…… the Jobu Head looks interesting. My only concern is that it does not seem to have any vertical adjustment of the lens platform which would seem to make it impossible to centre the lens body on the axis of rotation and so make the achievement of a truly ‘weightless’ neutral balance (without any drag dialled in on the knob) unachievable and thus losing one of the prime benefits the gimbal design. …..Can the Jobu do that. If it can, then I am interested.

The Jobu Jr 3 will balance perfectly with a 500/4 with or without a convertor or extender in place with a low profile QR foot. Unfortunately I cannot say if the 600/4 is balance-able for sure or not and since the 6 is much taller you might have to set up the head in side mount configuration to achieve neutral balance. I wish I had a 600/4 here to try for you but I don’t have access to one right now. Give me some time perhaps and I can let you know later.

Also you might want to look at the jobu head that is one size up from the Jr 3, the HD MkIII: http://www.jobu-design.com/catalog/item/2588354/6844286.htm. At 2 lbs 10 oz it is a lot lighter than the Wimb I but is not as compact or light as the JR 3. I actually have a MKIII here to test so I will let you know what I find and give me some time to see if I get a chance to test a 600 on the JR 3.

Thanks for the interest.

Robert

The RRS quick release is in a class of its own. Screw knobs are always slow and a sure fire way to lose shots especially when combined with side mounting (painful!). If the photography is fairly static eg set up and wait for the birds to turn up, then it’s OK but in the bush, wild animals do not hang about waiting for their pictures to be taken so you have to be able to mount/ demount your big lens like greased lightening. Very often if you don’t get your shot within 30 seconds of arriving on a sighting, it’s too late and the chance is lost. I have seen so many guys on safari fumbling and cursing trying to get big lenses mounted while the object of their desire disappears over the horizon.That’ where a good quick lever release matched to a plate from the same manufacturer comes into its own. No contest.

Good to hear you are doing well with the Jobu.

Thanks for taking time to comment.

Robert

My preference is the Jobu the clamp holds . a couple of times I have caught the quick release clamo and almost drop the lens and camera. Also the othe knobs on the Jobu make it easy to loosen and tughten the Gimbal allowing easier following of a BIF
Regards
Myer

As a professional photographer I have been a Jr. 3 user since early 2011. Jobu has been very helpful by offering my workshop participants, show participants and blog readers a 15% discount (checkout code: robert). This year I will be field testing some new Jobu equipment and posting my findings and observations here.

Let me know if I can help answer any questions.

Thanks for taking time to comment.