[Leica] Telephoto -- hand held

[Doug Herr <Telyt@compuserve.com>]

>>>
        do those "machine gun" type shoulder mounts
        with an adjustable abdominal or waist support work
        or are they cumbersome and half useless half aggravating?
        I'm under the impression there's one on the Leica
        price list.
<<<

I'm using a couple of older Leica shoulder stocks on the 280 f/4.8 and 400
f/6.8 Telyts and I've found them to be extremely helpful, more so than
using a monopod.  The monopod can eliminate the vertical motions, but does
nothing for lateral movement and hinders tilting the camera up or down. 
The shoulder stock eliminates enough vibrations that the slow shutter speed
limit is more often from subject motion than from camera motion.  I don't
use the stock's grip except to carry the camera around; in use, the left
hand is on the focus control and the right is working the shutter speed,
shutter release and film advance lever.

Doug Herr
Sacramento
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/telyt