Sirui makes some nice stuff for the price. I have one of their K-40 ball heads for sale on eBay right now as well as a Gitzo monopod. Time to clear out some duplicate items and get something else...

Best,
Todd Ferguson

Many of the Gitzo monopods are rated at 66 lb load. That doesn't mean you are going to put 66 lbs of weight on top of it. It means LOAD... Load in my mind is the stress that is placed on the extended monopod when the weight is not centered over the top and aligned with the center of the earth... The weight on an extended monopod can act as the weight on the end of a lever in my view. An easy example of this type of load would be if someone uses a monopod as a handled strobe and soft box holder. They may have an assistant hold the rig out over a shot at an angle to get the lighting they want. That 8-10 lbs of strobe and soft box can seem a lot heavier.

The other thing is how people carry their setup. Some people remove the lens and camera from the monopod if moving around while others are in a hurry, sports shooters, and just carry by the whole setup by the monopod or throw the lens over their shoulder. To me one of the most important things is how small the strong monopod can be made for travel and perhaps hiking to the shooting area. The other important thing to me is the ability of the sections to quickly lock and unlock securely. I want a monopod that is easy to adjust and also one that is not going to collapse down when I set the weight on it on the ground.

My tripod, ball head and gimbal are all rated for over 55 lbs too but I never expect to put that much weight on them directly. My feeling is I don't want to put $10,000 or more worth of camera gear on a $200 tripod. There are enough risks without going cheap on supporting heavy and expensive gear. That is just my philosophy.

Best,
Todd Ferguson

The 105 is a little short for many sports shooting situations on a full frame camera but might be usable on your crop sensor. You will have some challenges using it for sport though I think. The 70-200 might be better for sports depending on how close you can get and whether indoors or outdoor sports. If outdoors 200 is not very long for like soccer or football and even baseball sometimes.

I also don't consider a f/2.8 to be super fast for a prime lens. It is for a 70-200 but for a medium prime I would rather be in the f/1.8 or f/2 range. Especially if shooting indoors without any flash. I am not a Nikon shooter so I don't know the high ISO capability of your camera but indoors without flash higher ISO is often needed to get a fast enough shutter speed to stop action. I shot a lot of volleyball on a 1.3 crop sensor camera with an 85mm f/1.8 lens. It was about 110mm lens equivalent field of view. I sat in the first 3 rows courtside to shoot volleyball. I could shot players both near side and far side of the court with that setup. And the 85 focused very fast too.

Best,
Todd Ferguson

I found a good deal on a excellent condition Gitzo GM5561T monopod on eBay that is rated as their strongest monopod IIRC. When I researched it on B&H it was about $450 new. I also have a RRS 2 way adjustable tilt head for use on the monopod that I also got on eBay. Probably have about $500 in the setup and think it would support anything. I think RRS makes some really heavy duty monopods too. You can find good deals on eBay if you are willing to wait and watch and research. I have a Gitzo 2541 monopod for sale on eBay now...

No reason with the cheap storage to shoot small or low quality images in my view today. I will say that I do still have a few 256mb CF cards from my 15 year old digital rebel camera. I can only get 9 or 10 RAW images full size on those cards with my 20mp camera today... Technology marches on...

Best,
Todd Ferguson

I assumed he is talking about the TC III not the lens version...but maybe not...

I think the FlexTT6 for Canon is even better and I got a message from B&H that a 3 pack is on sale for $449 with a group controller included. I have Canon 600s with built in radio and the STR3 controller so I can do anything with that setup off camera. Some capabilities just come a price I guess.

Tony Northrop has a video on controllers and radios on YouTube. He covers Phottix, Buff and a couple others. Maybe the Buff Cyber Commander would work for you, you could look into that. They would probably cost about $359 for a Commander and 3 receivers. I am also exploring some of these issues as I try to use my Speedlites with Studio Monolights together. No easy or cheap high capability answers from what I have so far discovered.

Best,
Todd Ferguson

To me it would be...but you have to determine if it is the right lens and cost to you.

Best,
Todd Ferguson

Harrisburg, NC is on NC 49 just northeast of Charlotte. Maybe we could figure out a test plan if you are interested...

Best,
Todd Ferguson

I have a complete Wimberly WH-200 Gimbal package for sale on eBay now.

I currently use the RRS Pano Gimbal both outdoors and in studio setting with lenses 24-70 and longer.

Both are very well made an will support any lens you would put on them securely.
I feel the Wimberly is simpler and more oriented to outdoor shooting of birds and other wildlife.
The Wimberly has less parts and less interchangeable parts which makes it faster and easier to setup.
The RRS has a built in level on the pano arm for leveling the head. The Wimberly has no level built in so if leveling is important your camera or tripod leveling would have to be used. Not a super big deal in my mind.

It also has no markings on it, so it is not as repeatable settings wise as the RSS which is covered with scales on each axis and control. The RRS with these scales is much easier to use for pano shooting and multi row pano shooting if you are interested in shooting a number of images and stitching them together into a massive image. I also use the scales in some studio shooting that I do for repeatability. The scales make repeatability easy. You can also buy an RSS extra vertical arm with an Arca mount and use that to attach a camera or lens from the side which can be useful and faster than changing the mount on the RSS. Versatility but at a price and if you need it or not.

The lever versus screw is a personal issue in my view. I have levers on my RRS base but most of the controls are knobs. Not having a lever on the Wimberly never bothered me though. I can see where the lever could possibly catch on something perhaps but when locked not much of the lever is exposed to catch on anything. I think you would be catching your lens or camera before you would catch the lever actually. I think either is just about as fast to adjust a lens or camera position. The lever may be slightly faster to release and change out a lens or camera or other mounted item. One or the other may be easier for some sizes and strengths of hands to use. You would have to judge these factors and decide what is right for your needs of course.

Either way I think there are a lot of accessories that RRS offers that can be used on the RSS or the Wimberly. I have the RSS long lens support and a few different clamps and camera bars that I find useful for setups I use. Any of these can be used on any Arca type mount though. Both companies offer different types of mounts that can be used to mount accessories such as Speedlights, etc.

In the end both of them are quality pieces. It comes down to how you intend to use the gimbal. It also comes down to cost. To really deck out the RRS you are possibly going to spend double or more than what a Wimberly will cost you. But you will also have more precision, repeatability and options with the RRS. The cost can also be spread over time as you can buy the RRS as pieces if you want.

I also usually have a RRS L bracket mounted on my camera...

If you have any other questions feel free to ask or PM me.

Best,
Todd Ferguson

On the 1Dx MK II Canon does note that they recommend using only the center focus point if using the 70-200 with an extender. Says in the manual that if other focus points are used it is possible to get auto focus errors. I would probably also check the manual list of lens combinations and usable focus points with this lens as I think that list was larger...

I would love to figure out a reasonably scientific way to compare my combination of TC and 70-200 to the 100-400 at similar focal lengths and camera settings to compare sharpness between it and the 100-400 II. Maybe shooting a stop sign at 100 feet at iso 100, f/8 and 1/1000 on a tripod or something like that... I am certainly not an expert at comparing lens techniques. If anyone is interested in this PM me and we can try to put a test together.

On Canon 1D, 5D and 7D model cameras introduced since 2009 IIRC there is a Spot AF selection which is similar to single point focus but is even tighter and smaller in size than Single Point AF. If someone is using one of these model cameras they can look into using this to control their focus point better in challenging focusing situations.

Best,
Todd Ferguson

Yes, if you have the 70-200 f/2.8 IS II you can use the gen III Canon TCs with it. I have used the 2.0x TC III with mine and I can get out to 400mm that way. The 2.0 TC III is tons cheaper than the 100-400 II but people will argue the sharpness probably and the convenience factor...

Best,
Todd Ferguson