The gimbal serves as a tripod head, designed to ensure smooth movement of your camera and lens, making it a favorite tool in wildlife photography. It enables effortless tracking of moving wildlife, thanks to a control knob for lateral movement, another for vertical adjustment, and a third knob that adjusts the motion’s tension. To effectively follow wildlife as it navigates its surroundings, it’s advisable to keep these knobs loosened.
Use a Gimbal Tripod Head for Large Lenses
When you use a super telephoto lens, it will be heavy and bulky. They are usually more than 300mm and can weigh more than ten pounds. It is challenging to manage this lens without a tripod, and you can’t use just any tripod. A standard ball head would work when you are shooting a stationary subject, but if you are tracking wildlife, especially birds flying through the sky, you need motion.
The gimbal head allows you to mount your large telephoto lens, so you don’t notice the weight. It will enable you to move the lens to follow whatever subject you track, and you can use your fingers. It takes the weight of the camera and distributes it more evenly so that yoaren’t’t distracted when you are trying to get the perfect shot.
How to Mount the Gimbal Tripod Head
The first step to mounting your gimbal tripod head is ensuring you understand how it fits on your lens. It will have a heavy mounting that pairs with your tripod and a swinging arm that comes with a mounting platform and goes on your telephoto lens. You will also need a mounting plate for your lens.
The lens is much heavier than the camera, so you should mount the plate to the foot of the lens. It will work best if you can mount it to both mounting sockets on the lens. Then you should mount the gimbal to your tripod. Please do this before you try to attach your lens because it will be safer to mount your camera to the lens rather than mounting your lens to the camera.
Tighten all of the knobs on your gimbal before you mount the lens. Then, mount the lens. You should loosen the knob that holds it to get it mounted the way you want it. Then, tighten the mounting knob and loosen the other knobs so you can control the motion of the head.
Ensure your camera and lens are leveled once you loosen the control knobs. If they aren’t, you can adjust the position by loosening the third knob and moving the lens backward or forward until it is in place. When installed correctly, the lens will be level sitting on the tripod.
Once you have the camera and the lens installed so that they are level, you will use your fingers to rotate the camera around its center of gravity. You can move it with your finger, and it will stay anywhere you place it. If you are tracking a bird flying across the sky, you can move the lens with your finger while you take snapshots along the way. It is easy to use as long as you set it up correctly.
When Should I Use a Gimbal Tripod Head?
If you are using a large super-telephoto lens with your camera and aren’t shooting a stationary subject, you will want to use a gimbal tripod lens. One example is wildlife photography. Wildlife is unpredictable, and photographers must track the animals or birds as they move around. They are usually shooting subjects at a distance.
Another time that people use this setup is when they are shooting a sporting event. It is much easier to follow the athletes or objects such as balls. This setup is great anytime you are shooting photos at a distance and need the flexibility to move the camera. It holds it steady so you can follow your subjects with your fingertips.
Advantages and Limitations of Using a Gimbal Tripod Head
The most significant advantage to using a gimbal tripod head is that it takes a heavy, bulky lens and makes it feel weightless. It allows you to track moving subjects from a distance very quickly. However, it is also very heavy and large. It doesn’t work well if you’re shooting up close and doesn’t do as well for taking photos of landscapes. Your lens must have a rotating tripod collar, or you will have trouble orienting your camera.
A ball head, or standard head, has some advantages as well. It is versatile and easy to compose a scene no matter what type of lens you are using. However, it doesn’t work well when photographing moving subjects, and you must use more strength to control the lens. In addition, switching from landscape to portrait orientation can be challenging when you use this tripod type because it can wobble.
Is a Gimbal Head the Same as a Gimbal Stabilizer?
No, a gimbal head is not the same as a gimbal stabilizer. A gimbal head is used for still photography, and it is used most commonly when photographers take action shots from a distance. A gimbal stabilizer is used for video, and it is most widely used for video. Typically, a videographer uses it when they want to move around.
In both cases, the cradle, the gimbal part of the setup, is essentially the same, but the gimbal stabilizer uses electric motors and is used for video. In contrast, the gimbal tripod head is used for still photography.
Final Words
If you have a large super-telephoto lens and shoot action photography, a gimbal tripod head will help you capture the shots you are looking for. It is essential to set it up correctly so that the camera and lens are level and move quickly with the touch of a finger.
