Gitzo Gimbal Fluid Head
Michael Topham tests a heavy-duty gimbal head
£299 ● www.manfrotto.co.uk
WILDLIFE and sports photographers regularly use long telephoto lenses for shooting distant subjects. While conventional ball or pan-tilt tripod heads can be used with heavy telephoto lenses, they are not ideal for tracking movement. The better option is to use a gimbal head that’s designed to provide better mobility while offering excellent support.
While Gitzo is known for being a premium tripod manufacturer, its GHFG1 Fluid Gimbal Head is actually very competitively priced and can be picked up from £299 – less than Benro’s GH3 Gimbal head (£339). For your money, you get a superb example featuring an innovative fluidity- control system that Gitzo has named Whip-pan. This applies automatic friction for smooth and precise movements at low rotation speeds. At high rotation speeds, when you’d like to reposition the camera quickly, the Whip-pan instantly removes the friction, with normal fluid rotation being automatically restored when the rotation speed decreases. This might sound complex, but with the heavy combination of a Nikon D850 and Nikon AF-S Nikkor 180400mm f/4E TC1.4 FL ED mounted, I found the gimbal provided incredibly smooth, precise control, with the option to perform high-speed movements to track erratic birds in flight at a moment’s notice.
The diecast magnesium construction is robust, but it does add an extra 1.35kg of weight to your setup. It comes in Gitzo’s trademark ‘noir décor’ crackle finish and is supplied with a detachable pan arm. All locking knobs feature rubber grips to make them easier to operate when you’re wearing gloves, and the long Arca-Swiss quickrelease base plate is provided with three 1∕4in screws and a 1∕4-3∕8in screw adapter. You’ll want to keep an Allen key handy to tightly secure the base plate to the tripod collar on your lens as they can have a tendency to work loose when fastened finger-tight.
Verdict
If you regularly photograph birds, wildlife or sport with a heavy telephoto lens and are after a tripod head that provides superb balance, control and support, gimbal heads don’t come much better than this one. Although it’s designed for Gitzo’s Systematic and Mountaineer tripods, it can be used with any tripod with a 3∕8in mounting screw. It’s a mighty fine example of an accessory that makes light work of supporting heavy equipment.