Whether you’re shooting wildlife, aircraft, motorsports or athletics, wielding a long telephoto lens is hard work, especially for long periods. One of the issues with tripod mounting using a standard tripod head is the lack of movement available, which is where gimbal tripod heads come into play.
The K&F Concept Professional Gimbal Head is a budget gimbal head that allows for a range of smooth movements while supporting the weight of large and heavy lenses. Also, once balanced correctly, the head will hold the camera in various positions without being held or locked down.
The K&F Concept Professional Gimbal Head offers a load capacity of 44lbs / 20kg, so it’s more than capable of supporting the majority of camera and lens combinations. It’s also highly adjustable to accommodate different lenses and is well-made, making it one of the best gimbal heads for tripods to consider if you’re on a budget.
K&F Concept Professional Gimbal Head: Specifications
K&F Concept Professional Gimbal Head: Price
Geared tripod heads are traditionally expensive, but the K&F Concept Professional Gimbal Head comes in at the bargain price of $120 / £97 / AU$192. It’s not the least expensive tripod head of this type that you can buy, but it’s a long way from the most expensive and the build quality of the Gimbal Head makes it a great value-for-money option for beginners.
K&F Concept Professional Gimbal Head: Design & Handling
The K&F Gimbal Head features a solid build thanks to its machined aluminium construction with an anti-oxidation coating, which gives it a quality feel in the hand. The overall design is black with large grey knobs for making adjustments and a couple of grey parts that contrast with the rest of the head.
The knobs and dials for making adjustments to the head are all machined aluminium rather than plastic. This gives them a quality look and feel, and instils confidence in their strength when working with large and heavy lenses. The head is also rigid, with no movement of the separate parts.
The overall design is fairly simple with the main vertical adjustment available for balancing lenses, which works alongside plate positioning. There is, however, an unnecessary horizontal adjustment, and the Arca Swiss tripod plate isn’t particularly long, which could restrict adjustments here with some lenses. But, in all fairness, it didn’t cause any issues during testing.
The horizontal adjustment allows you to move the swing arm inwards and outwards, but having the tripod plate and lens directly above the point where the gimbal head attaches to the tripod makes the most sense. It’s not a huge issue once set up, but it does add an unnecessary moving part.
K&F Concept Professional Gimbal Head: Performance
This is a panoramic head with 360-degree rotation so you have full rotation when the base is unlocked. There’s also a scale if you need it, although I suspect that the majority of wildlife, sport and motorsport photographers are more interested in the action that unfolds in front of the lens, as opposed to its exact angle in relation to the camera.
Movements are a little stiff, which introduces a degree of resistance and is likely the result of damping. Movements are smooth, but there’s an absence of ease and fluidity that you experience with more expensive gimbal heads. Reduced performance is to be expected, but it’s still more than acceptable for the price.
As previously mentioned, the K&F Gimbal Head has a load capacity of up to 44lbs/20kg which is impressive. This means that it could accommodate the majority of cameras in terms of weight, but the gimbal head may be too small to support larger-diameter professional lenses.
K&F Concept Professional Gimbal Head: Verdict
The K&F Concept Professional Gimbal Head is worth considering if you’re a wildlife beginner or on a tight budget. Build quality is impressive for the price, and the large knobs make adjustments and locking quick and easy. The horizontal adjustment isn’t necessary but can be overlooked. The movements of the gimbal are a little stiff, which adds a degree of resistance rather than easy movement.
