"Pistol Grip" Ball head

[Richard DeYoung]

I plan to use my new ball head with my 40D and 400mm lens with a TC. Any advice fro0m you guys. Bird photos almost exclusivly.
Thanks

[PhotoDen]

Originally Posted by ldelacruz

Look at the Wimberly tripod heads. It's what I have now and it is worth every penny. I can use a 500, 2X TC and MKIII with 1 finger.

I checked out their site. Seems the two main models are the Wimberly head and the Sidekick. Which do you recommend?

[ldelacruz]

Richard DeYoung,
I don't see any issues with using a 400 f5.6 or 100-400 but I wouldn't dare try the the 2.8. Knowing what I know now I would use a regular ball head over the grip.

PhotoDen,
I have the Wimberely II but either should work fine. For moving objects and birds it is an amazing piece of equipment.

[Hanky]

I've used the pistol grip for birds exclusively and I can not reccomend it. If one could in any way swing a gimble then please do. A gimble is tops on my wish list.
Happy to help Richard.

[Kalrog]

I have the above mentioned grip - and it works well for me. It holds my heaviest body/lens combo still at reasonable distances, but my heaviest lens is only a 35-100mm (Olympus here). I actually like it for the rapid switch from landscape to portrait orientation and for being able to adjust in other ways so rapidly.

Like most things, it is a tool. It doesn't do everything - I have found it tough to make fine adjustments on it and my experiences might be totally different if I were wanting something for 300mm lenses and super long distance shots.