Tom Reichner wrote in post #19067590
.As you say, it is much less expensive than the Wimberley; hence, it may not be fair to compare them to one another.
. But the Wimberleys are the only gimbals I've ever used, so I don't know what else to compare it with.
Anyway, I looked it over on the Lensmaster website, and two things immediately stood out:
1. . . The horizontal tension knob is directly underneath the camera, instead of being beside the rotating mechanism. This means that you will not be able to get the camera quite as low as you would with a head like the Wimberley, where the knob is conveniently out of the way and off to the side. This means that the manufacturer was able to avoid having gears inside the head, which undoubtedly lets them build it for less cost.
If you often use a big lens down as low to the ground as you can get it, then this would be a big issue for you; perhaps even a deal-breaker. But if you don't shoot with the lens down at ground level, then it shouldn't be much of a problem for you.
Note:
. The Wimberley version 1 works this way and I find it awkward and restricting to use.
. They changed it on the version 2, and I really appreciate the difference.
. So I have used heads with knobs on the base and heads with knobs off to the side, and my preference for a side knob is based on a lot of experience.
............... ............... ............... ............... ............... ............... ............... 2. . . The vertical portion of the gimbal offers no method of height adjustment. This is unusual to me, because the Wimberley has a good 6 inches of adjustment, as do most of the less expensive knock-offs.
Of course, the tripods that we use with big lenses don't have center columns, and I see that your GT3530S doesn't have one, as is to be expected.
. So with no center column, and without any height adjustment on the gimbal head itself, that means that the only way to raise or lower the camera a few inches is to adjust the height of the three tripod legs.
. Awkward and time-consuming, especially when you need to adjust height and snap an image off rapidly.
............... ............... ............... ............... ............... ............... ............... Overall, it looks like the design of the Lensmaster is simple in the most extreme degree.
. This is good because it keeps manufacturing costs down, but it could be frustrating to shoot with because it makes height and tension adjustments awkward and slow, compared to the more expensive brands and knock-offs.
A friend of mine made a gimbal himself at home in his garage. Only took him a few hours and about $30 of steel and hardware.
. This Lensmaster head that you are interested in reminds me a lot of that head that he made.
. Very basic and simple.
. At just $250 or whatever it is, the Lensmaster seems like a better option than going thru the hassle of making one yourself.
. 
