In this instructional YouTube video, professional wildlife photographer Don Orkoskey explains how to reduce camera shake and improve image stability for wildlife photography by using monopods and tripods. He clarifies the difference between camera shake and motion blur, outlines when to choose a tripod versus a monopod based on subject motion and lighting, and compares ball heads to gimbal heads, favoring gimbals for fluid tracking. The core of the video is a detailed review of the Sirui SVM‑165 monopod, highlighting its single‑point release, integrated ball head, detachable three‑leg mini‑tripod, rubber foot with optional spike, and overall ergonomics when paired with a heavy Sigma 150‑600 mm lens on a Nikon D850. He also mentions SmallRig’s newer trigger‑release system as a potential alternative. Practical shooting tips are offered, such as recommended shutter speeds for stationary subjects (1/30‑1/60 s) and the need for faster speeds to freeze fast‑moving subjects like hummingbirds. The video concludes with a call for viewer comments, likes, and subscriptions.
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Let's talk about the best monopod for wildlife photography. And actually, let's talk a bit about tripods, monopods, and why you would want to use them for your wildlife photography. Hey, it's pro photographer Don Orkoskey. And in my most recent short video that I posted on YouTube, I talked about how you can avoid camera shake. Camera shake is a little bit different than motion blur. Motion blur is what happens when your subject is moving too fast for you to freeze their motion. Camera shake is all over blurriness that you get from the camera moving just slightly, either when you're pushing the button or just because you're handholding it and the lens is too long to freeze that motion. I also mentioned in that video the other thing that you can do to avoid that, which is to use some form of stabilization. For example, a monopod or a tripod. I've got the same setup here, my Sigma 150-600 on my Nikon D850. This is my go-to for wildlife photography. So anticipating some questions about how to choose a tripod or monopod, I figured I'd make this video and help explain that to you. Let's start with the choice of tripod versus monopod. Obviously you see that I'm a big fan of monopods. I love using monopods for any sort of active thing— wildlife, sports, etc. If you're going to be shooting more stationary subjects, then a tripod is fine. If you're going to be shooting subjects in much lower light, that added stability of a tripod will help you more than a monopod will. Monopods are great because you put it down, boom, there you go. You can start to take your shot. You don't have to worry about opening the legs up, making sure it's stable, making sure that it's level on the, on the ground, so on and so forth. So here's what having a monopod or tripod does for you. It gives you that ability to shoot at a much slower shutter speed. So if your subject is stationary, if it's a bird sitting on a branch or an owl poking its head out of its hole and it's just waking up for the evening, You can shoot at a 30th of a second or a 60th of a second. You're really good, maybe a 15th of a second. The other benefit of monopods is how much you can move around them as your subject is moving in front of you. If you're looking at buying a monopod or a tripod, no matter what, you really have to think, do I want to buy them All in one, where the head comes with the pod, or do you want to mix and match, which you can usually do? There are often two different sizes of screw for mounting the heads, and there are different types of heads. There are ball heads, which essentially allow you to spin along that ball, and then there are gimbals. And this here is a gimbal. I can show you from this angle how this gives me all this flexibility, and I can use it just with one hand and track a bird in flight up and down. I can have a little more natural motion, whereas that ball head, it's pivoting on that ball. That's why I prefer the gimbal. Now, this gimbal here is from Neewer. And you see it is also well-loved. I've got some camouflage gauze on it as well as on the end of my— the hood of my Sigma 150-600 here. So let's talk specifically about the Sirui SVM-165. This is not my first monopod, and when I got this one, it wasn't because I really needed a replacement for my other one. It was specifically because the SVM-165 has a single release to put it up or down. So I only have to— I do have to use 2 hands, but I only have to use one attachment point to raise it up or lower it down. That is huge. If you're used to tripods or monopods where you have to click or loosen some other way a bunch of different segments in order to adjust that height, those take a lot more time. That single point of release is awesome. The other thing I love about this is that there is a ball head at the bottom which allows me to tighten that up, and there are 3 legs that actually do a really good job. Letting the camera stand fully on its own, right? There's no, no strings anywhere holding this up. It's standing just on the monopod. I wouldn't leave it there. It's kind of windy here today. Otherwise it might fall over and you may not be there to catch it. But it does add that extra bit of stability in terms of moving this way and that way. Now you can collapse those up so you don't have to deal with that. And at the bottom there is a rubber foot that if you twist it will also expose a little metal spike, which can be handy if you're doing a lot of pivoting. The other thing is that those 3 legs, they will come off of that ball head. Well, they will come off with the ball head. And the head of this will come off. And I'm not talking about just the gimbal head here, but actually this attachment point will come off and that will sit down in these feet and it allows you to put it right on the ground and be able to shoot like that. Now let's see with the camera on there if I can get it to clip back in. I did. Look at that. Beautiful. Since this one has come out, We'll raise it back up a little bit higher here. Since, since Sirui released the 165, uh, SmallRig has come out with their single point of release system, which is actually a trigger. So you pull it like a trigger and then it slides up and down, which I think is probably actually a better system than the Sirui system. However, SmallRig's Monopod wasn't available yet. They hadn't released it. I hadn't seen anything about it when the SVM165 came out. So this is the one that I got. And as you can see, it's been well used and well loved. When you have a big heavy lens like the Sigma 150-600 on a big heavy camera like the Nikon D850, and then you have a relatively inexpensive gimbal like the Neewer here, Then this monopod, which has some weight of its own because of all of that internal system, it's going to make everything quite heavy. But because I can sling this on my shoulder, I can collapse this down. It honestly gives me a nice pivot point, and I switch shoulders from time to time, but it really doesn't feel like As that much. And because I'm not holding that lens up every time I want to take a picture, it also means that my arms don't feel as tired overall. My, my entire body might feel a little more tired, but I have, I think, more back strength than I do arm strength for lifting this up constantly. Overall, I'm really happy with this monopod. Being able to put it down, duck down, get shots close to the ground, or switch just to the bottom, um, little, little mini tripod there is a huge advantage of this monopod. Let me know in the comments if you have any questions. Maybe there's something I didn't cover. I know in my last video where I talked about the using that faster shutter speed to avoid camera shake, I had a comment that said, yeah, but if you're shooting something like a hummingbird, just being at a 1/600th of a second or an 1/800th, it's probably not going to freeze the motion of that hummingbird. And that's true. What I was mostly talking about in that short is getting past that area where you have to worry about camera shake. But of course, if your subject is moving faster, you do still need a fast enough shutter speed to freeze that motion. I really appreciate you being here. Thank you so much for watching. If you got this far, then I would really appreciate it if you'd like the video. And if it's your first time here, be sure to check out my channel for lots of information about wildlife photography, And lessons on how to improve your photography, whether it's wildlife or otherwise. Thank you again. I really appreciate you, and I'll see you next time. Bye-bye. Bye.
