Gimbal head usage help.

[sapstar]

I bought a gimbal head for the first time and trying to understand how to correctly set it up and use it. I mounted my A7R III camera and a sigma 100-400mm lens on the following gimbal. I thought the lens would tilt until the gimbal is balanced, but without any adjustments, the lens just stays in any position I leave it. I tried moving the platform attached to the swing arm up and down, the the camera still looks balanced.
Neewer Professional Metal Gimbal Tripod Head 360°: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

The vertical swing arm is a bit stiff. Not too stiff like I have to apply force, but definitely not smooth. Is this how the gimbal heads usually are or there could be a fault with this one? Panning is very smooth compared to the swing arm.

 

[Box Brownie]

Not sure if this answers your question or not but when a long lenses & body combo is correctly mounted on balance on this type of gimbal, the idea is that when you tilt it up or down and let go it stay in that 'new' position without the need to tighten screw that would lock the tilt motion.

If the camera/lens drops or rises then it is not balanced!

HTH?

PS this helps explain what I was trying to describe

View: https://youtu.be/WCNRJaz6tjI

 

[rob-nikon]

There looks like there is quite a bit of adjustment on the neewer version you have. I’d adjust the horizontal and vertical plates so the pivots and lens are centred.

As the 100-400 is very light compared to most long lenses used on a gimbal you may find balancing is quite easy. The gimbal head looks like it weighs more than the 100-400 lens.

Don’t forget you will need to balance the lens at the focal length you will be using it at. That’s probably at 400mm at full extension.

 

[PhilH04]

The vertical swing arm is a bit stiff. Not too stiff like I have to apply force, but definitely not smooth. Is this how the gimbal heads usually are or there could be a fault with this one? Panning is very smooth compared to the swing arm.

That is not right, have you released the locking knob fully? If so then that is definitely a fault...

 

[the black fox]

Having had the neewer gimbal in the past .I think you find that there filled with some sort of a silicon based compound ,it’s not grease it’s to sticky .. this has the effect of making normal gimbal movements impossible ... I now have a jobu junior and that’s a totally different thing you can literally swing or tilt it with one finger

 

[sapstar]

That is not right, have you released the locking knob fully? If so then that is definitely a fault...

The knobs on this seem to work just like on and off switches. A small twist completely released the arm.

 

[Petrochemist]

Neewer are a budget brand, so I'm afraid you won't get a nice smooth swing.
My own gimbal is a Beike which is also a cheap model. I find it less than ideal, but better than a ball head. For the amount I use ultra long lenses I find it an acceptable compromise.

 

[sapstar]

@the black fox I have seen the videos on youtube for the older gimbal. Thought that might have been fixed with the new one.
I will probably keep the gimbal and get used to it rather than spending on an expensive one, as I am not sure how much I will use it.

 

[the black fox]

it really depends on your usage . and to be perfectly honest a 100-400 lens is what most of us would class as hand holdable . .what you haven't said is what you actually require the gimbal for i.e motorsport ,aircraft, birding etc I tended to use mine whilst waiting for owls to appear which often involves hours of waiting for a few minutes shooting .
and to be perfectly truthful I haven't used mine since switching to olympus as the all up weight of the gear barely reaches 2kg even with a 1150mm effective reach

 

[sapstar]

it really depends on your usage . and to be perfectly honest a 100-400 lens is what most of us would class as hand holdable . .what you haven't said is what you actually require the gimbal for i.e motorsport ,aircraft, birding etc I tended to use mine whilst waiting for owls to appear which often involves hours of waiting for a few minutes shooting .
and to be perfectly truthful I haven't used mine since switching to olympus as the all up weight of the gear barely reaches 2kg even with a 1150mm effective reach

I would like to use it to shoot birds in flight as I think it provides help with tracking the birds. Till now my bird shots have been mostly stationary birds.

 

[the black fox]

Speaking from 20 + years of experience unless your tracking one solitary bird ,you will be far more flexible shooting handheld .using a gimbal is great in certain circumstances but usually a quick reaction time is superior .. shoot in high speed burst mode and just use the best of set .
If you move up the lens range I.e 600mm + tc then yes a gimbal would definetly help

 

[sapstar]

Speaking from 20 + years of experience unless your tracking one solitary bird ,you will be far more flexible shooting handheld .using a gimbal is great in certain circumstances but usually a quick reaction time is superior .. shoot in high speed burst mode and just use the best of set .
If you move up the lens range I.e 600mm + tc then yes a gimbal would definetly help

That's absolutely valuable advice. Thank you.

 

[Bristolian]

The knobs on this seem to work just like on and off switches. A small twist completely released the arm.

I'm afraid this is quite common with Neewer gimbals but thankfully quite easy to fix Take a look on YouTube and you will find a number of videos that show how to make the knobs more progressive. There was even a thread on her about it some time ago.

When I bought mine it was initially okay but with usage I ended up with on/off knobs. The YT solutions work really well

 

[sapstar]

I'm afraid this is quite common with Neewer gimbals but thankfully quite easy to fix Take a look on YouTube and you will find a number of videos that show how to make the knobs more progressive. There was even a thread on her about it some time ago.

When I bought mine it was initially okay but with usage I ended up with on/off knobs. The YT solutions work really well

Was it for this gimbal head? The one in YouTube videos looks like a different model. I will look into a fix if I feel the need to make it more progressive.

 

[Bristolian]

Not for that specific model but I suspect they use the same internal mechanicals.

 

[rob-nikon]

Speaking from 20 + years of experience unless your tracking one solitary bird ,you will be far more flexible shooting handheld .using a gimbal is great in certain circumstances but usually a quick reaction time is superior .. shoot in high speed burst mode and just use the best of set .
If you move up the lens range I.e 600mm + tc then yes a gimbal would definetly help

I agree with the black fox. You shouldn't need a gimbal for a sigma 100-400. The lens weighs around 1kg and the camera 0.6kg so it should be handhold able. Gimbals can be useful if sitting for a while waiting for something to happen but often gimbals are used where people have lenses that are 3kg+ which aren't really handholdable. A gimbal will probably make things harder with a sigma 100-400 especially for carrying as the gimbal weighs more than the lens.

 

[the black fox]

I agree with the black fox. You shouldn't need a gimbal for a sigma 100-400. The lens weighs around 1kg and the camera 0.6kg so it should be handhold able. Gimbals can be useful if sitting for a while waiting for something to happen but often gimbals are used where people have lenses that are 3kg+ which aren't really handholdable. A gimbal will probably make things harder with a sigma 100-400 especially for carrying as the gimbal weighs more than the lens.

Yeah but it does make you LOOK proffesinial LOL

 

[Deleted member 89409]

I bought a gimbal head for the first time and trying to understand how to correctly set it up and use it. I mounted my A7R III camera and a sigma 100-400mm lens on the following gimbal. I thought the lens would tilt until the gimbal is balanced, but without any adjustments, the lens just stays in any position I leave it. I tried moving the platform attached to the swing arm up and down, the the camera still looks balanced.
Neewer Professional Metal Gimbal Tripod Head 360°: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

The vertical swing arm is a bit stiff. Not too stiff like I have to apply force, but definitely not smooth. Is this how the gimbal heads usually are or there could be a fault with this one? Panning is very smooth compared to the swing arm.

This Neewer gimbal ( like a number of other cheap chinese gimbal heads ) is often delivered with a thick gungy lubricant in it. Sometimes it is useable but mine wasn’t. I knew this before I got it having looked at the youtube vids on how to dismantle, clean and relubbe it.
Takes about an hour or two to do. My gimbal head is now absolutely free in vertical and horizontal axis, smooth tracking and no play. It is also easy now to maintain and adjust should I want to. Some people add a compliant washer or wave spring washer so that you can adjust the preload to the thrust bearing on the horizontal axis but it doesn’t really need it as far as I can see.
I think it’s either these cheapies + a bit or work at 70 quid or something like the Benro head at 250 which, presumably, works straight out of the box.

Having taken it apart I am happy that it is fit for purpose ( for my relatively light and cheap d500 + tamron 150-600 ) but even so, if I had a 600 f4 it would be gitzo 5 series and a wimberley mark 2 all the way.