Skye.prf
Member
How stable is a gimbal head for long exposure. I understand that it is very good for “active” tracking... but for long exposure?
Gimbal head
- Thread starter Skye.prf
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Beernuts
New member
I have one I use with my D7500 and 200-500 lens. With that setup on my Benro Gimbal head I can lock down the head in any position and it’s going nowhere. I’ve found the gimbal head really is pretty flexible in how it can be used.
Agree with the above - once locked down, a gimbal is just as stable in my experience as any other head.
Skye.prf
Member
I agree with the posts above, once locked down on a stable tripod my WH-200 gimbal head is rock solid.
One trick if you plan to use the gimbal for a wide range of images, perhaps including some captured with lenses that don't have tripod collars is to carry a short nodal slide in your kit. It allows you to easily adapt your gimbal head to accept direct mount of cameras with Arca Swiss body plates or L brackets.
There are many out there from different brands, but I carry one of these when I'm further from the car, mostly shooting wildlife with long lenses but want the option to use shorter lenses for scenics. IOW, working without ready access to a ball head or second tripod with ball head mounted:
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It's doubly useful with a gimbal head if you shoot panoramas including multi row panos where the combo of the gimbal head's vertical rise adjustment, the nodal slide's fore/aft adjustment and sliding the camera plate (or L bracket) left to right allows you to actually center the axis of rotation on the lens nodal point for minimal to no perspective shift as you capture the individual pano images which really helps when stitching them all back together.
Agreed - we keep one of these with us all the time. It's handy if you want a shot and the ballhead is in the car
Great idea for the pano nodal point too!
Thanks DRWyoming and Steve. Dang, the usefulness of this Forum. Literally, yesterday thought how nice it would be if I could use the gimbal with the 300 pf as I was too lazy to change heads and then left the tripod at home.... And look all I have to do is make another order with B&HAgreed - we keep one of these with us all the time. It's handy if you want a shot and the ballhead is in the car
Beernuts
New member
Those nodal slides are very handy. I don’t use them for pano’s specifically but for, as you noted, using lenses that are without a clamping foot on the gimbal head. These two pieces of gear, the nodal slide and gimbal head, can do virtually whatever I need to have done.
Yup, it never ends.. And look all I have to do is make another order with B&H
The good news is that nodal slides like the one above from Desmond are only about 20 bucks. I have that actual model and it's really well machined and fits my RRS lever clamps perfectly.
Yup, you can spend as much as you want on a nodal slide, but I too have used the one DR mentions. You can get it here:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F1IF240/?tag=backcogaller-20
The biggest drawback is that you can't rotate the camera left to right when mounted on a gimbal with one of these (rotation is usually handled by the lens collar), so you have to adjust the legs to get it level. Still, it's nice to have.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F1IF240/?tag=backcogaller-20
The biggest drawback is that you can't rotate the camera left to right when mounted on a gimbal with one of these (rotation is usually handled by the lens collar), so you have to adjust the legs to get it level. Still, it's nice to have.
Thanks Steve and DRwyoning; just checked prices on RRS and thus was going to ask what you were using!Yup, it never ends
The good news is that nodal slides like the one above from Desmond are only about 20 bucks. I have that actual model and it's really well machined and fits my RRS lever clamps perfectly.