What tilt or gimbal head for my monopod?

CAT-THE-FIFTH

CAT-THE-FIFTH

CAT-THE-FIFTH

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I need a new head for my Gittos 3260 monopod,as I found the ball I used a bit annoying for airshows.

Looking to spend upto £60 or so,and need a head which can support the following:
1.)Nikon D600
2.)Sigma 100-300mm/F4 with a 1.4X TC

So I would say at least 4KG.

I was looking at this gimble head:

https://ianhuftonphotography.wordpress.com/2015/01/13/the-beike-bk-45-review/

Its around £60 or would a tilt head be better?? If so what model?

Or are there any good ball heads for under £100??
 
I use a Kirk MPA-2 monopod and like it. Very good build quality and fluid mechanics.

The only downside is that to chance the tilt from portrait to landscape involves using a hex key but tends to be the same for most monopod heads I'm told. For me it wasn't an issue because the head is used for my 300mm f/4.0.


I'm not sure you want such a gimble head on a monopod. The main function of a gamble head is to. A,e the lens effectively weightless so you can tilt it quickly and effortlessly. But on to monopod you are going to have to support the lens. Besides which the weight of a gamble head means you might as well use a proper tripod.
 
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My point is the purpose of a monopod is to loose a lot of the weight of a tripod. a 1.2KG gimbal would completely negate that advantage so I would look at a tripod with a gimbal head.

If you want somthign lighter and for a monopod then you should find tilt heads in the 200g range that work well.
For a Monopod, you don't need or necessarily want a ball head. The kirk MPA-2 I have is a single axis tilting head. Because that is all you really need to do. A monopod rotates effortlessly so there is no need for rotation. You can tilt the monopod side to side so the ability of a ball-head on tripod to make different rotations is not needed.
For an airshow, like birds in flight, what you need is to be able to tilt the camera up and down so you can point the camera up at the sky or back down to the horizon while keeping the monopod close to vertical, which is where it is most stable.



For airshows I would buy a good solid tripod and a gimbal, forget the monopod. A monopod is a big compromise and the advantage if light weight so I wouldn't remove its only advantage

I've heard good things about the LensMaster RH 1
http://www.lensmaster.co.uk/rh1.htm

EDIT: I see they have a lighter weight gimbal for monopods at 535g. that si more interesting but I still think your choices are 1) lightweight tilt head for monopod, 2) big gimbal on a big tripo
For airshows you wont be carrying the tripod far so can get a way with something much heavier and cheaper than a carbon setup.

A lightweight monopod with lightweight head is a compliment, not replacement, to a bigger more stable but heaier tripod.
 
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Manfrotto 393 bracket works well on a monopod in my experience, might be able to find one for ~£100 second hand. I used it with a Sigma 120-300 for a while before giving up on wildlife photography.
 
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