Katana Gimbal Head, pro media gear: I have a friend who is looking at the Katana Gimbal Head from www.promediagear.com Not sure which model of the Katana that he is looking at. Anyone...

twillsol Loc: St. Louis, MO

I have a friend who is looking at the Katana Gimbal Head from www.promediagear.com

Not sure which model of the Katana that he is looking at.

Anyone dealt with them before or have a Katana Gimbal Head?

Appreciate any input you can give me.

Will

rwilson1942 Loc: Houston, TX

I never heard of Promediagear before, but they sure have some fancy (and expensive) stuff.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

twillsol wrote:

I have a friend who is looking at the Katana Gimbal Head from www.promediagear.com

Not sure which model of the Katana that he is looking at.

Anyone dealt with them before or have a Katana Gimbal Head?

Appreciate any input you can give me.

Will

I had a Katana "Junior" gimbal head that was traded in on a Nest Carbon Fiber gimbal head. It was very nicely made, but way too light for that customers lenses, I think he said it cost $500. I ended up selling it on Ebay for $200.

twillsol Loc: St. Louis, MO

MT Shooter wrote:

I had a Katana "Junior" gimbal head that was traded in on a Nest Carbon Fiber gimbal head. It was very nicely made, but way too light for that customers lenses, I think he said it cost $500. I ended up selling it on Ebay for $200.

Thanks for the Info MT; I told him to get the Nest from you, I bought one from you last December and it is great, handles my 150- 600 easily.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

twillsol wrote:

I have a friend who is looking at the Katana Gimbal Head from www.promediagear.com

Not sure which model of the Katana that he is looking at.

Anyone dealt with them before or have a Katana Gimbal Head?

Appreciate any input you can give me.

Will

After looking at the promedia site I find their gimbal heads to appear awkward to use with the swing lock screw being on top instead of being on the side, this would put it in a different position every time you made an adjustment.
The price is about the same as the Wimberly, which is very steady and I use it all the time on a Gitzo GT5561SGT tripod for macro and telephoto., "Both are highly overpriced"
I have no experience with the nest products but I see they are highly recommended by many.
The tripod is overkill but will stand steady in anything short of a hurricane

Linda Ewing Loc: Lincolnshire,UK

MT Shooter wrote:

I had a Katana "Junior" gimbal head that was traded in on a Nest Carbon Fiber gimbal head. It was very nicely made, but way too light for that customers lenses, I think he said it cost $500. I ended up selling it on Ebay for $200.

Have you heard of the Uniqball/gimble, they are expensive but have good reviews and take heavy lenses, anyone used any of these before I buy.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

Linda Ewing wrote:

Have you heard of the Uniqball/gimble, they are expensive but have good reviews and take heavy lenses, anyone used any of these before I buy.

I would say save your money and buy a true gimbal head if you are planning to use it with a heavy lens / camera combo.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

Linda Ewing wrote:

Have you heard of the Uniqball/gimble, they are expensive but have good reviews and take heavy lenses, anyone used any of these before I buy.

I have had one, they are unique for sure. The biggest drawback is that they hold your large, heavy lenses way out to the side rather than centered over the base pivot. This cause some ridiculously bad parallax issues as well as creating a serious balance problem for the tripod to support. Maybe not so bad for a 70-200 lens, but I would never even for a split second consider hanging my 600mm F4 lenses from such an awkward setup. That would be a definite tragedy in the making.
It's another good, over-priced ball head, but a lousy choice for a large lens gimbal.

nejurs Loc: Upstate New York

I have the Katana and a Wimberley WH200(don't ask why) and the Katana is excellent if you need a sturdy mount and it's built like it would handle a .50 cal sniper rifle. It is very heavy compared to the Wimberley so be sure the tripod is up to the task of a 5lb gimbal in addition to gear weight. I have mine on a Really Right Stuff 34L and a RRS leveling base. The lock controls are easy to use and work great. Once balanced it stays where it's put.
It is bulky and doesn't travel as easily as lighter gimbals but I would certainly recommend it.

GEEPOPS

Okay I've been using Promediagear for a few years now. I really like their dedicated L -brackets and boomerang flash bracket. I also own the PGM ball head and tomahawk gimbal and although they are very well made and operated very smoothly, the ball head and gimbal combined weigh almost 4 lbs which is why I purchased my Sirui gimbal. When your out and about with your gear 4 lbs is a lot of extra weight to be carrying

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

twillsol wrote:

I have a friend who is looking at the Katana Gimbal Head from www.promediagear.com

Not sure which model of the Katana that he is looking at.

Anyone dealt with them before or have a Katana Gimbal Head?

Appreciate any input you can give me.

Will

What lens/camera/tripod will he be using?

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

twillsol wrote:

I have a friend who is looking at the Katana Gimbal Head from www.promediagear.com

Not sure which model of the Katana that he is looking at.

Anyone dealt with them before or have a Katana Gimbal Head?

Appreciate any input you can give me.

Will

That is probably the best gimbal you can buy, I love all my PMG stuff!!

twillsol Loc: St. Louis, MO

Gene51 wrote:

What lens/camera/tripod will he be using?

Nikon D750 with Sigma 150 - 600

Kedan Loc: Orland Park IL

MT Shooter wrote:

I had a Katana "Junior" gimbal head that was traded in on a Nest Carbon Fiber gimbal head. It was very nicely made, but way too light for that customers lenses, I think he said it cost $500. I ended up selling it on Ebay for $200.

Hello I'm not sure that is possible as we just started selling the Katana Juniors in October this year. If customer didn't like the Katana Junior he would have full 30 days to return it. Also the Katana Junior has been tested with lenses up to 600mm F4.0 from Canon and Nikon and holds them with ease.

Since you sell the Nest Gimbal yourself maybe we should do a head to head comparison.