jeetsukumaran
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 Nest Gimbal Head -- First Impressions | |
EB-1 wrote:
Yikes. I\'m sticking with the Wimberleys.
EBH
Yep. Not ideal! 
But, also, not necessarily damning.
To keep things in perspective, my freezer is at least -20C/-4F, if not colder (it could actually be colder, but -20 is the limit of the cheapo outdoor thermometer I stuck in there.) And the head was in there for quite a while. So, one thing is clear, if you are going to be shooting in -20C or colder for several hours, then this gimbal head is out. But, is that really a projected use-case? What might we be shooting then? Polar bears? Penguins? (Actually: that would be greeeeeeeat!). OK, granted -20C is not polar-cap extreme. Michigan gets down there pretty often. But it is still relatively extreme. And in that extreme use-case, everything else has to hold up as well, not just to the cold, but condensation and wind. Other elements of the photography system (which include the photographer) might fail before the gimbal. In my case, it could well be the photographer\'s spiritual fortitude! The last time I went out in -20F (which is, of course, quite a bit colder than -20C/4F), I could take about 1hr of it before rushing back to the cabin
So, as steve/sjms says, we really want to know is the rate/threshold of failure or failure profile. E.g., a plot with x-axis being the time of exposure and y-axis being the temperature and z-axis being some measure of acceptable/unacceptable resistance. Unfortunately, I do not have the equipment or time to carry out this experiment! So I am hoping for some real-world feedback for people who have used this head is fairly extreme winter conditions (short of 24 hours at -20C).
The other variable is, of course, load. As I said, the head did not freeze up entirely. It was just very, very, very stiff. I imagine with a heavier lens than the 100-400 it would work better. Even the addition of a flash on flash bracket might provide sufficient torque to reduce the resistance to manageable levels. I am going to see if this is the case when I get the time next week.
So, all in all, dings on:
(1) cradle plate compatibility
(2) extreme low-temperature performance
But positives are: very, very, very, very solid and smooth gimbal head as long as within its environmental performance envelope. Whether that performance envelope is big enough for my needs? I do not know yet ...
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