I did it the lazy and simple way
. Having a friend that became pro more than 25 years ago and is into nature and wildlife more or less fulltime today, I look what he is using and listen to the arguments why he does it this way and I have never regretted to follow him. That said, when recommending things he always keeps in mind that it is a different story earning money with your images or just doing it for personal pleasure like me.
So, with getting my first big caliber gun some years ago (500 f4 G) I went for a Gitzo GT3532LS with a Benro GH2C Gimbal and I was really happy with the solution, apart from the fact that the combo was kind of bulky and taller than even a big photo backpack. As a consequence of overlooking the backpack significantly I occassionally got stuck withi it outdoors and got the privilege of special version of "head banging" in case the head came loose accidently while carrying it. I was able cope by means of additional straps etc. but it wasn't really nice.
A few weeks ago I changed the Gimbal for a FlexShooter Pro which is a huge improvement. Half the weight, so small and compact that the Gitzo with the head hardly exceeds the size of the backpack and despite looking like a ball head it keeps even my heaviest combination in balance and is rock-stable.
At the small end I used to have a Manfrotto XPROB190 (Aluminium with a center pole allowing to be turned sideways) combined with a Manfrotto 498RC2 head that I modified with 3rd party parts to make it Arca compatible. The combo is really flexible and relativy cheap these days, especially as there are many good used parts around.
Because due to a job in Ireland in 2019 I started thinking more about a travel setup of my camera gear. The first result iof that was getting the 500PF
. Apart from that, the latest change I made was swapping my Manfrotto combo for a Feisol CT-3441 combined the CB-30D ballhead - again after having the chance to try this combnation of my frientd for a couple of times.
There were multiple arguments for the change. Firstly the Feisol stuff is much lighter than the older Manfrotto combo and still far more stable. Thinking about travelling and shooting wildlife with a long lens in challenging light conditions would make it benefitial to have a tripod being able to take the equipment and hold it reliably and stable.
This carbon fibre combo can cope with a D4s plus the 500PF without any problem, as long as you keep in mind that a bit of care is required because of using a normal ball head. This even works with the center pole pulled out. Of course under normal circumstances I would use the big tripod, but if you have to go smaller and lighter the small one is able to do the job quite easily. And there is still the option to put a FlexShooter Mini on the tripod, which would provide the additional safety against the long lens combo tipping over.
The only sacrifice to be taken with the Feisol compared to my old Manfrotto is that I can't put the center pole sideways anymore. But with an optional extra short center pole (easy to be swapped) you can - least get almost - get to ground level if needed.
Ignoring the bean bag for now, the third variation I use is the big GorillaPod with the Arca ball head. The big version can take quite a bit of weight. So, having the gripped D850 plus the pretty heavy AF 200 f4 Micro on it for tricky macro work is no problem and the arms are strong enough to have it "knotted" on a tree branch with the D4s plus the 500PF hanging off it.
Finally, due to
@Steve 's article about the Wimberley MH-100 I decided to try out going with a Monopod and it workes really well. I combined the Gitzo GM4542 with this small Wimberley goodie and it is great if you are out shooting and more or less wnadering around rather than staying a one or a small number of place for longer time. the combo is designed for heavy stuff and it does the job really well (e.g. D4s plus TC plus 500 f4).One of the potential downsides are depending on your lens. To work flawlessly with this combo it is crucial that the tripod collar of your lens is going really well. Inmy case the collar of my old 500 f4 is not working as good as it used to and so moving around flawlessly like bending sideways with the monopod while keeping the frame level or changing from landscape to portrait setup or vice versa sometimes can become difficult. In my case, because of ths I changed the way of rotating the combo away from doing it a the camera body to actually gripping the lens barrel in front of the camera and turn it. I was in doubt whether I could put too much strain on the lens connector of the camera. On my normal tripod I can easily turn the combo directly from the camera.
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