Need help on buying support for new Canon 500mm 4 ver 2

[Dick Huberty]

I will receive my new 500mm f4 Ver 2 on Friday...very excited... My thoughts now are turning to how to support it. I have a Gitzo Mountainering Tripod (supports 17 lbs) with a Arca Ball head. Looking at the Jobu Jr gimbal head or the Wimberly 200. The Wimberly is about twice the weight and twice the price. Is it worth it? Will my Gitzo be enough support? I add up the weight 7 lbs for lens, 1.8 lbs for Canon 5d Marklll, and either Gimbal head and I am still under the 17lb rating on the tripod. I would appreciate any other suggestion for a configuration to support my new lens..

[David Stephens]

Congrats on your new lens.

That lens is light enough and the IS works well enough that hand holding will give you the best results in most situations, particularly birds in flight.

When camped under a nest or shooting hummers coming and going from a food source, I will use my tripod to keep things trained on likely area where birds will land. In these instances I add a Wimberley Sidekick to my Arca-Swiss ballhead for a very smooth, strong gimbal. I use the 8x CF Induro C-414 tripod. It's considerably heavier than your rig.

[mikeojohnson]

I use the Jobu JR all the time for that lens.
Mike

[Ian Cassell]

I use an Induro GHB2 gimbal which works great with my version 1 of the lens.

[Gary Kinard]

It is so light and easy to handle. IS is so good! Rarely I want support for it. I personally dumped my gitzo and wimberly II. I now use a small CF tripod and small gimble head made locally here. But rarely use them.

www.flickr.com/photos/avianphotos
www.birdsthatfart.com

[Larry Handal]

Most often I carry my Gitzo 1542 Traveler with a Markins head for support. The IS on the lens takes care of any shake due to the tripod. With my bigger pod I use a Gen4 Mongoose gimbal.

[Dick Huberty]

Thank you all for your responses. Received my lens today. With a few test shots, I can see this is one awesome lens. Hand holding is very doable. There are so many options to support this lens. I have decided to go with a Wimberley sidekick initially and later get a heavier rig.

[Arthur Morris]

Thank you all for your responses. Received my lens today. With a few test shots, I can see this is one awesome lens. Hand holding is very doable. There are so many options to support this lens. I have decided to go with a Wimberley sidekick initially and later get a heavier rig.

Most likely a big mistake. I have used the Mongoose M3.6 for years with my 800mm, my 500mm, and my 600mm. It is light and efficient. As for the Jobu Junior, I witnessed the clamp fail with a Nikon 500 VR down in the dirt. Funniest thing is that it happened to the guy who is pitching them..... Funny that he never mentions that incident. BAA will gladly sell you a Sidekick but unless you shoot a ton of landscapes while using your big lens it is the wrong choice. It is unstable and generally a pain to work with. I have tried it.... The Sidekick winds up flopping all over the place. Not to mention that the M3.6 weighs a ton less than a Sidekick and a suitable ballhead.... Hard to find one of those.

[David Stephens]

Most likely a big mistake. I have used the Mongoose M3.6 for years with my 800mm, my 500mm, and my 600mm. It is light and efficient. As for the Jobu Junior, I witnessed the clamp fail with a Nikon 500 VR down in the dirt. Funniest thing is that it happened to the guy who is pitching them..... Funny that he never mentions that incident. BAA will gladly sell you a Sidekick but unless you shoot a ton of landscapes while using your big lens it is the wrong choice. It is unstable and generally a pain to work with. I have tried it.... The Sidekick winds up flopping all over the place. Not to mention that the M3.6 weighs a ton less than a Sidekick and a suitable ballhead.... Hard to find one of those.

I hate to disagree with Art, but my Sidekick is stable, smooth and easy to work with. Why anyone would have it flopping all over the place I can't imagine. It does require a solid ballhead to work its best. I think you said that you had an Arca-Swiss. I use the A-S Z1 with great results. As Art mentioned, it's also great for quickly switching from bird mode to landscape or sunset mode and using the ballhead to hold your camera with a wide-angle lens.

[Arthur Morris]

I hate to disagree with Art, but my Sidekick is stable, smooth and easy to work with. Why anyone would have it flopping all over the place I can't imagine. It does require a solid ballhead to work its best. I think you said that you had an Arca-Swiss. I use the A-S Z1 with great results. As Art mentioned, it's also great for quickly switching from bird mode to landscape or sunset mode and using the ballhead to hold your camera with a wide-angle lens.

Glad that it works for you. Many folks whom I have encountered using a Sidekick spend lots of time cursing the thing. That's what I did when I tried it. Most important question: how often do you take the Sidekick off to do scenics with a short lripod-mounted lens when using your big lens? If the answer is rarely, or like most honest folks, never, then the Mongoose kills on lighter weight alone....

[Steve Kaluski]

Well what I like about a gimbal head, like the Wimberley and I assume the Mongoose to, is that with large lenses if you get it set-up right, the camera & lens will always swing back to the horizontal position as it self levels. Far more flexible than the Arca-Swiss and I rarely use mine over the years, plus try catching your fingers in it with a big lens attached when it's not tighten up, not fun! Think long term, not short term IMHO and what you might decide to shoot in the future as this is an investment.

I agree with Artie, it's the way to go with no regrets.

Just my 2 cents.

[Dick Huberty]

Thanks Art, Steve and David for your insights. Right now I still consider myself more of a landscape shooter than birds. The thought of just putting the side kick on the ball head to switch to bird or other wildlife appeals to me. With that said, I don't know how many times that will happen. When I go out to shoot, it will be either for telephoto shooting or landscape shooting and changing head on tripod at home is no big deal...
It sounds like what you are telling me is that you can't achieve a good balance on a sidekick vs a full gimbal. The vertical (up and down) does not come back to a horizontal position (level position) possibly causing the tripod to tip and the lens to slide out of the Arca Swiss clamp (God Forbid!). I have ordered a Jobu foot for my new lens. Isn't that foot long enough to adjust the weight of the lens back or forward to achieve balance? Having never used a full gimbal or a sidekick I don't know what to expect.

The fews shoots I have taken with my new lens have just blown me away. The detail and IQ is outstanding, much like the many wonderful shots I see posted on this sight. I never could achieve that with my 70-200mm or my 100-400mm. It might be enough to shift my interest in photography. Life is an adventure and so is photography. How does anyone get bored???

[David Stephens]

I have a long Wimberley plate that attaches to the lens foot, allowing perfect balance with my 500mm, with or without either of my two TCs. Your quick release feet need to have safety stops in case you're foolish enough not to tighten everything. I always think of dollar signs when handling my super-telephoto, so I NEVER forget to tighten everything snugly.

[Steve Uffman]

I have the wimberley and 2 Jobu, Jrs...use them both with the 500 f/4 but have only used the wimberley with the 600II....know lots of folks such as Chris Dodd really like the Jobu and the owners do work real well with you. My wife uses the Jobu Jr on her tripod with success

[Dperkell]

Just got my Wimberley last week. Supports the Nikon 400 2.8 and D4 perfectly as it should for the price. So smooth and easy! I also have the arca Aswiss ballhead and love it but not for shooting birds. The gimbal head is the way to !