![]() But for me, the ability quickly switch between using the ball head on its own for most of my work but easily drop in the Sidekick to convert to it to a gimbal head gives me the best of both worlds. If you do mainly bird photography or other long lens wildlife work you'd do well to invest in a heavy duty tripod such as the new Gitzo GT5540LS (or its predecessor the G1548) and the full Wimberley head. Your needs may differ from mine of course. I used to have the Nikon 500mm f/4 AFS II and the Sidekick worked great with it as well, but a 600mm would have been too big for it. While I do own a large lens, I don't use it all the time and it's only a Nikon 200-400mm f/4 AFS VR. I shoot mainly landscape and general nature images rather than wildlife. So if Wimberley makes both, why am I writing this article about the Sidekick rather then the full sized Wimberley head? Well, for one thing, I get to write about what I want to here and at least for my needs the Sidekick is a better option than the full Wimberley. The tripod collar on the lens still provides the roll axis of movement. A pivot on the Sidekick provides the tilt axis of movement. The bottom of the Sidekick then drops down into the clamp on the ball head's quick release. The panning base on the ball head remains loosened and provides the panning axis of movement for the gimbal. You position your ball head all into its drop notch, the way over to the side, and lock it down. The Wimberley Sidekick is a scaled down implementation of the same idea, but it works in conjunction with your existing ball head rather than in place of it. And having it stay where you point it when you let go. Imagine the joy of being able to position a ten pound lens and camera where you want it with one finger. The head itself provides the pan and tilt axes with the lens collar providing the roll.īy positioning the lens such that its weight is balanced forward and aft, it can rest freely and seem almost weightless. Unlike a ball head, the Wimberley operates on the principle of a gimbal, allowing the lens to rotate on three independent axes. Wimberley, with the cool distinction of having as their website address, is a small family-owned business that made its reputation by producing the full-sized tripod head that bears the company name. The problem: With a traditional ball head, you have to fight against gravity to position a big lens
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