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Rock as much as an air present along with your heavyweight digicam and telephoto lens combo and also you is perhaps in for a tiring and uncomfortable time out when you’re capturing handheld. The identical applies to photographing birds, wildlife, motion, sports activities and anything that entails monitoring motion for lengthy intervals of time. That’s very true if the thing you’re monitoring is shifting up and down in addition to backward and forward.
One answer is to make use of a monopod however, when you’re like me, you’ll discover that whereas it helps the burden of a heavy lens, tilting and panning feels lower than intuitive. Engineered to be one of many finest gimbal heads available on the market, the Benro GH5C units out to remodel your capturing expertise with heavy lenses, successfully making them weightless whereas enabling a full and fluid vary of motion. It’s nearly like an anti-gravity machine.
Benro GH5C gimbal head: Specs
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Materials |
Carbon fiber |
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Max load |
30kg / 66lb |
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Weight |
1.08kg / 2.38lb |
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Peak |
24.5cm / 9.65in |
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Base diameter |
60.4mm / 2.38in |
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QR plate |
Arca-Swiss sort |
Benro GH5C gimbal head: Value
Good gimbal heads don’t come low cost and this Benro is without doubt one of the costlier examples of the breed. Even so, I really feel that the promoting worth of round $435 / £485 / AU$900 could be very cheap, given the unique carbon fiber development, which units it aside from the same old aluminum or magnesium alloy fare.
Benro GH5C gimbal head: Design & Dealing with
Benro has been within the enterprise of creating tripods for nearly 30 years. Naturally, a very good set of legs isn’t a lot use and not using a sensible head and, certain sufficient, I’ve been impressed by Benro’s vary of tripod heads which frequently mix design aptitude and innovation with high quality supplies and precision engineering, just like the Benro GD3WH Geared Head and Benro FS20PRO Video & Foto Head. The GH5C that I’m reviewing right here could be very completely different from each of these, firstly as a result of it’s designed as a gimbal head for heavyweight telephoto lenses, and secondly as a result of it’s produced from carbon fiber.
The Benro comes out of its sensible blue retail field with fitted foam insert in two items, plus a bag of bits. The bag of bits in query consists of a few further 1/4in fixing screws for the quick-release plate, a 1/4in to three/8in adapter (extra on these later), an Allen key and an instruction booklet. The 2 important parts of the gimbal head are simple to affix collectively very quickly in any respect.
When you’ve joined the 2 individually packed items collectively, the gimbal head is just about able to roll however I couldn’t assist taking a couple of minutes to be completely impressed by the appear and feel of its carbon fiber development. Akin to a specialist automotive half from a top-spec racing automobile, the Benro is extra light-weight than it seems to be and doesn’t really feel chilly to the contact, in contrast to metallic gimbal heads. That may be an enormous bonus by way of dealing with when you’re out on a protracted shoot in chilly climate.
Typical of Benro equipment, this gimbal head has blue accents and, beginning on the backside, these embrace the panning base. It’s calibrated by way of its complete 360 levels of operational motion, with numbered markings at 15-degree intervals and incremental strains each 5 levels.
Behind the lateral part of the primary L-shaped arm is the lock/launch knob for the panning clamp. It’s comfortably massive and rubberized for a safe grip, and requires little or no rotation for locking off the bottom plate or enabling panning.
One other characteristic that’s highlighted with a blue accent is the highest of the panning mechanism on the bottom of the primary L-shaped arm, which features a bubble degree. This will come in useful for leveling the legs of your tripod earlier than you begin capturing, particularly when you’re engaged on difficult and uneven terrain.
The swinging arm is once more calibrated, this time in millimeters alongside its vertical top. In case you’ve obtained a very good reminiscence for numbers, this lets you rapidly and simply return to the perfect top adjustment to your lenses, in order that the peak is centered in keeping with the tilting pivot on the high of the gimbal. The lean mechanism has an identical lock/launch knob because the panning mechanism, however this time it’s bigger and positioned on the high of the primary bracket as a substitute of on the backside. Once more, that’s the standard conference for gimbal heads.
The bracket for holding the lens through its tripod mounting collar and foot has an Arca Swiss sort quick-release plate. I like that the plate is comparatively lengthy, making it attainable to fine-tune the stability for lengthy lenses after they’re fitted. Once more, there are calibrated markings alongside the highest of the bracket, which you need to use as a prepared reference when refitting the identical digicam and lens combo.
In case you’re within the behavior of panning vigorously in an anti-clockwise path, you might need skilled the mounting foot of a lens’s tripod collar working free on its quick-release plate. These further fixing screws that I discussed earlier might help to keep away from the issue, as some massive lenses have a number of threaded fixing holes of their tripod toes, and you need to use the 1/4in to three/8in adapter for one in every of them if the foot has massive and small sockets.
Benro GH5C gimbal head: Efficiency
You possibly can lock off this Benro gimbal head so it’s strong and steady, and easily received’t budge. The carbon fiber construct is a further asset, because it’s immune to vibrations. Nonetheless, that’s probably not the purpose. The entire concept of utilizing a gimbal head is to allow a free vary of motion, and it’s right here that the Benro actually excels. I examined it utilizing a Nikon Z6 II and Nikon Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR telephoto zoom, with a mixed weight of two,845g / 6.27lb.
Spend a bit effort and time guaranteeing that the lens and its hooked up digicam physique are correctly balanced front-to-back, and that the middle of the lens alongside its size is in keeping with the higher pivot. You’ll then be richly rewarded with an successfully weightless heavyweight lens which you can tilt and pan with the contact of a finger and no effort by any means. Efficiency is solely very good, with a splendidly {smooth} and fluid really feel in each lateral and vertical planes. There’s additionally full 360-degree rotation on provide in each planes, though limitless tilting depends on the lens being quick sufficient to clear the bottom of the primary arm.
Benro GH5C gimbal head: Verdict
I feel the Benro GH5C gimbal head is a superb little bit of equipment. It provides strong, sturdy assist and actually comes into its personal for enabling freedom of motion with massive, heavy lenses that connect through tripod collars. With the entrance/again adjustment balanced and the lens positioned on the extent with the higher pivot, the Benro allows splendidly responsive motion in what basically turns into a weightless setup.
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Options ★★★★★ |
From silky-smooth pan and tilt mechanisms to the lengthy lens plate and bubble degree, there are many profitable options. |
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Design ★★★★★ |
It’s a very pretty design that appears super-smart and works very effectively, with nice construct high quality. |
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Efficiency ★★★★★ |
Efficiency is excellent, enabling you to trace shifting topics with the best of ease and accuracy. |
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Worth ★★★★☆ |
The carbon fiber development comes at a premium worth however that’s solely to be anticipated. |