Manfrotto 560B monopod review

I have returned from the land of the long white cloud and am now ready to review the Manfrotto 560B monopod.

Unfortunately, after four weeks abroad I have little else to add to my initial impressions of the monopod I gave a month ago: the 560B is wonderful.

A quick recap: before my requisite work siesta I was looking for a way to increase the stability of shooting with the Twoneil adapter without the need to pack a bulky tripod. The Manfrotto 560B seemed a nice tradeoff; it snaps down to about 60cm, provides panning support and stability, weighs just under 1.5kgs and doesn’t take up too much room in my suitcase. In fact, strange as it may sound, throughout my time abroad I never really felt burdened by the 560B; hefted in your hand it can just feel like a weighty stick, and for some reason that feels natural to a neanderthal like me.

Over the course of my trip I took the 560B out pretty much everyday, hefting it most times over my shoulder like you would carry a club. The lever snap locking system feels incredibly secure, so much so that I rarely took the camera off while tramping through the wilderness (urban or otherwise). After a while I forgot altogether (whilst stumbling over rocks and skreet) that the camera was perched so delicately 6 feet off the ground behind my back.

Most of the time I would take the monopod down a few notches for a little bit more peace of mind, but it was always a very quick “stand and start shooting” process. Though I would stop short of saying that you could use it for a walking stick – you invest a lot in the smooth operation of those little feet.

Panning is an art, and I have yet to master it.  The video below is the first part of my holiday and much of it was taken in the Tongariro National Park where the wind is reliably strong, hence some of the footage is a little shaky.  This I don’t believe is the fault of the monopod as much as my own general shakiness.

Following the advice from someone on Vimeo, I turned off the stability control on my Hv30. If left on, it can supposedly screw with panning – making the picture jump around unecessarily. Unfortunately it also means you take a small hit to the smoothness of all your shots (in my opinion). If you remember, the first video I did with the monopod was without DOF adapter (the main culprit of camera shake), so really this was the first time I’d really used the monopod at all for it’s true purpose: to smooth out shots with the adapter.

A worthy comparison is between the video above and the video I first shot with the twoneil some months ago (handheld).  The improvement is easily noticeable – though not as much as if the adapter wasn’t on at all.  I would not have dared trying some of the pans and camera movements performed in the above video without the monopod.

Overall I am very impressed with the Manfrotto 560B – whilst the shots still exhibit some shake, many of these were taken on the fly in awkward situations and resting upon unstable terrain with the wind blowing quite heavily. Yes the dream of perfectly stable shots still haunts me, but I also realise I would quite likely have never taken the time to take many of the shots I did were it not for the ease of setup the 560B provides. Always in search of the perfect picture, my partner and I travel with a significant amount of camera equipment (both video, digital still and film cameras) and right at this moment, lugging an additional tripod around with me on holiday would just add to the feeling that we are a travelling paparazi sideshow.

In the past few months I have been exposed to more and more professionally produced movies and user videos that employ a more relaxed approach to image stability. I am finding that this approach is more akin to the visions I have in my head and plays to the strengths and weaknesses of my own equipment setup.

Thanks to it’s three little fit and central column pivot system and with enough time, practice and imagination, I believe the Manfrotto 560B monopod will produce some truly unique looking shots to rival those of a conventional tripod. I have barely scratched the surface.