I am thinking about getting a gimbal head.

[BF Hammer]

Now that I have an extra-beefy tripod and ball-head, I am thinking once again about picking up a gimbal head. I think I last visited the idea seriously in 2018 when I decided on the big ball-head instead.

Instead of the full swing-arm Wimberly-type, I think my Sirui K-40 ball-head can easily take the load from a Sidekick style gimbal. Matter of fact I am looking at the Wimberly Sidekick more seriously as there appears to be few cheap Chinese options in those. The few I found are over $150 themselves when I can get the original for $250. I would anticipate this being used only about 4 times a year on average in time.

This would just be used with my Sigma 150-600mm C and maybe the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G. I currently photograph birds using a hefty monopod with a simple swivel mount left a bit loose so I can track up-down. Or I handhold. I have the aftermarket Arca-Swiss mount foot for the Sigma lens, so no worries about that twisting loose. Nikon lens foot is secured by 2 screws to it's long Arca-Swiss plate.

I ask for thoughts, stuff I overlook in my consideration. My 2 tripods are below.

 

[nikonpup]

​​​​â€â€‹---I have a Movo GH700, $104 on Amazon now. It worked fine with my 150-600mm Tamron.
I did have to repair the threads in the base with a heli-coil kit. I was mounted on a low end Manfrotto tripod.

 

[hark]

What I've found is the less expensive gimbal heads are immensely stiff. I purchased one that was rated well and planned on removing the grease before relubricating. But in the end, I just returned it. Decided I really don't have a need for a gimbal because my lenses aren't overly heavy for either a ball head or a Manfrotto head. I hope you find something that will work for you.

 

[BF Hammer]

I checked KEH and found they had a used Wimberley Sidekick MH-100 (of the pre-2018 type) for $90 off the price of new. Yes this is the type that attaches to a ball-head tilted sideways. I bought it. It should also be possible to mount it to my monopod tilt-head, but I highly doubt I will use it on monopod.

 

[BF Hammer]

The gimbal arrived 3 days ago on Wednesday. That was 2 days of ground shipping from Atlanta to Madison, WI. Instead of paying the full $250 for the SK-100 Wimberly Sidekick at Amazon, I just checked for any used ones around. KEH of course typically has the best inventory of used gear and came in at $90 off of the price of new.

In case anybody is unfamiliar, the Sikekick is an adapter to mount on a stout ball-head with it's own separate panning axis. The gimbal then only has 1 axis of movement by mounting the lens foot sideways. It is less fussing around balancing things, but maybe less motion range. A good option for someone like myself that will use a ball-head for the vast majority of my tripod shooting, but would like to have a gimbal for some outings. It appears to be powder-coated cast-aluminum and the construction to my eye looks like it is cast in 2 halves and welded together and machined.

I may have to spend an afternoon stalking the chipmunks and bunnies in the backyard.

 

[Danno_RIP]

I ended up getting a Benro GH5C carbon fiber gimbal head. I got it on sale a couple years ago. It is smooth and light weight but handle more than my Z6 and Nikon 200-500 f5.6.

 

[Dawg Pics]

Is that the original collar for the Sigma? I had a helluvatime with mine side-mounted. Never got around to getting a replacement collar.

 

[BF Hammer]

It is an aftermarket collar by iShoot. I have to caution that the foot is still too short to balance correctly and it still retains the original problem of only having a single attachment hole to secure a long Arca-Swiss plate to. I can set the tension knob lightly on the Wimberly gimbal to allow light resistance and hold the rig when you let go.

My Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 balances perfectly as I use a long plate and it has 2 mount holes on the foot.

I keep thinking about taking my power tools to the original lens collar and drilling out a second mount hole that would allow me to install a long Arca-Swiss plate secured at 2 points. Have correct balance and end the lens twisting itself loose from the plate by gravity pull.

 

[BF Hammer]

Is that the original collar for the Sigma? I had a helluvatime with mine side-mounted. Never got around to getting a replacement collar.

I've been researching a bit today as well as studying my own lens. First of all, for owners that have the original Sigma lens collar only, check out this custom mount plate.
https://kirkphoto.com/lens-mounting/sigma/150-600mm-f-5-6-3-dg-os-hsm-contemporary.html

A short video showing how this fixes the lens twisting off problem. However I can see that it still would be unbalanced on a gimbal.

Hold the phone, I found this under the "universal fit" section at Kirk. An elongated version of the first link. One of the 2 sliding mount screws needs to be removed before use (they just unscrew at one end of the slot).
https://kirkphoto.com/lens-mounting...-multi-use-lens-plate-4-50-with-2-screws.html

Now since I have the iShoot replacement collar, I can see a different solution that only involves carefully drilling 2 new holes into a long Arca-Swiss plate. The foot itself on the iShoot is screwed into the collar as a separate piece. I can simply use the holes on that foot (it is roughly the same size/shape as a standard Arca-Swiss plate) as a template to drill holes into a longer plate and mount that instead. This can fix both the balance problem and the twisting problem. I would have tried it today if I had found a hex wrench in the house to fit the screws I need to remove. I plan to document this in a new thread when I do it.