Whassup With The Wimberley?

You have a valid point when trackside - but I am outside the fences, and your assessment is simply incorrect in that context. Stop by the next time you are in the States, and I will be happy to demonstrate for you how I plan to use two different long focal lengths at the same time - and OBTW, when I do use my monopod, I wouldn't be caught dead without a ballhead on it. . .

So, enough of trying to tell me how to undo what I am already doing successfully, and back to helping me understand what makes the Wimberley something I can't live without.

Have Fun,

I can't compare it to the Fluid heads,. but it would seem to me that with the fluid head you would still be faced with the issue of preventing the lens form dumping over fron to back.. or if not you would be fighting some strong friction preventing the flop over? (again I don't know how fluid heads work so correct me if I am wrong)

with the gimble heads, once centered and balanced,. there is no possibility of the flop over,. and thus no effort on the part of the user to keep it upright. While still having the ability to aim the lens very high upwards and downwards. In fact there is no effort at all ever other than getting from poit A to point B on your back

Trying one would certainly be a help,. and I doubt you would need to do it side by side with the 501,. as you should know right off if the motion is improved.

As you may recall from previous posts on the subject,. no not consider any of the myriad sidemount options with lenses that size (Sidekick, Kirk, Mongoose etc..) Formerly there were only three bottom mount gimbles availble, the "full wimberly" and the afor mentioned Manfrotto 3421 (really reasonable IMHO @ about $160.00 WITH sliding QR and plate...)

But now there is a third option.. but for the life of me I can't remember it's name. Still it's another $500.00 plus option like the Wimberly.

CDS, I fully understand how the gimbal puts the balance point at the pivot point, and that seems to be a cool thing. With the fluid head, I can balance it front to back, but as I mentioned, the lens is sitting on top of the center axis, and it will travel through an arc when moving it up and down, not pivoting on the center. For my application I think I can deal with that with the fluid head. The drag control lets you handle it with one finger if desired, or make it a little more stiff if that's what you prefer. With typical motorsports use I wouldn't be swinging it that much up or down to have to worry about it dumping, as I usually keep it somewhat level and it is balanced.

I know the wildlife crowd is crazy for the Wimberley, I'm trying to figure out whether I should catch the fever.

Have Fun,