Long before this. My RF 200-800 will handily balance on its tripod foot on a flat surface, with my camera body attached to it or not. It weighs close to five pounds, and whether there’s a camera stuck to the end is really only a matter of fine details at that point. And that’s really still just a consumer lens.
From the manual of the lovely beast that is the RF200-800:
Since the lens is heavier than the camera, turn the camera when attaching or detaching the lens. Ensuring that the lens can rest safely on its own is recommended, such as first mounting it on a tripod.
And in their promo literature they show some doofus smiling his stupid rictus smile and dangling it off of his neck with the strap on his camera, not the beefy strap mounts that are right there on the lens itself. Which are there for that very reason.
I have to admit my strap is on the camera, but with that lens the strap is more of a fall-back support, in case my hands slip or I otherwise mess up the support. It’s actually far too heavy to dangle round the neck for anything but a grip change or putting in a camera rucksack. And I walk cradling it like a baby! (strap loose about my neck) Same reason I always have the hood attached if its out of the rucksack - a safety measure in case I drop it or knock against something, not on the off-chance of flare.
I still don’t trust it. I’ve got a set of those strap quick release thingummies on both my lens and camera, so swapping the strap back and forth isn’t particularly onerous.
I usually carry mine over the shoulder like a bazooka, using the tripod foot as a handle. This has the side effect of making me highly prominent and also signals to any other nearby gawpers who are desperately pinching at the screens on their iPhones as if that’s going to help them any that I am a Very Serious Photographer, and they aren’t.
At what point does it stop being a camera with attached lens and start being a lens with a camera dangling off it?
Long before this. My RF 200-800 will handily balance on its tripod foot on a flat surface, with my camera body attached to it or not. It weighs close to five pounds, and whether there’s a camera stuck to the end is really only a matter of fine details at that point. And that’s really still just a consumer lens.
From the manual of the lovely beast that is the RF200-800:
And in their promo literature they show some doofus smiling his stupid rictus smile and dangling it off of his neck with the strap on his camera, not the beefy strap mounts that are right there on the lens itself. Which are there for that very reason.
I have to admit my strap is on the camera, but with that lens the strap is more of a fall-back support, in case my hands slip or I otherwise mess up the support. It’s actually far too heavy to dangle round the neck for anything but a grip change or putting in a camera rucksack. And I walk cradling it like a baby! (strap loose about my neck) Same reason I always have the hood attached if its out of the rucksack - a safety measure in case I drop it or knock against something, not on the off-chance of flare.
I still don’t trust it. I’ve got a set of those strap quick release thingummies on both my lens and camera, so swapping the strap back and forth isn’t particularly onerous.
I usually carry mine over the shoulder like a bazooka, using the tripod foot as a handle. This has the side effect of making me highly prominent and also signals to any other nearby gawpers who are desperately pinching at the screens on their iPhones as if that’s going to help them any that I am a Very Serious Photographer, and they aren’t.
Once you start hitting telephoto lengths, the lens generally matches the price of a current camera.