well done…you covered all the salient features we need in the field

I've fixed the rattle!

Ahh I didn't notice the rattle part, mine had arrived and rattles way too much for use, I'm thinking of opening it up like you have and trying to shove some sort of rubber up there to stop the rattle

Rattle is a no go for me. And I can’t do the Sirui foot anymore. The rubber is marking some of my clothes when I hold it to my waist.

Do you know if any other harnesses will allow you to use this monopod this way without having to get the sharp shooter mount???

Good video. I would not recommend buying this monopod. I purchased the SIRUI SVM165 Monopod Rapid System purchased in Apr 2024 from B&H Photo along with the extension. Even though it was heavier than my other monopods, it quickly became my go-to simply because of ease of use for easily getting the right height for (mostly) wildlife photography. The monopod was a solid 5-star until one day without warning, the lock position only showed some resistance and did not completely lock. I contacted Sirui service and they had me fill out a service sheet and gave me instructions and an RMA# to return it. Sirui has been unresponsive. Crickets! Nobody at Sirui seems interested in trying to honor their warranty.

Thank you

Great review.

That was an amazing thoughtful and thorough review. Thank you for sharing.

Soon i will take lots of pictures of a sport event. I wiil have to put the pics online. To not waste too much cards i'm thinking to shot always in high efficiency mode in 750 Gb cards( 500 gb + 250 gb secondary card). Do you think it's a good idea?

Thanks for the honest review ❤

What other options did you have turned on? And why would you convert to dng? Can’t raw digger take the original raws?

Great review and insane looking adapter for your camera. Hilarious that you said the monopod is heavy,...when your camera system is 20 lbs alone 😆. Love the ingenuity, you should attach a 203 to the front of that brace...for emergency scenarios.

Hi nice video thanks! I just bought this monopod but I don't understand how you can adjust the resistance of the two segments to make them the same. Could you please help me?

This is truly fascinating stuff Steven! So clear, simple, to the point and, better of all, USEFUL! Thanks!

Two questions 1) Did you consider iFootage 3? It does not have Rapid release / retract though it has snap on leg locks. 2) what shoulder harness do you use? Looks even load of heavy prime lens on both sides OP / TECH?

Which brand harness are you using ?

Love karen stopping and taking a look before the husband pulled her out of frame 😅

I cant find the option of lossless in my Z8

I appreciate your time and efforts!

Hi Steven, how is the Sirui SVM165 doing? I am thinking of getting one soon. So hope you can share your view on the field use after this post , that's about a month from your post date. Thanks for sharing your view on this video.

Thank you for taking the time to make this video. Helps to hear from someone who uses it.

Wow, good work on this, so now if i decided to go and shoot RAW for my RE work, i might just consider using RAW-HE* since it will save a lot more space and also i do a lot of HDR + Bracketting, hence a lot of pushing the boundaries of highlights and shadows a lot when needed.

What head are you using for the SIRUI 165CM? Thanks.

Love videos like this because actual users show how they use it for real

Love the setup and really appreciate the review and demonstration!

Model and compagny for rifle stock mount

Thank you, excellent info! One note (probably just a slip up): @3:30 Noise does not increase with signal. The two are independent. I think you mean both signal and noise increase with amplification such as increasing ISO in camera, or increasing exposure, brightness, shadows, etc in post processing. -- EDIT: 1 minute further into the video, I see you are comparing samples from the same image and the noise&signal did increase together. That's odd -- maybe this is a property of the RawDigger software? So to correct my comment above -- I think some context is necessary: noise generated by the sensor does not increase with signal being received. Though somehow the way RawDigger measures these spot samples, the two increase together. I'd really like to understand why that is. Perhaps something to do with Nikon's raw processing profiles adding curves or maybe some default profiles applied in lightroom/capture one? Very interesting.

Cftek 👍

great video, and nice gun stock, but what is it, as not many are around, for obvious reasons, esp. with a long lens on!; PS, there is a use for the monopod feet, use it like a shooter uses a bipod, so you can lay it down on a table, or just to rest it, off of the shoulder harness.(or if birding, from a table, in a hide)

Perfect Steven! Thanks for the valuable review. I have bought an iFootage Cobra 3 today, and are comparing it to the Siriu SVM. I will also use it for wildlife photography with a Fuji H2S and 150-600mm Lens.

Thank You, your review is exactly what i needed.

I'm guessing this also applies to the Z9 firm 5.0. I'm just wondering why D850 focuses better, and 3D seems to work better. More cross sensors?

Thanks Steven for a very informative video. I shoot team sports with the Z9 using Dynamic Small but can’t seem to get the Blocked Shot setting working properly. I had it on Erratic but will change it now to Steady, have you any other tips or advice?

It doesn’t ignore the box completely. I think that should be mentioned. If anyone else is thinking of doing these tests, I’d switch to a specific subject (ie just humans or just birds), and try to use 3d representations without extra flat spaces on the side. Also, there’s a hypothesis that sending the screen out to hdmi for screen recording makes the autofocus perform slightly worse.

Did you realize you were doing those tests in DX mode?

The delay is affecting the modes with subject recognition because at some point in your move the camera loses the subject, then its acting like a mode where subject recognition is off for some time, then it detects the face and eyes and it goes back to ignoring the delay

Sorry, but I am unipressed with your Nikon focusing demonstrations. My Canon R3 is much faster, nearly instantaneous, when moving to near and far subjects. I would think Nikon is better than what was recorded.

Thank you *very* much for taking the pain and making this *brilliant* explanatory video. If only Nikon had made all of their Z zoom lenses stabilized…

Aren't nikon z cameras 'hybrid' in using Phase & Contrast ?

I didn’t learn anything that will affect the use of my Z8 cause I have found no problems at all.

I need to watch this a few more times to better understand the auto focusing system.

Fantastic test

Great analysis! Do you have the raw images available in the three compression modes?

This is fantastic, thanks very much for putting this together.

Great test, thanks Steven!

Man I wish there were more content providers like you. This information you conveyed just right. I don’t know what your background is but I checked all your facts and your right on. Thank you for laying it all out in this clear and concise manner. I will be watching for more from you.

Subscribed because of this; thank you so much.

Olympus mirrorless does cross-type PDAF.

Thank You