Comments about Lindahl Lindahl Gopod Shoulder Camera Support with Case:

I've used this mount several times over the past 2 months, and I have mixed feelings. It does lessen the burden of carrying a heavy rig. I am able to take sharper pictures than when handholding a camera with telephoto-zoom lens weighing around 6 pounds total. And it is pretty useful in the specific application I wanted it for: working on crowded boardwalks where a tripod is a tripping hazard to other people (and areas where tripods may be prohibited), or in marshy/muddy areas. For some applications (such as panning), this mounting method was better than a monopod for me. However, with 7 pounds of equipment (including a proper head), I've found a tripod is still better for even more-improved sharpness.

I have not been able to get the adjustable-height camera support arm to lock at a specific height-- it slides back to the bottom no matter how tight I turn the collar. 7 pounds might be more than it was designed for, but I saw no max weight capacity specified in the item description, and one published reviewer used a "heavy" 500 mm f/4 lens without mentioning this problem.

After wearing the rig for an hour, I started to feel it in the lower back--but more use might see improvement there. And if you need to get in and out of a vehicle to take pictures, taking this on and off once or twice is OK but doing it more frequently gets tiresome (I needed to demount either the camera or the 2 shoulder brackets each time so the camera and lens would be properly supported in the moving vehicle).

So I would recommend it to a friend who uses a lighter weight camera and lens, and needs or wants to avoid using a tripod. But, given the total time and effort involved with each method, for better sharpness with a heavier lens I'll be using a tripod and gimbal head whenever possible.