Testing the new 'Boomerang' Plate

Back at the Focus on Imaging Show earlier this year, I tried to find a manufacturer interested in the production of a camera plate that would add functionality to the ease of use a gimbal head when using lenses of around 300mm. My issue was that with very long and heavy lenses these proved really efficient, but the lesser mass of say a 300mm f/4 did not work as well. I reckoned that there was not sufficient leverage from gripping the camera body because of its proximity to the axis of the rotating arm and the centre of gravity of the lens.

Panning was fine using the bulky upright of the gimbal head, it was the vertical movement which was less efficient, to test out my theory I angled a straight bar forward from the camera baseplate and added a pistol grip that was now in line with the centre of gravity of the lens/camera body, and with the added leverage of the pistol grip the balance of effort in both panning and raising or lowering of the lens was more equal resulting in far smoother use of the gimbal head with such a lens.

This morning Calumet came up trumps with a prototype of what I envisaged, and I set out out to test whether it worked by taking my Canon 7D, 300mm f/4 and gimbal head and the newly christened 'Boomerang' plate to the Grand Union Canal near Wilstone, and the gallery of images here is the result.

Obviously I have no idea whether Calumet will produce the plate, but for those photographers who would like to have smooth and controlled movement from the less weighty and shorter focal length telephotos, this plate opens up the world of gimbal heads, and I think it's the way forward – it is far more controlled than a ball head.

I only used the 300mm lens here and was only disappointed that the two kingfishers I spotted that sped like Exocet missiles along the reeds did not return later, which would have been the real test! But I did spot a Muntjack and a mobbing of a mating pair of damselflies by a mating pair of water boatmen!