200-400-Actual users-please help.

[Dholai]

Friends,

I am gathering courage to buy a 200-400 soon and trying to decide about its accessories.

Will a Wimberly sidekick be good for it or do I need a full gimbal head? I wont be using it much.
With the full head, I will need another triopd but with the sidekick I can use the one I have.

Please help.

Thanks

Dholai

 

[Loswr]

With what ballhead are you planning to use the Sidekick?

 

[Dholai]

Arca-Swiss Monoball Z1 on a Gitzo 5541, to be used with an 1Dx

 

[Loswr]

First, make sure this doesn't apply:

http://www.tripodhead.com/arca-swiss-warning.cfm

Assuming your head is ok, it will work ok with the Sidekick, as long as you get the AP-900 spacer.

Question - why do you feel you need a second tripod? Is there a reason you can't unscrew the Z1 from the 3/8"-16 stud on the platform, and attach a full gimbal like the Wimberley II?

Personally, I went with the RRS clamping leveling base, so I can switch from ballhead to gimbal via a QR clamp, but it's pretty quick to change the threaded heads.

That brings up another note - you might consider a leveling base, it makes horizontal panning to follow a subject with the gimbal (full or sidekick) much easier, saves you from having to level the platform with the tripod legs, which is a PITA.

 

[Dholai]

Neuro,

Sorry for the delay in replying. Did not have a chance to come to the forum to write the response.

Thanks for your reply and the link. I dont think I am affected though!

I wanted to use a sidekick as I have one that I once used with my 400mm DO lens (which was stolen BTW)
. I have used that with the monoball and never had any issues. Anyway, I an thinking to go for the gimbal head.

But I got intrigued by your response and looked at the leveling base which I have never used (or seen one). Sounded like a good idea as I did not want to unscrew heads everytime I needed to switch.

Might buy one. I understand I need two plates, one for my existing ball head and one for the future gimbal head. then I unscrew the ballhead from my tripod, put the leveling base there and using those plates, clamp the needed head to the base. Am I correct ?

Thanks for your time.

BTW, how would you rate the 200-400 on a scale of 1 to 10 ?

Dholai

 

[Loswr]

I don't think RRS makes a leveling base for the Gitzo 5-series legs (the one I have works in RRS and Gitzo 3-series legs). So, for that solution you'd either need Gitzo's leveling base and a clamp attached to it with Loctite, or the RRS universal base. The RRS dovetails (TH-DVTL-40 or -55) would work under the heads.

As someone who shoots mostly birds, the 200-400 doesn't hold much appeal - I need as much focal length as I can get, so I'm usually at 840mm or 1200mm (600 II + 1.4x/2x).