http://bushhawk.shopol.com/Item/BH%2D320D.htm I noticed that lensrentals.com has them in stock, and it seems interesting for the "not-small" but not "15 inches or more long and 8 or more pounds" lenses for support - instead of having to use a Gimbal type mount.
As someone who has to this point been a dedicated hand held shooter (except for night photography and the occasional extremely low light situation) this is an interesting concept. I'd want to get my hands on it first to try it out, I'm a bit suspicious of how well it would work. But I can totally see picking up a 400mm lens and adding this to my setup at the same time. I can also see getting a lot of curious glances if I were to bring that out in public.
The thing that I wonder about with this concept is that I'd think that you'd end up with the whole assembly being a bit unwieldy because of the high center of gravity. Regarding renting it.. I dunno.. I can't see myself paying half of the purchase price to rent it for a week. Their price to rent it for 30 days plus postage ends up being MORE than the cost of purchasing it, although possibly not with shipping charges factored in on the purchase side. I'd sure like a chance to try it out to see what it feels like, though. As an idea it does intrigue me.
I think it would be difficult to hold it steady. Those shoulder mounts were originally designed for video cameras, which you don't have to hold as steady as you would a film camera. I think that learning good posture and camera holding technique would be much more helpful than buying something like this. I know my photography has improved since I took the time to learn good technique and posture. And I know that its possible to hand hold large lenses. I saw Laurie Excell, Joe McNally and Moose Peterson hand hold 200-400mm zooms at DLWS Yellowstone. For anyone who's interested, Joe McNally posted a video on good camera holding technique here
I've used something similiar to the Bush Hawk in the past when I would be walking about instead being in a blind or just waiting in the brush for wildlife. Of course, that was long before the new IS/VR/OS (whatever) lens technologies of the past few years. It worked okay. I think with VR on a 400mm plus lens it would be easier on the arms and work pretty good.
