tripod with camera still attached without simply tightening up the friction adjustments, which is something you're unlikely to want to do after carefully adjusting them to suit your needs. That said it is still perfectly possible to carry the whole getup if you just balance it carefully to prevent the camera spinning freely

In short, it does exactly what I needed and I am confident that, unlike with my lenses, I won't feel any whimsical incentive to upgrade to a more expensive alternative any time soon, regardless of how worthy they may be of all their accolades

Comments about Manfrotto 393 Long Lens Monopod Bracket:

I note all the others have said. I do not regard its weight as a "con." It is heavy but stable and suits my Sigma 50-500 (bought around the same time) very well.

I guess I could always fit a level to the camera hot shoe and, of course, I believe some modern DSLRS have electronic levels built in.

I find the quick fit attachment for the lens just the job.

The whole kit is sturdy, solid and does the job well.

Great for wild life and sports in particular.

Perhaps it could be a little neater.