I agree with SS - I find them more a pain than a help,
though another videographer here does have good luck
with them. If you can stand the loss of mobility, a
VERY lightweight, spindly, icky tripod can help to
steady things if the pan and tilt are left totally
loose - or get a good, light shoulder-brace...

On Sat, 10 Mar 2001 06:50:10 -0500, "Steve Sakellarios" wrote:

>You'd think a monopod would be very useful. Maybe it would be in specific
>situations where you have to be mobile, but then you also have to shoot some
>long event. In reality, I've found them awkward. You don't have the full,
>normal range of motions, and it's not really steadier than you can get by
>practicing shooting hand-held. Then again, I've never found steadycams
>useful, either, and some people do good work with them.
>Steve S.

>scott l mitchell wrote in message
>news:3aa9de00.87528548@nntp.alaska.net...
>> Looking for something real compact that I can carry with my Sony
>> TRV900 on the run. Are monopods a good choice and are there any
>> choices that anyone can recommend? If not a monopod, what would you
>> suggest, and remember, this is very small and light weight, that my
>> wife would take to the kids recital, and not feel burdened, but give
>> better quality than hand held. thanks scott mitchell