[aslyfox]

A fellow forum member contacted me via PM and made me an offer I couldn't refuse

in exchange for a promise to make a contribution to a suitable charity, he sent me a Pro Master GH-10 Gimbal Head

It arrived today.


photos in the "Your Latest Acquisition" thread #9993

Your latest acquisition - Page 134 - PentaxForums.com


I owe him big time.

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Last edited by aslyfox; 07-10-2017 at 02:10 PM. Reason: added direct link, thanks Kerrowdown

[Wheatfield]

FWIW, I use a Wimberley for my A600/5.6 and love it. I don't think you get what you pay for necessarily as you run into diminishing returns quite quickly.

[Kerrowdown]

photos in the "Your Latest Acquisition" thread #9993

Saves scrolling through the other 9992 posts.

Your latest acquisition - Page 134 - PentaxForums.com

[csa]

This is the one I have, and couldn't be more happy with the stability, build, and finish on it. Great product, and a great guy to deal with!

Web Store

[zapp]

FWIW, I use a Wimberley for my A600/5.6 and love it. I don't think you get what you pay for necessarily as you run into diminishing returns quite quickly.

Gimbal=Wimberley for me. I use a Wimberley Sidekick with K1 and A600/5.6. Sidekick converts ball heads into a complete gimbal. Only problem with manual focus lenses is that your left hand has to grip over the gimbal arm for focussing. You will get used to it.

Btw my Sidekick version is Arca compatible, but the foot of my D-FA70-200 is to fat to fit in the mount. I blame Pentax for it not Wimbeley or Arca. And yes my preferred ball head is an Arca head. Buy one and keep it forever.

[csa]

you'll learn that gimbals are toys for beginners and you need to use fluid video heads instead. Those will make your basic gimbal (and most FF cameras) look like a cheapo side dish offer.

I so disagree with this statement! I've got a couple of fluid video heads, and they can't hold a candle to my gimbal, for ease, & stability! I've also got a couple of ballheads; and everything gathers dust now, since I have the gimbal.

The gimbals certainly are anything but "toys for beginners", and a cheapo side dish offer, is nothing short of being disrespectful, and far from the actual truth!

[gaweidert]

I so disagree with this statement! I've got a couple of fluid video heads, and they can't hold a candle to my gimbal, for ease, & stability! I've also got a couple of ballheads; and everything gathers dust now, since I have the gimbal.

The gimbals certainly are anything but "toys for beginners", and a cheapo side dish offer, is nothing short of being disrespectful, and far from the actual truth!

I am with you Carol. Gimbal heads are not toys for beginners. I didn't much care for the comments either. I have a Nest too. Got it where you did. Very stable and smooth, I used it a lot in Yellowstone in May. The Lensmaster I own works great too. I have two ball heads that I got a few years ago and I have to admit that I am not a fan of them. I use them because they are what I have, but I really don't care for them. My person preference is for pan and tilt heads when using smaller lenses. I will be looking for one later this year.

[stihlmania]

but this Monfrotto 393 head will hold any lens with ease. The side arms will cramp your hands somewhat with access to lens and camera functions until you get use to the head but since I use the A* 400 f2.8 95% of the time it is not an issue. As a bonus you can mount this head on the bottom of your tripod [if you have the correct stud there, like on my Bogan 3033] for low shots when needed. I use the Monfrotto large plate on everything to allow for balance adjustment and ease of access to camera and lenses when not using the 400.

[aslyfox]

wow

over 800 looks in less than 5 days

some folks are interested in this topic I guess

[csa]

I rarely used my tripod, because I was never completely satisfied with the different heads I have. That is until I got the Nest gimbal. It's such a pleasure to use, rock solid, very fluid movements! And I'm not a beginner, so I don't look at this gimbal as a "toy".

[Wheatfield]

I am with you Carol. Gimbal heads are not toys for beginners. I didn't much care for the comments either. I have a Nest too. Got it where you did. Very stable and smooth, I used it a lot in Yellowstone in May. The Lensmaster I own works great too. I have two ball heads that I got a few years ago and I have to admit that I am not a fan of them. I use them because they are what I have, but I really don't care for them. My person preference is for pan and tilt heads when using smaller lenses. I will be looking for one later this year.

Video heads are designed to be the solution to a completely different problem than gimbals. A good video head is a beautiful thing, if it is doing what it's designed to do. A gimbal head would be well nigh useless under a video camera, and a video head is severely compromised under a very long telephoto on a still camera.

[Ian Stuart Forsyth]

And the fun part is that once you start talking with the real pro's you'll learn that gimbals are toys for beginners and you need to use fluid video heads instead. Those will make your basic gimbal (and most FF cameras) look like a cheapo side dish offer.

Must be funny Pro's that think gimbals are toys for a beginnger

A gimbal head and a video head are designed for 2 very different uses.

The major use in the design of the gimbal head is that you can place the center mass of the camera and lens at the pivot point of the head. The better gimbal heads allow you to fine tune the placement of the center of the mass to be better located near the pivot point of the head. The main reason for this is to better balance the lens on the tripod regardless of the angle the lens is tilted to. This is ideally better for large lenses as most of the mass is over the center of the tripod regardless of where the lens is pointed( up or down). It also has the added benefit of needing less friction to hold the lens and camera in place, when a gimbal head is setup correctly you can sight on your target without the need to lock the lens in that position with the use of more friction.

When the pivot point is placed below the lens foot you can balance the lens and camera over the video head but once you change the angle the entire system becomes unbalanced, with larger lenses this can also put the tripod at risk of topping. Also when the center mass in not located near the pivot point of the head your get a wobble effect because the center of mass is not located over the center of the tripod structure. Kind of like trying to hold a 8 foot 2x4 at one end, all while trying to align it correctly.

[csa]

Must be funny Pro's that think gimbals are toys for a beginner

Couldn't agree more!

[dConvert]

I so disagree with this statement! I've got a couple of fluid video heads, and they can't hold a candle to my gimbal, for ease, & stability! I've also got a couple of ballheads; and everything gathers dust now, since I have the gimbal.

The gimbals certainly are anything but "toys for beginners", and a cheapo side dish offer, is nothing short of being disrespectful, and far from the actual truth!

I have a fluid head & can say it's much better than a BALL head, if it was better than a Gimbal it suggests the gimbal wasn't set up right (or even close). A badly unbalanced gimbal would probably be worse than a fluid head...
I like my fluid head (it was grabbed used when it was much cheaper than any gimbal - before the Chinese models came out), but it doesn't have the vertical movement a gimbal can manage.

[csa]

DCShooter, I can't believe these extreme Pros don't realize that they are using a "toy for beginners, & a cheapo side dish offering"!! They should be told about this, in order to get better photos!