tripod head for bird photography

bledyn125

bledyn125

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bleddyn
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im after a little bit of advice regarding a tripod head for bird photography.i have had a look about but im not realy sure what im looking for i have a redsnapper ball head and 3 way head but they are no good for what i want

are these any good

http://www.fotosense.co.uk/giottos-vh6011-658d-2-way-video-birding-head.html

i have been hand holding up to now but im due to have a operation on my left hand and that will mean i wont be able to hand hold for a couple of months.

thanks in advance

bleddyn
 
What lens do you use?
 
oh yeah sorry its a sigma 150-500 and a canon 60d

cheers


bleddyn
 
For that, I would recommend picking up a gimble head instead.

Yes, you will pay more money, but they are so much better for what you are doing.
 
right then i never heard of those do you have any suggestions on any particular gimble heads


bleddyn
 
The Benro GH1 is not a bad gimble for the smaller telephoto lenses. I have one and it works really well.
 
just looked at those and to be honest i cannot justify spending that amount on a head as nice as they are.

im going to have to see what others are available.


thanks for your help

bleddyn
 
bledyn125 said:
just looked at those and to be honest i cannot justify spending that amount on a head as nice as they are.

im going to have to see what others are available.


thanks for your help

bleddyn
Click to expand...

Lensmaster gimbals are really good value for money about £120 for the side mount or £150 for the horizontal mounting version LINK

There a couple on the forum who use them, always see good things about them.
 
Lensmaster RH1 (£117.95) or RH2 (£147.95 both prices include fast delivery), excellent heads that come complete with 2 x arca swiss plates.

I've had an RH1 for a little while now and cant fault it, had everything from a 200mm f4 to an 80mm refractor telescope +extension tubes + camera on mine and it still stays exactly where you put it yet can be moved with just one finger.
 
gimbal, or perhaps a monopod, but there is alot more weight you need to control with a monopod
 
thanks for all the options but i think i need to save a bit more money

cheers


bleddyn
 
With 500mm you really, really do want a gimbal head. Both the Lensmaster RH-2 gimbal and the Manfrotto 393 suffer from the inability to adjust the pivot-point vertically. This allows you to move the lens up and down so that the axis of rotation goes through the centre of gravity of the lens. If you don't adjust this then there will be some torque with some lenses, which means added friction will be needed to stabilise the lens.

The Lensmaster video shows that it's been designed so that the axis of rotation passes through the centre of gravity for that particular lens. This image - LINK - shows a 150-500 on a gimbal where the axis of rotation is way above the centre of gravity of the lens. When tilted up or down this setup would need a lot of friction to stop the lens slipping back to the horizontal.

It may not sound like a big deal, but once you've used a well-balanced gimbal you'll find that unbalanced setups are stiff and jerky. It may be that these cheaper heads happen to be the right size for the 150-500, but I'd want to see it for myself before I bought one.
 
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