Gimbal Head for both long lens and Scope (1 Viewer)

[barty63]

I currently have a ball head and can use the single tripod for both scope and camera + long lens. I'm looking at purchasing a Gimbal head but wondered if anyone had any experience of attaching a scope to the Gimbal Head, I don't want two tripods

Mike

 

[Sc0tty]

I don't have a gimbal head but I've seen people with spotting scopes on gimbal heads, so you should be able to use one for your camera and scope.

 

[JerryLogan]

I’ve had no problems using a full Wimberley gimbal and Kowa 883, Nikon EDG 85. Kowa is angled and Nikon straight viewing. I actually think the gimbals are a treat for spotting scopes but I suspect that you’ll do better and handle heavier scopes if your gimbal is better quality and matched to the weight and size of the spotting scope you want to use.

Best,
Jerry

 

[WRL]

Scope and long lens camera on tripod - another solution

I am using (successfully) my standard BERLEBACH "Pegasus" 3-way-head with the BERLEBACH "160-twin" adapter for parallel mounting of scope and long lens. This setup is small and achieves automatically co-axial alignment of both (see photo). If you see something (centered) in the scope the camera is already (almost) pointing correctly at it. For BIF you may even "shoot" blindly (remote trigger). Proper autofocus settings will do the rest. My experience is, it is (at least for me) easier to follow a bird or flock of in flight with the scope than search and follow it with a long lens.

WRL

 

[nwphil]

I currently have a ball head and can use the single tripod for both scope and camera + long lens. I'm looking at purchasing a Gimbal head but wondered if anyone had any experience of attaching a scope to the Gimbal Head, I don't want two tripods

Mike

have you considered the wimberley sidekick? still requires a good solid ballhead, but easy to swap in the field

I do use a gimbal head on my scope and long lenses - you set them up the same way basically, but you might need to add a longer base plate ion the scope existing foot.

 

[barty63]

Scope and long lens camera on tripod - another solution

I am using (successfully) my standard BERLEBACH "Pegasus" 3-way-head with the BERLEBACH "160-twin" adapter for parallel mounting of scope and long lens. This setup is small and achieves automatically co-axial alignment of both (see photo). If you see something (centered) in the scope the camera is already (almost) pointing correctly at it. For BIF you may even "shoot" blindly (remote trigger). Proper autofocus settings will do the rest. My experience is, it is (at least for me) easier to follow a bird or flock of in flight with the scope than search and follow it with a long lens.

WRL

Wow ! Didn't even know that existed - looks great

 

[Sterngucker]

Novoflex have something similar. I cannot understand what on earth one would want to mount two cameras side by side for, but then I saw this thread and the apparent need to mount a camera and a scope side by side. I still don't quite get this, but for those that do ... Novoflex might be worth a look. Top quality Made in Germany. And one thing those Germans are good at is engineering.

 

[barty63]

Novoflex have something similar. I cannot understand what on earth one would want to mount two cameras side by side for, but then I saw this thread and the apparent need to mount a camera and a scope side by side. I still don't quite get this, but for those that do ... Novoflex might be worth a look. Top quality Made in Germany. And one thing those Germans are good at is engineering.

Hard enough carrying set of gear let another along side !

 

[Spectrum805]

I currently have a ball head and can use the single tripod for both scope and camera + long lens. I'm looking at purchasing a Gimbal head but wondered if anyone had any experience of attaching a scope to the Gimbal Head, I don't want two tripods

Mike

Mike,

I had exactly the same question recently. Plus, I want to mount my binoculars and astronomical telescope (as a fair-weather spotting scope) as well. Did quite bit of investigation and came up with a solution that meets my own very varied day-time needs for travel photography, sight-seeing, hiking and birding (Not a full solution for night-time star gazing). I posted my finding in another thread under the following title in the same "Tripod/heads" forum.

Best wishes!

Haibo

Can gimbal heads (such as ProMediaGear GK Jr.) be used effectively for bino, spotting, telescope and camera​

 

[barty63]

Mike,

I had exactly the same question recently. Plus, I want to mount my binoculars and astronomical telescope (as a fair-weather spotting scope) as well. Did quite bit of investigation and came up with a solution that meets my own very varied day-time needs for travel photography, sight-seeing, hiking and birding (Not a full solution for night-time star gazing). I posted my finding in another thread under the following title in the same "Tripod/heads" forum.

Best wishes!

Haibo

Can gimbal heads (such as ProMediaGear GK Jr.) be used effectively for bino, spotting, telescope and camera​

Thanks, I went for a Gimbal and I'm happy interchanging my prime lens and scope - regards, Mike