Archive 2011 · Acratech Long Lens Head/ w sidekick

kbarrera
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Acratech Long Lens Head/ w sidekick

Anybody use an Acratech Long Lens Head with a Sidekick. Seems strong enough.

Let me know.

Al

Jul 03, 2011 at 09:57 AM

EGrav
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Acratech Long Lens Head/ w sidekick

I use it all the time. Works fine up to 500mm lens. For 600 +, probably a full Wimberly would be more stable.

Jul 03, 2011 at 11:57 AM

Lars Johnsson
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Acratech Long Lens Head/ w sidekick

What's the point of buying a "long lens head" if you also need a sidekick to use it with a long lens

And those two are not cheaper than buying a full gimbal head either

Jul 03, 2011 at 02:16 PM

kbarrera
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Acratech Long Lens Head/ w sidekick

The point is I just love pissing money away for absolutely no reason at all. I spent an hour thinking of the dumbest question I possibly could have just to see if someone would take the time to remind me of how stupid it is to own both a long lens head and a Sidekick.
There are some people on this forum that just can't resist criticizing someone rather than just answering the question.
Now to answer your question. I use the Long lens head while shooting out my truck window on a custom built window mount. I also use the sidekick when photographing Bald Eagles at various locations where I'm allowed to get out of my car. Rather than own 2 heavy ballheads, I'd like to just use the Acratech LLH for both applications.
This is great. I go on this forum just to get some advice, and as usual I end up defending myself.

Jul 03, 2011 at 02:38 PM

Lars Johnsson
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Acratech Long Lens Head/ w sidekick

And why don't you like to use the long lens head alone, with long lenses when shooting eagles

It's rated to be used even with 600mm lenses according to Acratech.

Jul 03, 2011 at 02:47 PM

kbarrera
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Acratech Long Lens Head/ w sidekick

When I'm using the sidekick, I'm actually using an L bracket that I custom built to fit the sidekick. The action is much more fluid and smooth, especially with a heavy tripod. I bought the long lens head to use when shooting from the window of my truck. There is no room for a Gimbal with this set-up. I'm not one to go out and buy specialty equipment for specialized purposes. Usually I will go out to my shop and fabricate what I need.
Actually, since I began this thread, I went out to my shop and made a detent pin for the Acratech LLH which prevents the head from moving past 90 degrees. Problem solved. The Acratech, after some modifications is now capable of handling a gimbal and a window mount. It will handle my 500 f/4,and then some. All it took was some drilling, tapping, threading and grinding.

Al

Jul 03, 2011 at 03:00 PM

Lasse Eriksson
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Acratech Long Lens Head/ w sidekick

kbarrera wrote:
The point is I just love pissing money away for absolutely no reason at all. I spent an hour thinking of the dumbest question I possibly could have just to see if someone would take the time to remind me of how stupid it is to own both a long lens head and a Sidekick.
There are some people on this forum that just can't resist criticizing someone rather than just answering the question.
Now to answer your question. I use the Long lens head while shooting out my truck window on a custom built window mount. I also use...Show more →

I can understand that you have to defend yourself a lot. With your rude reply and comments here

Jul 03, 2011 at 03:10 PM

jmckayak
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Acratech Long Lens Head/ w sidekick

If you use the window mount ONLY in the illustrated position, you could adapt the lower legs to 'lock into' the door handle. Not sure if you are sliding the bracket fore and aft.

John Mc

Jul 05, 2011 at 01:15 PM

kbarrera
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Acratech Long Lens Head/ w sidekick

Actually, I'm resting the lower portion and the arm rest. Once I have the window clamp locked on, I just lower the window until the unit rests on the arm rest. It works well on my Ford
F-150, which is a lot bigger truck than the Tacoma shown.
the lower portion is too big to lock iinto the door handle.

Al

Jul 05, 2011 at 02:51 PM


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