Birds in Flight - "The Wimberley Years"

[John Harper]

Hi There

Well in my quest for Bird in Flight pictures, i have been from the 400mm F5.6L to the 500mm F4L. Its a fantastic piece of glass but it's pretty heavy (8LBS or so). I have had some success with it handheld but it does get tiring swinging the lens and camera around.

So after taking advice and looking around the net it appears that the smart money is on some type of gimbal head to give you solid support but still allow for easy movement. Taking the plunge and giving the plastic another hammering..... i opted for the following

Gitzo 6X Systematic Carbon Fibre Tripod Model GT3540 XLS

Ball Head - Kirk BH1

Gimbal Head - Wimberley Sidekick.

Saturday was my 1st time at trying the rig out at my usual haunt of the Hawk Conservancy and i thought i would post a couple of shots and my initial thoughts.

Setting the whole thing up was pretty straightforward, the only thing that took any time was getting the tripod head level. This is important as with out it being level when you pan using the ball head the horizon starts to go out of level. A levelling head may make the job quicker but its more expense and i have not found it a problem yet.

The Kirk ballhead was more than adequate for the job, and the Sidekick was quite happy with the weight of the 500mm lens with a 1D on the back of it. You have to balance the lens by sliding it forward and backwards on the mounting plate till its stays balanced level with the locking wheel eased off. Once this is done the whole rig is virtually weightless and is easily able to be moved with 1 finger, and stays where you leave it pointing up down or any combination in between.

So to shooting with it.... well i must say i was impressed. You can swing it around and follow birds flying fairly easily with it.

For bigger birds, Vultures, Eagles, Herons its pretty easy to follow them in flight. For smaller faster ones like falcons it can be done but it needs practice and i found i could keep the bird in the frame easier handheld. It is worth sticking with however as you can swing the camera and lens combo around all day and not get tired.

I post below a couple of shots of a Lanner falcon shot from a distance of about 50 feet. He was just starting his flying display and you can see his take off point at the bottom of the frame. I also post a 100% crop to show just how crisp the lens is wide open and on solid support at F4.... you can read the serial number on his ID ring!!

The last shot is of a couple of Great Grey Herons... having a "discussion" before their daily feeding.
These birds were about 150 Yards away and it was shot with a 2X TC giving an 1000mm F8.

Overall i am very pleased with the combination and i hope to get some better shots when i have had some more experience with it.

John


Shot 1 & 2 EOS 1DMKIIN EF500mm F4L ISO 200 1/2000 @ F4

Shot 3 EOS 1DMKIIN EF500mm F4L(+2XTC) ISO 400 1/320 @ F14


http://www.portviewfitout.co.uk/lanner1.jpg

http://www.portviewfitout.co.uk/lanner2.jpg

http://www.portviewfitout.co.uk/heronfight.jpg

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

So after taking advice and looking around the net it appears that the smart money is on some type of gimbal head to give you solid support but still allow for easy movement. Taking the plunge and giving the plastic another hammering..... i opted for the following

Gitzo 6X Systematic Carbon Fibre Tripod Model GT3540 XLS

Ball Head - Kirk BH1

Gimbal Head - Wimberley Sidekick.

Hi John,

I also have the GT3540 XLS with the intent to eventually also use the 500mm f/4.0 on it. The GT3540 XLS is rated to hold the heavy lenses, how do you judge its stability under load in practice?

Do you (need to) use a Sidekick 'shifter' to align the 500mm with the tripod/ballhead's horizontal rotation point? Is there a specific reason, other than price, why you chose to go for the Sidekick rather than the full WH-200 II?

Overall i am very pleased with the combination and i hope to get some better shots when i have had some more experience with it.

The shots look fine already but, as always, practice makes perfect. The only thing I noticed in the small version of the Herons, is that the OOF areas apparently took a hit from the 2x extender. Was that the Canon extender or a Kenko/Tamron TC?

Bart

[John Harper]

Hi John,

I also have the GT3540 XLS with the intent to eventually also use the 500mm f/4.0 on it. The GT3540 XLS is rated to hold the heavy lenses, how do you judge its stability under load in practice?

Hi Bart

I found it to be very stable under load. I did not find that i needed to extend the smallest diameter set of legs as with the ball head on and the sidekick it was just about a perfect height. I am 6'-0" tall. There may be more of an issue at full extension, but at that level i would need a pair of steps to look through it!! :)

Do you (need to) use a Sidekick 'shifter' to align the 500mm with the tripod/ballhead's horizontal rotation point? Is there a specific reason, other than price, why you chose to go for the Sidekick rather than the full WH-200 II?

To be honest it was price and portability. You can always take the Sidekick off and use just the ballhead for other smaller lenses. I am using the Wimberley P40 lens plate, but various forums and people have suggested getting a replacement foot for the 500 that will fit directly to the ballhead. I haven't found it a problem not being over the centre of horizontal rotation, but i have only used it the once. I am sure there are others who would recommend that it be over it but at my level of expertise (ie not much) its not a problem


The shots look fine already but, as always, practice makes perfect. The only thing I noticed in the small version of the Herons, is that the OOF areas apparently took a hit from the 2x extender. Was that the Canon extender or a Kenko/Tamron TC?

Thank you, i was pleased with the shots as a 1st go with the kit. On the herons picture it is a proper Canon 2XTC MKII It was a bit of a grab shot and i had the camera on AI Servo and wonder if that may have had something to do with it, or the fact i only shot at 1/320th and it didn't freeze the wings or the branches and leaves of the trees moving.

Still as you rightly say practice makes perfect.... or to be honest i would settle for adequate! :)

John