A Superb Gimbal for your Big Glass
A number of years back, when my wife and I retired we reactivated our passion for photography; in our case nature photography. Our longest lens at the time was a 400mm f5.6 but it was sharp and we enjoyed the images it produced. We made the mistake of purchasing a low cost gimbal head but were dismayed and frustrated at the poor quality and rough operation. We then purchased a high quality side mount and were pleased with the results and made many great images over the next couple of years.
Last year I purchased a 600mm f4 and knew the side mount was not up to the task of holding almost 20 pounds of lens, camera, grip and flash heads. Much research of what was on the market led me to Promediagear.com. After much debate, comparison and reading reviews and specs I settled on the Katana full gimbal. This gimbal reminds me of “Beauty and the Beast”. Beauty because of the awesome workmanship and impeccable finish. It is really a work of art. Four butter smooth bearings handle tilt and pan loads. Large soft knobs lock the gimbal in place or produce just the right amount of drag to steady the lens when shooting moving subjects. The action is amazingly smooth and there is absolutely no play in the bearings at all. Just looking at it reveals a lot of thought went into making this gimbal a good looking piece of equipment. The “Beast” results from the robustly engineered design. This thing looks like it will handle anything you can mount on it with absolute confidence. The Katana is engineered to hold a lot of equipment while at the same time saving weight without compromising its strength. The Katana is not light at five pounds but mounted on a good quality tripod of the correct load rating, there is no more stable and easy to use platform for your largest lens and camera. The Katana is at the high end of the price range but considering it is holding $15,000 in equipment, why would you trust something less? Add to that superb customer support and you have a winner.
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Reviewed by: Casey Balvert from Texas.
on 11/26/2015
5