Gimbal tripod heads

Hairyduck

Hairyduck

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Kevin
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Hi all,

I'm looking for a gimbal tripod head for use with the nikon 200-400, now i know of a couple from Kirk and wimberly, both of these are stupidly expensive for what they are though, having an engineering arrow in my bow somewhere I can see that they must cost about £50 to make but because they're holding an expensive lens they try and get away with charging as much as possible for them!

So that leaves me with 2 options, either the manfrotto one for £100 again this just looks like 2 metal brackets bolted together, I could in theory make one of these myself, or go for the Benro which seems to be an exact clone of the wimberly for about £250 (still stupidly expensive in my opinion!)

Can anyone tell me the advantages of each system and why they're so bleedin expensive? Don't get me wrong I could afford to buy any of these but I hate to pay crazy over inflated prices for what seems like a very simple bit of kit.
 
The Manfrotto one does exactly what the others do at a fraction of the cost.

The only downside is the mounting plate is not stand Arca type, though there may be an adapter plate available soon...........;)
 
fracster said:
The Manfrotto one does exactly what the others do at a fraction of the cost.

The only downside is the mounting plate is not stand Arca type, though there may be an adapter plate available soon...........;)
Click to expand...



Got to agree it might not look as trendy as the others but it does the job and do`s it well. I use it for my 400mm 2.8 and 500mm f4 with no problems what so ever. You get one plate with it and you can buy the plate seperatley for around £20 a bit better than the £72 for a Whimblery

Set it up and you can get it balanced perfectly so you can move it with one finger (y)
 
Sounds like the manfrotto is the way to go then, I have the Kirk bracket on the lens so I guess I'll need to modify the mounting plate to take an arca type QR then. There's a few separate plates around to do this so that sounds like the best plan

Cheers for the input so far
 
Hairyduck said:
Sounds like the manfrotto is the way to go then, I have the Kirk bracket on the lens so I guess I'll need to modify the mounting plate to take an arca type QR then. There's a few separate plates around to do this so that sounds like the best plan

Cheers for the input so far
Click to expand...

Warehouse Express sell Kirk QR Clamps KIRK LINK, easy enough to fit onto the manfrotto unit.
 
Have look at the FOBA clamp on www.speedgraphic.co.uk paper catalogue page 25. I use a Wimberly gimbal but wanted a similar clamp for a monopod and read about using this to convert it.(cannot remember where though) Does the job really well !
Not too expensive at £44-50. I use Kirk plates on 500mm and 300m lens, only ones available at the time of my purchase. Very pleased and all fit together well.
C
 
Benro GH-2 is an excellent gimbal £250 shipped with a plate suitable for your lens of choice.

A mate with a Wimberley could not believe the quality of the Benro, and could not tell any difference in use compared to the wimberly!!!.

Don't forget to allow a lot of cash!!!!!........ for a quality tripod to get the best out of any Gimbal.
 
Martyn... said:
It has a standard 3/8 threaded socket, so the same way you would fit a lens foot Ade.
Click to expand...

Just had a quick look at the manfrotto webpage, see what you mean Ade, I did not realise that the 393 had its own qr set up.

I would drill and tap the Kirk clamp, and replace the manfrotto clamp with it.
 
That was my thinking too Martyn, then the more I look at that approach I'm paying £100 for 2 bits of bent steel, I may have a go at knocking one up myself as steel wise it'll only cost a couple of quid.

How does the bracket rotate at the bottom? It seems to just be a normal manfrotto screw handle, from the pics i can't see any sort of nice rotating head bit underneath?
 
The actual frame rotates on two bearings that can be adjusted for friction mate.
 
That's very interesting, that may be the way forward then! I already have a collection on manfrotto tripods I have my 055 earmarked for it as the carbon jobbie gets used for normal camera stuff and the huge ones gets used for video

Xup said:
Benro GH-2 is an excellent gimbal £250 shipped with a plate suitable for your lens of choice.

A mate with a Wimberley could not believe the quality of the Benro, and could not tell any difference in use compared to the wimberly!!!.

Don't forget to allow a lot of cash!!!!!........ for a quality tripod to get the best out of any Gimbal.
Click to expand...
 
XUP is right about the tripod as well. If I know I won`t need to go high up,then the redsnapper is fine with this head and a 300-800 sigma. Anything more than the first extension and I use a Manfrotto 475B, bloody heavy,but well up to the job.
 
fracster said:
The Manfrotto one does exactly what the others do at a fraction of the cost.

The only downside is the mounting plate is not stand Arca type, though there may be an adapter plate available soon...........;)
Click to expand...

I totally disagree. I have extensivey tested the Manfrotto 393 and although it is well made and has nice smooth movement I would not use one. I found that it suffered badly from vibration and that my keeper rate was very low compared with the shots taken using an old video head. I then got hold of a Jobu BW-LW and it knocks the socks off the Manfrotto. The movement is just as smooth but it is so much more solid/stable. I tested by tapping the tripod leg, with the Jobu all vibrations had gone within ~2 seconds, with the Manfrotto it took 5-6 seconds. For the money I reckon the BW-LW is one of the best long lens heads available. http://www.tripods-heads-gimbals.com/products/gimbals/jobu_design_gimbal_heads
 
Well there you go Kevin. Some like it some don`t. Guess we are all different.At the end of it all,it is your money to spend as you wish.


:)
 
lol, thanks all!

I'm going to try and make my own manfrotto clone I think to start with, I already have an arca style mounting plate off a ballhead I can use and enough tooling to open my own engineering company, if that fails I may go the benro route
 
Having owned the Wimberley mk1 + mk2, Kirk king cobra, Jobu HD-BW, Manfrotto 393, the one which worked the best for me ie, smoothest, easy to clean, holds the lens secure and firm, will lock up easily in any position for walking with, was the Kirk King Cobra. Its in use with a 400 2.8, 600 4.0, 800 5.6.

I personally wouldn't swap it for any of the others. I know others don't like the side mount design, but each to their own. One off the others may suit you better.

Good luck in your search.

Mark
 
I was going to suggest the Indian Wimberley copy for £100 and found this link (y)

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=138585

Made in America these days seems to mean mega expensive, like Germany, and sometimes nothing special on quality (eg Pocket Wizards).
 
Cheers Martin, I've bought a QR plate off them before and found them to be pretty good
 
Great thread, thanks, looks like they only have the mini sidekick ones on the Indian ebay page now though :( Interesting to note that redsnapper were looking at making some!

HoppyUK said:
I was going to suggest the Indian Wimberley copy for £100 and found this link (y)

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=138585

Made in America these days seems to mean mega expensive, like Germany, and sometimes nothing special on quality (eg Pocket Wizards).
Click to expand...
 
I have the Manfrotto 393 gimbal and shot a short video demo/review. I shot the video off the cuff so sorry for the bit of a stumble part way through. Hopefully you will get a good feel for what the product is about and how it works....

http://www.youtube.com/user/eezytiger#p/a/u/1/aTBslHjfrtY

People who have upgraded from this to the Wimberley and similar say there is no comparison, but my pocket is a lot happier with an extra £350 still inside it.
 
tdodd said:
People who have upgraded from this to the Wimberley and similar say there is no comparison, but my pocket is a lot happier with an extra £350 still inside it.
Click to expand...

Agree completely with that.........(y)
 
Thanks for the video Tim, that's a great insight into what it's like, I've ordered some ali bar to make one, I'll keep you all updated
 
Kev

I have a Wimberley and a Jobu-Jr if you want to have a look at some point. I had the Manfrotto and moved to the Wimberley (via a Sidekick) and no regrets. I know it's expensive but it does what it says on the tin..

Paul
 
Aha, I may well take you up on that offer, I take it you didn't get along with the manfrotto then?

grumpybadger said:
Kev

I have a Wimberley and a Jobu-Jr if you want to have a look at some point. I had the Manfrotto and moved to the Wimberley (via a Sidekick) and no regrets. I know it's expensive but it does what it says on the tin..

Paul
Click to expand...
 
I found the Manfrotto to be less smooth and so harder to track birds in flight. It's a good product but, IMO, not as good as the Wimberley. I know the are a lot of money but they are a "buy once" product so I was happy to spend the money - same with the Gitzo legs.
 
cool, let me know when you're around at some point in the future and I might lug my camera over to try them :D
 
Well, I thought I'd give you an update...

After going round to grumpybadgers one night and trying out the 2 gimbal heads he has there was no competition really I had to go for the wimberly type head. Not being prepared to spend wimberly money though I opted for the benro bh-2 copy which seems to be an almost identical copy/ripoff. I'm very happy with it, it's very smooth in use and appears to be very well made, here's a quick pic

benro.jpg


and the other side

benro2.jpg


Thankfully the money I saved allowed me to fit a pair of gitzo legs into my budget too, which are fantastic bits of kit
 
Hairyduck said:
Well, I thought I'd give you an update...

After going round to grumpbadgers one night and trying out the 2 gimbal heads he has there was no competition really I had to go for the wimberly type head. Not being prepared to spend wimberly money though I opted for the benro bh-2 copy which seems to be an almost identical copy/ripoff. I'm very happy with it, it's very smooth in use and appears to be very well made, here's a quick pic

Thankfully the money I saved allowed me to fit a pair of gitzo legs into my budget too, which are fantastic bits of kit
Click to expand...

It certainly looks the part, and I'm sure it is. I thinking that the biggest difference between Benro and Wimberley/Gitzo is the cost of Western labour.

Can I ask why you didn't get a Benro tripod too? They seem to me to be exact Gitzo copies at half the price.
 
Mainly because i know pro togs that have owned gitzos for most of their professsional lives and swear by their tripods, they've put a lot of R&D into their carbon stuff and I'm sure this won't be the case for the chinese copies

HoppyUK said:
Can I ask why you didn't get a Benro tripod too? They seem to me to be exact Gitzo copies at half the price.
Click to expand...
 
I tried a lot of the gimbal heads when i was looking and narrowed it down to 2 the Kirk and the Wimberley both preformed better than the others i tried. Like paul said it does what it says on the box i bought the Kirk King Cobra using the canon 600mm f4 i.s shooting birds in flight is a doddle with this head plus i make a living with my photography so the head is tax deductable
Regards
Lost
 
Hairyduck said:
Well, I thought I'd give you an update...

After going round to grumpbadgers one night and trying out the 2 gimbal heads he has there was no competition really I had to go for the wimberly type head. Not being prepared to spend wimberly money though I opted for the benro bh-2 copy which seems to be an almost identical copy/ripoff. I'm very happy with it, it's very smooth in use and appears to be very well made, here's a quick pic

benro.jpg


and the other side

benro2.jpg


Thankfully the money I saved allowed me to fit a pair of gitzo legs into my budget too, which are fantastic bits of kit
Click to expand...

Don't suppose you have a link for this do you ?

Cheers
 
I got it via ebay from a seller called dc-stuffs , I don't think I'm allowed to link directly but if you do a search for BENRO Gimbal Head you should get a number of them
 
mho said:
Having owned the Wimberley mk1 + mk2, Kirk king cobra, Jobu HD-BW, Manfrotto 393, the one which worked the best for me ie, smoothest, easy to clean, holds the lens secure and firm, will lock up easily in any position for walking with, was the Kirk King Cobra. Its in use with a 400 2.8, 600 4.0, 800 5.6.

I personally wouldn't swap it for any of the others. I know others don't like the side mount design, but each to their own. One off the others may suit you better.

Good luck in your search.

Mark
Click to expand...
I agree, I have been using a king cobra for
a few years now and cant see how it could get better, Got mine used for £220
 
Hairyduck said:
Well, I thought I'd give you an update...

After going round to grumpybadgers one night and trying out the 2 gimbal heads he has there was no competition really I had to go for the wimberly type head. Not being prepared to spend wimberly money though I opted for the benro bh-2 copy which seems to be an almost identical copy/ripoff. I'm very happy with it, it's very smooth in use and appears to be very well made, here's a quick pic

benro.jpg


and the other side

benro2.jpg


Thankfully the money I saved allowed me to fit a pair of gitzo legs into my budget too, which are fantastic bits of kit
Click to expand...
Very nice and love the camo finish
 
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