Old but new!

[leemac]

I have been a member for a while but haven't visited for a long time.

I’m interested in bird photography, and love capturing the beauty of wildlife in its natural habitat. I am currently researching tripods and gimbal heads to improve stability. Looking forward to exchanging ideas, learning from fellow photographers, and sharing some of my own experiences. Excited to be here!

[avkomp]

I personally recommend carbon fibre tripods. weight wise less weight to carry, also, if you want to put it in water you not getting corrosion from any saltwater.

I have 2 gitzos. the bigger one is a 5 segment one, accitendally ordered the giant model like 10 minutes before a sale ended. was gonna send back but gladly didnt.
it is mega strong with not all the legs out, but the biggest advantage for me is the fact that the thing can go up near 10ft high. now, you may think that isnt ever gonna be used, but if you are say one a steep hill, they you can always get it at head hight or above, same if you are at a river or something. one leg in the water and tripod still gets above head height. not saying you should get one of these too, but think about where you may use it, how far you will carry it etc and go carbon fibre. now if you just pull up on the car and take tripod out to use, then carbon wont be important but you dont really want to be buying multiple tripods when if you buy one and get it right.

also in terms of stability, you dont want a movable bit in the centre that goes up and down, especially if you have a big lens. this will be another point of instability. besides if you got a gimbal head is a pain.

onto the gimbal head. I use a full wimberley. wh200 I think it is
had it for like 20 years. absolutely the best tripod head I ever used. has had sand etc in it and mud etc, but despite them saying not to disassemble, I have done so a few times and cleaned out wtih isopropyl alcohol and regreased with light grease and as good as new. you get zero creep, and it stays where you point it.
have tried assorted sidekick heads but they had creep and often mean you need a good ballhead too.

numerous clones of all this stuff exists now but that is my
2c worth based on extensive experience and mainly as a bird and nature photographer

[Ozzie_Traveller]

G'day Lee

Welcome mate - again
I am not as serious a birdie as Steven is (or Alan/Wigz or Isac/Greg), so my equipt is much less sophisticated

A monopod with ball head and a fixed-lens superzoom camera ... plus lots of pot-luck
Phil

[Isac]

Welcome back Lee. We're excited to see what you bring to the table. Cheers, Greg.

[wigz]

Welcome back.

Re tripods and gimbals, I agree with Stephen's comments however my experience is a little different.

I have had a tripod and ball head for many years but used it mostly for landscape work and occasionally for birds. For birding I mostly hand-held for my walk-around style, but was finding the 3kg lens and 1kg camera becoming more of a strain as I got older.

I bought a Chinese gimbal (Benro) and found it adequate for my needs but still found the tripod limiting for most of my bird photography. I eventually found a much lighter lens (1.5kg) at a price I could stretch to and reverted to mostly hand-held.

I might use the tripod if I was at a spot where sitting and waiting for birds could be effective, but I find that hand-holding works much better for me. Modern image stabilisation, high ISO performance and noise reduction makes hand-held workable in fairly low light.

It depends on your style, strength and the weight of your gear.

I would love to see some of your photos.

Alan.