Inexpensive Gimbal Head

I've always wanted to try a Gimbal, but never wanted to fork out $300-$500 for the ones I liked. With my 600mm equivalent f4 on pre-order, I've been looking at them again. As much as I want one, it would only be used occasionally, so i decided the "best" wasn't necessary. So for the heck of it i checked out low priced ones on amazon. I decided on the Mcoplus, linked below, only $75! I received it last week and I must say I'm pretty impressed. It is really well built and functions as described. I'm sure its not as smooth as the expensive ones, but certainly well worth the $75 if you want one to dabble with one. I find it to be very stable and will certainly give me great stability when tracking BIF, or anything else. A wee bit of play, but if you snug it down it's pretty solid. I just thought I'd share this in case anyone has considered the less expensive options. It is inexpensive, but not "cheap", excellent for the money!

Amazon.com : Mcoplus Professional Heavy Duty Metal Gimbal Tripod Head with Arca-Swiss Standard Quick Release Plate for Digital SLR Cameras : Camera & Photo

A few pics with my gear,

It looks just like my beike brand one! Lol it's not bad at all for the $100.00 I paid for it, though if I am able expand my lenses later I will buy a Wimberley.

Yes its the same as my no name one,mine works great with the 150-600 on once you find the balance point,i think the main area of cheapness is nylon bushes instead of bearings. if like me you dont use it much they are good value.

I got one from ProMaster for somewhere around $70. Does what I need one to do.

Just had a dig around for an image,mine with the sigma 120-400 on.

Hi,

A few months back, the end of last year, I was also looking for a good Gimbal head. Also not the ones of many $$$...
I bought a Nest HT-530H, directly from a firm in China.
DSC_0422 by Ad v.d. Biggelaar, on Flickr
It's a carbon gimbal head (fits well with my tripod, a carbon Sirui N-3204X) (My D750 + Sigma 150-600C at 600 mm)
It cost me a bit less as €200,-.
I customized it a bit, so it is perfect for me... (and I like playing with my toys...)
As described here: http://nikonites.com/other-photography-equipment/34015-happy-new-tripod.html#axzz3xgVOgPyn

Ad B

Tried my new Nikkor 200-500 on my Monopod with a Joby "X" ballhead and on my Benro Transfunctional Travel Angel with a B0 ballhead.

The Benro B0 seemed OK on the tripod but the Joby "X" was less than satisfactory (it is an less expensive $50 head). But it became apparent to me that I should consider a gimbal style head.

The 'load' rating for the ball heads is more than the 7 pounds of gear for that lens + a D610. The Benro set up is good for up to 17 pounds so well under the max - not even half the max.

By all accounts the consensus seems to be that the Wimberley WH-200 full gimbal is best but at $750 CDN (Henrys.com) it is more than I can bear to part with at the moment for a support.

The Jobu line seems interesting - from their "Micro Gimbal" attachment for a 'good' ballhead at $170 CDN (again at Henry's) I would probably upgrade my main ballhead on the tripod and move the B0 to the mono-pod. I'd have to allow for another $150 for a "good" ballhead eh? So $300+ for that one.

See: JOBU's website Jobu Micro Gimbal/Ballhead Adapter Interesting - Jobu is a Canadian Co. Didn't know that.

They also have a full Gimbal for about $400 called the Jobu Jr 3 - not as heavy duty as others but way more than I need with 7 pounds of gear.

I also looked at Monofrotto 393 Heavy Support which takes a different approach but comes in for about $350 CDN (Amazon.ca).

And the Wimberley Sidekick which again needs that 'good' ballhead for $350 (Vistek.ca) But it's a "Wimberley".

BUT THEN

I read with interest though the posts above. Seems some folk are happy with their less expensive gimbals

I had looked and dismissed the $100-$200 versions offered on Amazon.CA for units like Cowboy Studio, Beike, ZeleSouris, Newwer, Xsource, Optieka, Movo, and more.

Maybe I was too hasty. I feared putting such an expensive set up onto something that may fail and drop my gear.

Now I have even more to consider.

Not the least of which is whether I'll just live with hand held shooting.....

This chap from England likes his BEIKE BK45

Amazon.ca has these on for about $120

His point is that the resistance in these less expensive gimbals with nylon bushings instead of ball bearings can be a good thing.

Interesting ideas.

.... jury is still out on this purchase.

Hmmm, this thread has definitely got me thinking!

Future purchases could be Mcoplus gimbal head, £57 on amazon and this tripod, Slik 700DX Pro SLIK PRO 700DX COMPLETE: Amazon.co.uk: Camera & Photo
The Slik tripod comes with a pan and tilt head which is apparently rated at 6.8kg/15lbs. I wonder if this head would be any good for my 7lb combo on my 680B monopod? If not I might look at the manfrotto 055 tripod instead.

Well I finally pulled the trigger and ordered a Jobu Micro Gimbal Adapter.

Found it on sale for $90 at Lens & Shutter out of British Columbia and added a couple of lens plates on clearance to go with.

Jobu Micro Gimbal/Ballhead Adapter

I was spending way too much time over-thinking this one. I was reading all the reviews. Watching all the gimbal Youtubes (there are quite a few) Even emailed Ian at Jobu and we discussed the virtues of his products. Back and forth in my head. Maybe I was better off just dropping the big bucks and getting a Wimberley WH200 and be done with it - why settle for second best, if you say it fast $800 ain't that much for the best. Or maybe 'just' the Wimberley Sidekick for $350. Then Induro's version of the Sidekick had my favour and I could save $100 and not have to buy a lens plate as it came with just the right one - and those who liked their's liked it a lot. Then I read about the challenges of balancing zoom lenses which shift their centre of balance when zoomed out - and how this is problematic for side-mounted ballhead adapter style gimbals (at least in one reviewers opinion). And I may still need to upgrade my ballhead (a Benro BH0) Put me back to thinking about the 'regular' swing arm models, maybe the Jobu Jr. would be best at $315, a little smaller but same design with swing arm, but for a few dollars more I could get the full sized Benro version, or go cheap and order a Beike as shown above from Amazon for about $150. Or ... enough with the or's.

I was tired of trying to go to sleep with visions of gimbals dancing in my head.

I'm sure no one else here puts this much mental energy into their photo gear purchases.

When I saw the Micro on sale price and being 'frugal" I decided that I'd drop the $90 and give it a go.
Worst case scenario I'd have this micro version that travels easily for traveling and someday I might get the big boys full sized gimbal with a proper extra sturdy tripod. Or not.

Will let you know how it all turns out.

Elliot87 said:

Hmmm, this thread has definitely got me thinking!

Future purchases could be Mcoplus gimbal head, £57 on amazon and this tripod, Slik 700DX Pro SLIK PRO 700DX COMPLETE: Amazon.co.uk: Camera & Photo
The Slik tripod comes with a pan and tilt head which is apparently rated at 6.8kg/15lbs. I wonder if this head would be any good for my 7lb combo on my 680B monopod? If not I might look at the manfrotto 055 tripod instead.

Click to expand...

If when you say "this head" you mean the Mcoplus - then probably. If you mean the head that comes with the Silk Pro - well I don't know about that particular model and maybe it is different, but I've had a couple of heads that look like the one Amazon.UK shows on the Silk Pro 700 and I'd not order one. I have two inexpensive tripods and a mini-tripod with similar heads. OK but not great. Or as my doctor likes to say "sub-optimal".

I have been wondering how well a full swing arm gimbal would fair on a monopod. That wondering was one of the things that lead to my choice of the Micro Gimbal which I hope will work OK on the Joby X ballhead I have on the top of my monopod now.

But just for a Monopod I was looking more to a Monopod Tilt Head style of head. Be sure to check your weight as these tend not to be rated for real heavy loads. There is one that is but then it is significantly more. These can be had for under $100 CDN. But most seem to be limited to about 2 kg of load which is less than your 7 pounds load. I did see a Promaster MONOPOD HEAD - MH-02 that is rated to 6 KG. Not too expensive. I saw it at Lens & Shutter in BC Canada for $99 CDN$ (about $77 US). Still might get that for my Monopod if the micro gimbal does not work well on the 680B.

If price is no object then look at Tripod Heads - Long Lens Heads - Acratech I'd love to have one of these on top of my monopod. But it is not as this thread says "inexpensive" with a list over $320 US$. My Canadian supplier (Vistek) wants $559 CDN. Ouch.

Will let you know how my Micro Gimbal works on the monopod when it arrives and I've had a chance to give it a go.

Elliot87 said:

Hmmm, this thread has definitely got me thinking!

Future purchases could be Mcoplus gimbal head, £57 on amazon and this tripod, Slik 700DX Pro SLIK PRO 700DX COMPLETE: Amazon.co.uk: Camera & Photo
The Slik tripod comes with a pan and tilt head which is apparently rated at 6.8kg/15lbs. I wonder if this head would be any good for my 7lb combo on my 680B monopod? If not I might look at the manfrotto 055 tripod instead.

Click to expand...

Here in the US, that tripod is also available as the legs only--without a head which makes it less expensive. I noticed this one the other day. It is heavy weighing 5.88 pounds for the legs alone. I was very surprised at its price considering it is tall (@70" when fully extended)...$99.95.

Slik 700DX Pro Tripod Legs (Black) 615-317 B&H Photo Video

Fortkentdad said:

If when you say "this head" you mean the Mcoplus - then probably. If you mean the head that comes with the Silk Pro - well I don't know about that particular model and maybe it is different, but I've had a couple of heads that look like the one Amazon.UK shows on the Silk Pro 700 and I'd not order one. I have two inexpensive tripods and a mini-tripod with similar heads. OK but not great. Or as my doctor likes to say "sub-optimal".

I have been wondering how well a full swing arm gimbal would fair on a monopod. That wondering was one of the things that lead to my choice of the Micro Gimbal which I hope will work OK on the Joby X ballhead I have on the top of my monopod now.

But just for a Monopod I was looking more to a Monopod Tilt Head style of head. Be sure to check your weight as these tend not to be rated for real heavy loads. There is one that is but then it is significantly more. These can be had for under $100 CDN. But most seem to be limited to about 2 kg of load which is less than your 7 pounds load. I did see a Promaster MONOPOD HEAD - MH-02 that is rated to 6 KG. Not too expensive. I saw it at Lens & Shutter in BC Canada for $99 CDN$ (about $77 US). Still might get that for my Monopod if the micro gimbal does not work well on the 680B.

If price is no object then look at Tripod Heads - Long Lens Heads - Acratech I'd love to have one of these on top of my monopod. But it is not as this thread says "inexpensive" with a list over $320 US$. My Canadian supplier (Vistek) wants $559 CDN. Ouch.

Will let you know how my Micro Gimbal works on the monopod when it arrives and I've had a chance to give it a go.

Click to expand...

By this head I did mean the one that comes with the Slik tripod. It isn't easy to be sure from the Amazon add but I think it is this head rated at 6.8kg Slik 700DX 3 Way Pan Head with Quick Release 615-700 B&H Photo
The reviews don't seem to bad for it and it retails at $80 so I would think it's a step up from the cheap tripod head combos but that's just a guess on my part.
You mention Monopod Tilt heads, how do they differ from the type of pan and tilt head I've been looking at?

I'd be interested to hear how the gimbal works on the monopod for you, I've not read that they are suitable combo but personally I have no idea.

Cheers

hark said:

Here in the US, that tripod is also available as the legs only--without a head which makes it less expensive. I noticed this one the other day. It is heavy weighing 5.88 pounds for the legs alone. I was very surprised at its price considering it is tall (@70" when fully extended)...$99.95.

Slik 700DX Pro Tripod Legs (Black) 615-317 B&H Photo Video

Click to expand...

I'll have a look to see if I can buy just the legs over here but this comparison review suggests not.
Best tripod and camera support: 13 tested: Slik Pro 700DX Complete | TechRadar
I actually found this article pretty helpful and I have at least narrowed down my options a little.

The mono-tilt heads only swing one way - up and down. Rotating (panning) on a monopod is unnecessary as you just turn the whole unit pivoting on the one foot point. This type of head would not be all that useful on a tripod but makes sense on a monopod. Some do have panning built in, not sure if that would be a big selling point for me.

This video from Really Right Stuff shows why you might want a tilter on a monopod - as opposed to a ballhead.


There are a variety of mono-tilt heads on the market.

So I'm thinking of taking a gamble on one of the cheap gimbal heads, this Neewer one is about £5 cheaper but I can't see any difference between it and the other cheap ones on Amazon. Or am I missing something? Neewer Professional Heavy Duty Metal Gimbal Tripod Head: Amazon.co.uk: Camera & Photo

Edit: ignore this, I've ordered it so will soon find out if its any good. This and my recent tripod purchase (yet to be delivered) have the feel of buy cheap buy twice about them but I'm never as an amatuer going to buy an expensive gimbal head so I'm just viewing it as a reasonably inexpensive experiment.

I have the same gimbal and it's perfectly fine for the amount of use I give it - if I were using it more, had bigger glass (and the pocketbook) I might invest in a Wemberley or the like but the $80.00 is fine for me for now....

I don't know, but my best guess is that many of these cheap gimbals are all made the same. They would have nylon bushings and not bearing, but as a video about the Beike posted earlier suggested that may not be a bad thing. Won't last as long with constant use obviously, but for the price you could buy three for less than the cost of one of the premium ones if it does wear out. Lots of people seem to be fine with the less expensive ones. Try it, review it and contribute to the body of knowledge on this topic.

Well my inexpensive gimbal arrived in the post today

Paid 90$ CDN (about $70ish US$), the box was marked $179 so it was seriously discounted.

It is a ballhead adapter "sidekick" style version. This one is not curved like the Induro and Wimberley version instead it is straight up. That has raised questions of balance because the center of gravity for the camera and lens is not square over the center of the tripod. Jobu does sell a $29 adapter for the adapter that moves it over an inch or two. It was not in stock were I bought this one (Lens and Shutter BC Canada), I didn't put one on order. If I think I need it I'll order direct from the manufacturer in Ontario. Yes right on the box "made in Canada" - nice.

First impressions, very well made. Feels very strong. The nobs feel nice and it was easy to set the tension so that the lens stayed were I set it but was very easy to move. A small adjustment and it is fully free flowing. It has "Needle roller bearings" according to the Jobu website for smoothness and it is very smooth indeed. I've attached it to the Benro B0 on my Travel Angel tripod and on a Joby "X" ballhead on my 680B Monopod. Works fine on both. Have to really tighten the ballhead though as there can be a lot of torque that will move the ball if not tightened right down.

Manufacturers webpage for this produce: Jobu Micro Gimbal/Ballhead Adapter

Sadly I did not get to try it out tonight, ended up working late and it was to dark to go shoot birds. And as luck would have it I'm leaving on a trip tomorrow and won't be taking my long lens. Won't get a chance to play with my new toy until I return in a weeks time. But will post an update on how this thing works for this amateur bird shooter.