15mm vs 19mm Rods?

[Russell M Johnston]

Been jumping around alot the last few days in what direction i want to take my kit. I shoot alot of action sports and starting to get into wildlife more and more. My main lens I use works fine on 15mm rods I have, the Nikon 50-300 ED but i will be renting lens for some upcoming trips and work like the Sigma 150-600 Sport, Canon 500 and 600m primes and was wondering if moving to a 19mm system and 19mm lens support is the right move, I dont really use a follow foucs ( I know I should get one so maybe one day)

What would you use?

 

[ericyoung]

The bigger, heavier lenses definitely need rod support.

The ones with large outside diameters will require 19mm, as:
a) there is not enough clearance between the lens and 15mm LWS to mount some lens supports, or if you undersling the lens support, it will foul with the tripod baseplate/bridgeplate dovetail, etc.
b) 15mm isn't stiff enough. The rods will flex excessively with the heavier and/or lengthier lenses.

You'll probably end up with a modular system where you can have both rod sizes available depending on your setup.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

I keep my kit set up so I can go 19mm or 15mm LWS, as there are advantages to each. Otherwise, Eric sums it up in the post above. It easy to find good 15mm rods that are stiff enough and don’t flex. However be mindful of where they attach to your camera or baseplate. 15mm LWS mount points are often smaller, less robust add-ons to the front of a camera or baseplate and I find the mount points are many times more likely to flex than the rods themselves... Unless you have cheap, crappy rods and if that’s the case, throw those rods away.

If I could only go with one rod system due to budget, I would pick 19mm just to fit the largest variety of lenses in the most stable way.

 

[Nick Gardner]

Lets remember there is 15mm studio as well. Handy for when 15mm LWS is what you need, but then you want to put up something big and long and heavy, then you put up the 15mm studio base plate. Nice because you only have one rod size for motor clamps, Etc, etc, plus you have all the same size rods.

Nick

 

[Russell M Johnston]

Thank You for the info guys, I ended up going with 19mm rods. Right now I dont own big lens but I feel the lens I have it will help with and then its great for the bigger glass we will rent.