Oben vs Manfrotto Self Standing Monopods
Monopods are great for situations where a tripod is not practical or allowed. They’re fast, portable and these will provide you with additional feet to really get your camera steady. You can retract the feet when it’s not needed, and use these as your average monopods. If you’re shooting video, you will want a fluid head to pair with these monopods.
The Manfrotto 682B is a 3 Section self standing Monopod that can extend to a max height of 67″ inches and minimum folded length of 27″ inches.
Tech Specs
Manfrotto 682B 3 Section Self Standing Monopod
Another option is this Oben ACM-2400L monopod which has better specs and also better in price (for a few days). The Oben is a 4 section self standing monopod that extends to a max height of 66″ and collapses smaller than Manfrotto to just 23″. The Oben is usually more expensive than the Manfrotto, but the ACM2400L is on sale for the next few days.
Tech Specs
Oben ACM-2400L 4 Section Self Standing Monopod
Thanks so much for the heads up on this. I just ordered the Oben.
what would you suggest as a good tripod head..will the manfrotto 501hdv fit the oben?
We use the Manfrotto 501 and 701 in the studio on a regular basis, they’re exceptional heads. It really depends on what you’ll be using it for- video or photography? Any head with a 1/4 or 3/8 inch female thread will fit this monopod.
I have a 498RC2… would that be too big for a monopod? the most important feature for myself is locking the vertical axis…
The Manfrotto 498RC2 will fit on this monopod. Do you use this head for video? How do you like it?
I know this site is mainly video oriented, but I use it for stills with my DSLR. Solid head.
The Manfrotto 682B
is actually our favorite stabilizer to use for run N gun style wedding shooting. Paired with Fancier 717ah fluid heads
, they make shooting HDSLR so much easier and more efficient. We originally used the more popular 561 BHDV-1′s but we found that we got steadier and more fluid panning using the 682B setup instead!!
Kelly, thanks for the awesome tip!
The only problem I can think of looking at this monopods for video is if you’re not on a flat surface. Since there’s no fluid ball in the bottom section you have no way to keep the whole thing up right when you’re using the 3 little feet. For outdoor sessions with uneven terrain the 561 might be a little better I suppose.