Nalu Loc: Southern Arizona

Excellent point. I am not capable of hand holding a 600 mm prime on a subject waiting for the right moment. A shot of a bird on a twig is one thing, getting that bird to give you that unique pose or behavior is another.

mundy-F2 Loc: Chicago suburban area

Very nice. I suspect designing the rig was as much fun a taking pictures. Very nice!
Mundy

mundy-F2 Loc: Chicago suburban area

Vety nice picture.
Mundy

jonjacobik Loc: Quincy, MA

BIF are only a portion of birding photos. Having done it for 4 years, I find they tend to look somewhat alike. If you want a photo that tells a story, You're probably catching the bird catching a meal, or on the nest or interacting with other birds. A great BIF is thrill, but to tell a story, it might just take a longer exposure.

mundy-F2 Loc: Chicago suburban area

Very nice!
Mundy

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

For hand holding shutter speeds are very important, especially for birds using fast wing movements. When I photograph Great Blue Herons and Great Egrets bringing sticks to the female to build nests 1/4000 of a second is a rule for me. Other wise I like a minimum of 1/2000 sec. Again, faster is better.
Focusing systems are also important. With Nikon I use GROUP AUTO FOCUS, it gives you four dots in the middle of the viewfinder, as long as one of those dots are on the bird, it will be in focus, and yes, even the eye, no need for animal eye focus with Group Auto Focus. While I try to keep all four dots on the bird one will do.
Using a single spot or dot for BIF is very difficult due to the birds flight pattern.
On Sony I tend to go with Zone focus and I again use the middle of the view finder. With Sony I do have animal eye focus but it is not effective for distant birds, but up close and personal it will switch automatically to animal eye focus, it is really neat to experience.
When I teach bird tracking, I encourage my students to start by tracking cars as they drive by, keep the camera moving as you press the shutter, actually this is hard for some, some folks will actually stop moving the camera when they press the shutter. Practice makes perfect, and for this practice is important.
Now, shooting birds at a slow shutter speed can produce awesome images, you get a lot of throwaways but it is fun to experiment, I like 1/15 of a second, again, the trick is to keep the camera moving as you trip the shutter.
Good luck and keep on shooting until the end.

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

It's not as bad as you might think, I used to use one a lot with a 500mm f/4 which is just too big to use handheld for any length of time, the key is setting the Camera tripod at the right height to where you won't need to really crouch. I will say though I replaced that lens with a 300mm f/2.8 and both of Canon's extenders and put that gimbal away. Shooting handheld does give you more opportunities to get a shot if you are shooting for example BIF and you can keep the shutter speeds high enough.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Thank you.
My scenario right now is mostly feeders.
They are at eye level, below me and trees that are nearly a vertical shot from my hiding spot.
I know that the 100-400mm MII lens is not what gimbal is designed for due to balance issues but would hold it balanced.
I thought just having the set up support would help with fatigue.
But so many shots are quick and vary quickly as movement from low to high in trees would wear my leg out.
But hand holding and bracing on elbows seems to be the way to go from all the responses.
I do get some BIF as they come in and depart.
Then there is our feral cat needing to be photographed or a chipmunk, squirrel or rabbit as well while watching.
This is all from my outside office while working on design projects.

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

You can balance it by purchasing a large arca-swiss plate, I have had my 100-400 II on the gimbal, when you mount your camera and lens you simply slide your rig backwards or forwards until it becomes balanced, pretty easy.
You don't need a gimbal for your 100-400 II, you will get more shots handheld and if pushing your ISO makes your shots too noisy maybe you would do better to spend less money on Topaz DeNoise, it does a pretty good job.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Thx, nose is not an issue as it is generally sunny.
Took this last summer hand held of a catbird jumping around from my "Desk" handheld with 100-400.
about 25-30 feet away.

To all reading:
As I have got great information so far I am now leaning away from the gimbal at this time but WOW, so much help and great advice.
Thx to all and keep responding if you all have additional info as others are also getting great advice to use.
Thank you again.

Capn_Dave

👏👏👏👏

Nalu Loc: Southern Arizona

Again, you have gotten some great information here and you are probably correct in that for the most part you will not NEED a gimbal with a relatively short/light lens like a 100/400. But, at times, having support can help as some have explained. For example, I don’t think I would have gotten the shot of the owl below without having my 600 + 1.4 on a gimbal. The bird was stationary so I had to hold focus and framing on the bird for probably 2 minutes. I could not have done so if I were hand holding and I doubt many could. The lactic acid buildup would have been excruciating and I would have had to lower the lens for a rest. But with the support and the flexibility of movement with the gimbal, once the bird decided to leave, I was ready.

Not to beat a dead horse, adding a gimbal to your arsenal of weapons to capture your prey is of coarse your choice, but I believe you now have sufficient information to understand the pros and cons.

Here is the link to the photo:


https://static.uglyhedgehog.com/upload/2021/6/10/t1-521815-great_horned_a1_9452_srgb.jpg

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

Just buy an R5 and all your dreams will come true.... Below was shot with an 100-400 II in the woods under terrible light. IBIS coupled with IS is amazing, shot at 400mm 1/50th second. It will track birds with that lens and a 2X extender, giving you a pretty darn good 800mm f/11 lens.

(Download)

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Your post is the reason I now own the Sony 600mm f4, it actually feels lighter than my Sony 200-600. It is center weighted with just the front element beyond the mid way point.
But yes, with my older Nikon 600 f4, I could not have done so.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

I will likely not be getting an R5 soon, perhaps the R5II and likely with it the 800mm f11.
Then for stability, even though the IS and IBIS are amazing I hear by then a gimbal will possibly be of value.