Gimbal mount for non collared lens

[Don Kondra]

Greetings,

I've been enjoying using my Jobu Jr. 2 gimbal head so much I decided to make an adapter to use my shorter non collared lenses with the quick release mount and plates from my Velbon ball head.

I had purchased a spare lens mount plate that will attach to the camera but the lenses diameter does not allow the plate to be moved forward enough to balance the camera/lens and it cannot be moved sideways enough to clear the brace on the gimbal.

Simple solution, attach the lens mount plate and quick release mount to a piece of wood....

The original thought was to make a wood prototype and have it cast in aluminum but it works just fine as is...

Basically I balanced the camera on a wood dowel with 14-54/7-14mm lens to find the necessary range of center points and came up with 1 1/2" x 1" x 6".

Pic's are worth a thousand words :D

Wood bracket and hardware...

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg202/donkondra/HardwareMedium.jpg

Assembled...

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg202/donkondra/AssembledMedium.jpg

In use...

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg202/donkondra/BackthreequarterviewMedium.jpg

Side view...

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg202/donkondra/SideviewMedium.jpg

Back view...

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg202/donkondra/BackviewMedium.jpg

Still to come, a little shaping and a coat of paint :wink

And order another mounting plate to make the Velbon ball head functional again for the odd occasion I need to have two camera's mounted at the same time.

Cheers, Don

[ziggy53]

That's mighty clever Don. :thumb:clap

Manfrotto does make a commercial bracket with similar features, but it's not nearly as much fun:

http://www.adorama.com/Als/ProductPage/BG3420.html

[Don Kondra]

Thanks Ziggy,

After I was all done I discovered Jobu Design makes a bracket for $120 to do what my stick of wood does :wink

Minus the quick release mount of course...

I should mention that Jobu Design is a relatively new Canadian company at ~ 2 years old.

The Jobu Jr. 2 gimbal head is $249 at B&H and lens mounting plates are ~$50.

Either with the store bought bracket or my modification you can mount any camera/lens combination so you are not limited to collared lenses.

For those not familiar with how a gimbal works, the camera/lens combo is balanced on the arm and can be swung through an arc with one finger.

No danger of accidentally loosening off the ball and having the camera/lens come crashing down onto the tripod :rofl

Cheers, Don