got a new toy

[Jaedon]

I got a Jobu-Jr (original) Gimbal head for my tripod this week (it was a good week on ebay lol).

Regularly priced at $299 +$50 for a lens plate USD, it was on sale as they have changed the design a bit and were clearing out the old stock, for $150 USD + $50 for a lens plate.

Here's their image of the mount. I took a few of my camera sitting on it but I am running out the door to field test it. So far off the back deck it has been an amazing tool. To ba able to reduce the shutter speed on the camera to 1/60 with the camera zoomed out at 500 and not have camera shake is a HUGE bonus. The speed and agility of this mount are simply amazing. It holds the balance of the lens so that when you let go of the camera it stays put. No matter if I have it zoomed back to 50 or all the way out to 500.

Here's their shots of it. Look for more later today when I get back home.






Jay

[Copy_Kot]

Congrats on a great deal Jay! Do you know the max weight rating for that thing? I was thinking about the Wimberly, but I'm not sure if I would use it enough to justify the price.

I can't wait to see how you like using a gimbal head!

[Jaedon]

Ok I have returned form a rather uneventful trip out to the woods. There didn't seem to be anything around today. So I sat in the cold with my hot chocolate in one hand and the other in my pocket for a little over 2 hours and got no shots today as the birds and animals were hiding form teh cold wind as I should have been.... but us photographer people are nuts.

That being said.... I LOVE the Gimabal head mount.

The camera is held in the mount by the lens foot with a swiss/arca mounting plate bolted to teh bottom of it. This plate makes it fairly quick to get in and out of the mount if you need to switch to hand held.

This also makes your camera look like it is floating above the tripod which is kind of cool... but I digress lol.

The ease of use when panning and moving from one subject to another is outstanding. Imagine being able to move the camera around with 85-90% of the agility you have hand held with the stability of the tripod. 0 Camera shake from cold hands. The fluidity of the movement form one position to the next is something that I have never experienced with any type of mount on a tripod before. I also use a pistol grip ball head but after this purchase it has meen permenantly welded to the monopod now as there is no need for me to put it back on the tripod. I cannot wait to try this baby out at the race tracks for how smooth the motion is with it.

If you are looking for a new tripod mount for you camera I highly recomend spending the few extra dollars on a Gimbal head mount. You will never need to buy another head after this one.

[Jaedon]

CK - it's rated for 20 lbs. Much more weight than I need to worry about. My camera + 500mm lens is 11.5 lbs total weight.

If you are interested I'd jump on it soon because once they sell out the old design the new ones will be back up to $300 + again. I was trying out a Gitzo from a friend who bought it for studio work and found it impractical. This is very similar in ease of use and fair bit cheaper even at full cost. The only advantage the Gitzo has over the Gimbal is that the mount is underneath on a Gitzo so it is easier to reach the focus with it over the Gimbal. The Gimbal arm gets in the way if you've mounted it on your dominant hand sidelike I did the first time I used it. But a quick flip and I was back in business.