Wimberley MH-100 Wimberley MonoGimbal Head - Made in USA
Electronics > Camera & Photo > Tripods & Monopods > Tripod Heads
About this item
- Gimbal-type design allows you to rotate your lens around its center of gravity and thus easily manipulate very large lenses
- Rugged design offers stiffness, capacity and smooth tilt movement in a compact and lightweight package (349 grams)
- Arca Swiss style clamp supports a variety of medium and telephoto lenses. Improves lens carrying comfort
- Integrated Arca-swiss dovetails on base with optional safety stop screws for use with QC-clamps
- Anodized 6061 Aluminum Clamp and Body, Stainless Steel Fasteners, Made in USA. Assembled in Charlottesville, Virginia
Reviews
★★★★★
Verified Purchase
The answer for heavy telephoto lenses on a monopod!
A gimbal head on a sturdy tripod is the ultimate setup for photography with large, heavy super-telephoto lenses. Unfortunately, hauling a multiple pound gimbal head with a multiple pound tripod along with your camera and lens can be too much in many instances. Monopod to the rescue-sort of. A lens mounted directly to a monopod can only rotate via its mount collar, tilting means leaning the monopod. Most users resort to a ball head or a single axis tilt head on a monopod. Okay, now you can tilt the lens/camera up and down. You still have to loosen and retighten the head every single time. If the head isn’t tightened enough, the lens and camera can violently slam against the monopod. What to do?
Enter the Wimberley MH-100. Yes at $179 it seems expensive for such a compact piece of kit, once you have it setup and in use, the price will be forgotten. My Pentax DFA 150-450mm f4.5~5.6 lens and K3 body is incredibly unbalanced when mounted to a monopod by the lens tripod foot. The foot is nowhere near the center of gravity and adding a KP or K3 body makes it worse. The MH-100 cures the problem when used with a 3.5 or 4 inch long Acra Swiss type mounting plate. I used the Wimberley P-400 but any GOOD brand will work (remember, you are counting on the plate to hold thousands of dollars worth of equipment!). I mounted the MH-100 to my heavy duty Manfrotto monopod then the lens plate to the foot on the 150-450. Add the camera body and its time to start trial and error for the correct position of the lens plate. Once you find the balance point, lighten the plate screws. After that, you can compensate for balance shifts by sliding the plate in the MH-100 clamp. Property adjusted, the camera and lens stay where you have it pointed even with the tilt knob unlocked. I can move the lens/ camera with the tip of a finger. The gimbal bearing is long and smooth, the lock knob large, sturdy and easy to use. The MH-100 only adds a couple of inches to the height and width of a monopod, so it should fit in most monopod cases too.
The setup looks odd and ungainly. The monopod is off to the left with the camera/lens hanging beside it to the right. Trust me, the rig is very easy to use once you get past the looks. I had been hand-holding my big lens because it was not ergonomic to use on a monopod with any head I tried. With the MH-100, the camera and lens are a pure joy to use on the monopod.
★★★★★
Verified Purchase
Well made and worth the price.
If I'm hiking with my Canon 6D or 7D and Tamron 150-600 attached, I carry my monopod to cut down on the weight. This head has been awesome. It's so well made and worth the price for me. I have not once had the bracket or knobs loosen while using it or carrying it. I can't say that about the ball head I was using. The mechanics of it are very smooth. The way it sits off to the side of the monopod is a little awkward at first, but now it would seem odd not to have it that way. It also makes it easier to carry because it allows me to place the camera and lens behind my head so the weight is on both shoulders. I'm saving up now for a new tripod and the Wimberley gimbal head. Great product Made in the USA.
★★★★★
Verified Purchase
Solid design
Works great on a monopod with my Sony 200-600 zoom lens. Feels stable and secure. My only issue is with monopods not this gimbal in that you always have to be holding the camera/monopod so never have 2 hands free.
★★★★★
Verified Purchase
Monopod game changer
It took a while for somebody to come up with the appropriate product for a mono pod, but this thing works beautifully.
I have a 500 mm F4 with a Tele converter on it and it balances perfectly and easily.
Small, compact, and apparently well built.
I specifically got this for birding and wildlife.
★★★★★
Verified Purchase
Amazing product
I have bought two of these now a d they are absolutely amazing for agile and mobile use of big lenses! It uses a turn knob Arca-Swiss mount with dual safety channels. It can also be mounted on top of a quick release Arca-Swiss head if you're so inclined.
I use one primarily with a 150-600mm Tamron lens on a gripped Nikon D750 and it doesn't struggle at all with the weight. Plenty of room, solid and fluid motion, and it makes me feel very secure.
I primarily use the second for shooting sports where I'm using a big telephoto lens, or I'm shooting from a static position ad a way to take weight off my arms (such as for wrestling when I sit on the floor next to the mat).
If you do sports or wildlife photography and are looking for something agile and light weight, this is the ticket! If you're newer to field I'd highly recommend getting an aluminum monopod as they're the best bet for the buck as large and rigid carbon fiber monopods tend to be $200+ whereas you can get something like a Manfrotto XPRO monopod for under $120 all day. I find the weight difference negligible but the sturdiness is a requisite as mounting this Wimberley head on a bouncy monopod will ruin your shots!
★★★★★
Verified Purchase
Quality build materials
This design helps eliminate hard to balance on monopod topped devices. By being on the "side", holding the monopod and using the camera is more natural and smooth.
★★★★★
Verified Purchase
Exceptional Monopod
There are few accessories for photography that I can say are game changing. This monopod head is one of them. The ability to get a balanced long lens rig on a monopod makes shooting much easier. It’s ability to make the rig easier to carry is just as important.
Note - because this side mounts your rig it effectively lowers the usable height by about three to five inches (height of old monopod head and height of lens foot). Because it side mounts it also changes the center of balance and may cause weaker monopods to bow. I ended up needing a new monopod (gitzo) that had greater length and strength.
★★★★★
Verified Purchase
Awesome option for Birding!
This little unit on a monopod is a great, lightweight improvement to packing a tripod and gimbal head while doing bird photography. Takes a short bit of getting used to, but once I did I love it.
Not sure what Amazon was after in the review form; they wanted me to rate “Sheerness” and “Warmth”. It’s a compact, blocky chunk of metal that does a great job holding a heavy camera and lens, and I have tripped over the monopod leg once!
★★★★★
Verified Purchase
Well made and well designed - works perfectly
This is a very high quality item and so well designed - it solves the monopod problem by providing true gimbal behavior with a light and slim profile. It works perfectly.
★★★★★
Verified Purchase
Excellent with a monopod for heavy telephoto lenses!
I bought this to use a telephoto lens on a monopod for birds in flight. It's fantastic. It's well built and solid, and the gimbal rotates very smoothly, yet locks in place tight. I think the price is fair for what you get. As long as the lens tripod collar and foot is at the center of gravity of the lens and camera, it will balance beautifully on this gimbal. My Olympus 100-400 f5-6.3 IS lens balances perfectly with an OM-D E-M1 III. And, with the Haoge OM-0415 replacement foot, one can reverse the Arca-Swiss plate to get the Olympus 40-150 Pro to balance as well. Makes the camera and lens almost weightless, yet it moves freely. Best on a sturdy monopod. It can screw right on top of the monopod or you can use an Arca-Swiss clamp. It's going on all my long telephoto photo trips. Highly recommended.
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Question & Answer
Question :
Will this fit on a giottos mm5580 monopod ?
Answer :
I’m not familiar with that exact monopod but this will fit any monopod that has a 3/8 in bolt. Most monopods have a bolt with both sizes, if your monopod has the smaller 1/4 in size, all you have to do is unscrew the bolt and turn it around. It’s double sided, the part you see is just the tip of one side. Either way though you can buy an adapter as well that goes from 1/4 to 3/8. So any monopod should work unless it has some strange built in head or something like that.
Question :
Can it handle the weight of a canon 400mm 2.8 is l usm i ?
Answer :
Yes, the Wimberley MH-100 MonoGimbal head can easily hold a Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS I USM lens and camera. The MonoGimbal is rated for over 100 lbs (45 kg).
Question :
What size is the base (where it mounts to the monopod) 40mm or 50mm going to use a really right Stuff qr plate?
Answer :
The base (where it mounts to the monopod) is 1.5" x 1.5" and has a 3/8" female threaded center to accept the monopod threaded bolt.
Question :
how does this work with a Tamron 150-600 G2? is it effective?
Answer :
I use this with a Sigma 150-600 and it works great. The Tamron will work the same. As with any final you will need a mounting plate longer that the tripod foot that comes with the lens. You rotate the foot up to the side, mount the gimbal, and adjust for center of balance. I find it works best mounted on the left side of the camera.
Question :
La placa marca haoge modelo 150mm es compatible con este head mh-100?
Answer :
We have not tested the "Haoge 150mm QR Quick Release Plate Dual Dovetail and D-Ring Screw Fits Arca-Swiss Standard for Tripod Ball Head", but it is advertised as Arca-Swiss compatible. As such, it should work with our MonoGimbal Head.
Question :
Which plate for canon rf100-500l is u(n)?
Answer :
We recommend our P-20 Lens Plate for the Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM Lens Plate. Given the balance point on this lens we recommend installing the P-20 plate with the anti-twist nubs against the front of the foot.
Question :
will this tripod head support my Canon 600mm lens ?
Answer :
Our MH-100 MonoGimbal Head is designed for use with monopods (and not tripods.) Our MonoGimbal Head will easily support a Canon 600mm lens.
Question :
Have you used this on a tripod?
Answer :
IMO the ideal setup on a center column tripod with a column sufficiently long to insure the tripod didn’t interfere with the altitude adjustment of the lens on the MH-100, would be the MH-100 attached to a good ARCA panning-clamp mounted on a leveling base. If the lenses used on the MH-100 are all collared lenses the leveling base might not be necessary if you loosen the lens collar so the camera can be rotated to a level position like you might do on a regular gimbal head. The panning-clamp would be useful to rotate the MH-100 to the left or right. Another less elegant (bulkier) solution would be to attach the MH-100 via the ARCA clamp of a ball head on a tripod with a center column.
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