Wimberley

The wimberley gimbal style head is unique as it holds the lens in a cradle. The lens is mounted such that it is balance fore/aft on this cradle and then effectively becomes 'light' or 'weightless' as it has as much weight is working with you than against. This head transforms the usability of a super-telephoto lens such as the 600 f4 weighing in at 6kg, nearly 8kg with cameras such as the Nikon F5 attached, suddenly you can switch positions, pan and track with ease. To be able to do this the head must be strong to cope with such a mass, the Wimberley has no problems here as it is a sturdy well built unit, it's not light but then neither are the lenses it's designed to compliment. There are two knobs on the head which control the tilt/rotation and can be adjusted from free to locked. Even when free the head offers superb support for the lens and is very steady, an advantage of this is your always ready to manoeuvre and get the shot. This head allows large super telephoto lenses to be panned and fully supported at the same time.

In combination with this head I have fitted a Wimberley quick release plate and specific sole plates to my telephoto lenses tripod mounts. This means I can not only fit lenses quickly but also swap lenses and achieve perfect balance points for each lens with ease. There are special plates for some of the larger lenses so a single universal plate doesn't need to be cobbled to suit all. The plates also have cut-outs for accessories such as flash brackets. This is one of the best engineered products I've seen for some time, both well thought out and fantastic build quality. It is now permanently attached to my Benbo tripod and I expect it will still be there in many years to come.