| It's almost always an improvement, if circumstances are appropriate, though the setup time can slow you down more than seems worth it. I like having my hiking-pole-with-gun/scope rest when walking around, and this idea has potential.
(Still need to get a less-bendy-springy pole to get real stability, something I've been putting off, but in concept this seems viable for quickness and convenience: at the moment the setup's really just best for helping me walk and compensating for any fatigue or weakness I might experience: primarily right now, it just helps me not fall down if I get really stiff in the joints, and may as well be camera support while it's at that job: just bracing the lens on that crook actually makes a good place to put your walking pole, if nothing else. )
But I use it with shorter lenses all the time, and in principle it should work well. Takes no time at all to put the camera on it, , and with the right qualities of actual stick, should give most of the benefit of a monopod. Steadiness is always helpful, if you can have it.
There's also a kind of neat Giottos monopod head with a quick release that looks pretty efficient and unobtrusive to me, (kind of has a round bit, comes with one of their monopods that has little legs you can add to it) which might be nice for such purposes. |