Some of the information given by the overall video could be debated, but this isn't the place for that
Why not? I'm certainly open to discussion. I'm not batting 1000 in life, certainly, and if I'm wrong about something, I'll happily amend the video. It's going into my book, too, so I want it to be accurate.
I mainly didn't want to derail the thread since it was about Kris just sharing his experience, not necessarily about discussing the video information. but if he's okay with it I don't mind a little discussion...
Overall I think its a good video and I enjoyed watching it. I don't really think you presented anything 'incorrectly', I just thought there were a few odd omissions. And the few issues I see, it might just be the editor in me over analyzing it, which I tend to do sometimes since that is what I'm doing in my work outside the forum quite frequently. So take or leave what you want, this is just my thoughts on it all.
Mainly the issue I see is in how it is presented. I don't know how you're prefacing the video it in your book, but the video is very opinion based, which is fine if its being presented as an opinion piece, however, it seems like its being presented as an informational piece geared towards beginners who are trying to learn about equipment specific to wildlife. In which case I think you're doing a dis-service to your readers to not explore the various options available even if they're not something you specifically use because situations, techniques, and backgrounds will vary so dramatically, what works for one person may not be the best for others....like I mentioned though, if you're presenting it as an 'this is what I like/use' opinion piece than that isn't an issue.
For example, here are a few things that I think are lacking informatively or just omitted in the video...
mainly the tripods/monopods thing...while I totally agree that they're bulky and can be an issue depending location and situation, I too prefer hand holding when I can, but there are definite situations and times when I wouldn't be caught dead without some kind of support setup. Rather than presenting tripods and monopods as being useless overall, it would be beneficial to discuss situations where they will be extremely helpful (especially since the video is geared towards beginners trying to learn and understand). For example, I found it odd that you said you typically can't shoot with your 500f4 for longer than ~20s without a rest, but then a few minutes later you laugh at gimbal heads, when a gimbal is an amazing piece of equipment for the heavy super telephoto lenses like the 400f2.8/500f4/600f4, especially for birds and birds in flight (granted most beginners won't be using the exotic superteles that gimbals shine with, but since you already spent a good amount of time talking about lens weight concerns and your 500f4, it stands to reason that you'd touch on equipment that can help immensely with those weight concerns).
Another thing is specifically about the monopods. I was wondering why you didn't like monopods with your 500f4 until I saw the picture of Chelsea (I hope I got her name right) at 10:41, which to me looks like she's got the pod mounted directly to the lens foot. Doing that is great for sports shooting or anything that you're just panning without needing to tilt, but for birds, mounting it like that would be extremely frustrating to use just like you describe in the video. There are options available though, like using a tilt-only head setup, which helps out with this kind of monopod use immensely. There are tilt heads that RRS make, as well as some by manfrotto, etc as well as some non-conventional methods (like what I use, which I can describe if you want, but I don't want to fill up this post with describing my gear) all of which can greatly improve monopod use for birds and wildlife for heavy superteles. These head setups allow movement only in the tilt axis allowing you to move the monopod to pan like you normally would, but also allow tilting without leaning back or lifting the monopod up or anything and still providing the stable support. Again, these thing are mainly beneficial for the very heavy lenses like the 400f2.8 or larger, but are options nevertheless. When I'm on foot, I never have my 600f4 without my monopod setup (or tripod, but thats really only if I'm staking out a spot for a period of time or in a blind or something, I never take the tripod just out hiking around or exploring) conversely, when I'm on foot with my 300f2.8, I never have my monopod, so there are times its useful, and times its not...
I also thought there were a couple omissions that would have been useful to touch on, mainly blinds (which you have since covered with your other video), but even in the blinds video you don't mention using a vehicle as a blind, which is a major benefit from my experience. Another useful piece of equipment missing is beanbag rests, I used to just rest my lens on whatever to stabilize it (mainly like resting it on the car door while shooting from inside a vehicle), but since I started using a beanbag, my percentage of keepers has improved dramatically, they're easy and cheap to make, or modify commercially available ones like what I use.
so again, its really nothing that I think you did wrong, or anything like that, I just think its very much opinion based for a piece that, from what I can see, appears to be trying to provide equipment options information for beginners. at least that's my take on it.
Welcome to the forum BTW, this is a great place, and we're glad to have you around.
We filmed a second one about finding birds, I think I was more relaxed by then...
