3 Best Gimbal For Bird Photography | Birds Advice
While birding in the great outdoors, many birders prefer capturing some breathtaking footage of these wild, feathered animals for later viewing. They love to snap every moment they spend with them. But most of the time, many nature lovers fail to capture birds’ images, especially while these birds are on the move.
Instead of snapping beautiful, awe-inspiring photos, they get shaky footage, blurry images. And to avert such kinds of problems, gimbals strike in the market. These photography devices allow birders to track the movement of birds and capture images from varied angles without getting any jolts or bumps.
Besides, these units make bulky cameras feel weightless, enabling users to move freely and rotate cameras smoothly. Unfortunately, every gimbal won’t provide these benefits. Only the best gimbal for bird photography will give you such facilities. This article will introduce you to some of the best gimbals of present times.
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01. Best Gimbal For Bird Photography
Capturing the eye-soothing moment of flying birds requires you to have some professional photo-capturing skills and cameras. And with a high-quality gimbal, this task will be a lot easier for any photographer.
That said, meet this Movo GH800 MKII Carbon Fiber Professional Gimbal, specially designed to hold large cameras while offering a weightless feel and fluid motion.

Key Features:
- Carbon Fiber Body
- Gravity Balanced Head
- Arca-Swiss Quick Release Plate
- Ergonomic Panning Base
- 2.75 lbs. Of Weight
#Material:
Crafted from superior-quality carbon fiber, this birding gimbal will last for an extended duration while serving you the best performance for countless years.
Another remarkable benefit of its construction is that its gravity-balanced head can hold up large cameras, weighing up to 30 pounds yet offering a weightless feeling and full range of motion.
#Clamp & Plate:
This photography gimbal comes with an Arca clamp and an arca-swiss compatible quick-release plate, which is 120 mm long. Both functions are adjustable vertically and horizontally to accommodate and balance almost all cameras while making taking difficult shots a breeze.
#Panning Base & Knob:
The Movo Gimbal contains a panning base, which can rotate 360 degrees to help you take panning shots effortlessly. Apart from that, it’s got large, lobed knobs for easy adjustment. These knobs are operable even while wearing gloves.
#Weight:
Lastly, this gimbal is incredibly lightweight, weighing only 2.75 pounds. That means heavyweights won’t be a barrier anymore while taking various shots from different angles.
Overall, this Movo Photography Gimbal is ruggedly built, ergonomically designed, and feature-packed to provide you with the next level of bird-photography experience in the woods, and you can find this amazing stuff here.
02. Best Bird Photography Gimbal for iPhone
Every birder enjoys bird photography with their smartphones, but none loves to capture shaky footage even though sometimes they deal with this issue. However, to eliminate this problem, gimbals have been introduced.
And here we will be talking about one of the best quality gimbals of the present times, the DJI OM 4 -Handheld 3-Axis Smartphone Gimbal. It is specially designed for the iPhone yet is compatible with all smartphones. So now, let’s inspect its functions.

Key Features:
- Magnetic Phone Mount
- Magnetic Ring Holder
- Grip Tripod
- Storage Pouch
- 0.95 lbs. Of Weight
#Mounting:
This gimbal comes with a grip tripod, phone clamp, and clamping ring for effortless mounting of your phone. These functions will help you with image stabilization and eliminate the fear of recording shaky footage.
#Modes:
The DJI OM4 Smartphone Gimbal lets you utilize a variety of photography-friendly functions. And these features are active track 3.0, story mode, dynamic zoom, cloneme pano, gesture control, and timelapse. Below we will briefly discuss these functions.
However, to use these features correctly, you need first to install Osmo’s Memo App on your smartphone.
#Active Track 3.0:
The active track feature basically recognizes objects like adults, children, and pets while maintaining higher accuracy, helping you with image composition, and enabling you to snap stunning images.
#Story Mode:
Another jaw-dropping feature of this gimbal is the story mode. With one tap, you can select creative templates and capture fascinating footage to stay in the moment.
#Dynamic Zoom:
Dynamic zoom is one of the mind-bending functions of this bird-photography gimbal. It allows you to create Hollywood- like footage with minimal effort. Moreover, its advanced algorithm knows what to do to deliver you some b-roll footage.
#CloneMe Pano:
With the help of this CloneMe Pano feature, now landscape photographers can easily take panoramas. Yes, now you can amaze your friends and family with this highly beneficial function.
#Gesture Control:
Taking group selfies and recording videos while remaining completely hands-free has never been so convenient until Osmo introduces this Gesture control feature. Now you can control your gimbal with gestures remotely.
#Other Functions:
This DJI OM4’s other lucrative function is that it can charge your smartphone with the help of the USB A port, so, while whirling around in the wild, you don’t need to worry anymore about your smartphone’s battery might run out of charge.
Last but not least, maneuvering and carrying this gimbal is super convenient as it weighs only 0.95 lbs.
In summary, if you search for a compact, lightweight, ergonomically designed, and affordable gimbal for your smartphone to enjoy bird photography to the fullest, this one will surely meet your requirements, and you can find it here.
03. Best Bird Photography Gimbal For Android
As the final product on this list, we have another fantastic gimbal for android users: the Obudyard single-axis smartphone selfie stick gimbal. It has everything you want from a top-quality gimbal yet comes at a reasonable price. So, let’s dive into its features.

Key Features:
- Single Axis Motor
- Anti-Shake Selfie Stick
- Mobile Phone Tripod
- Bluetooth Remote Control
- 0.5 lbs. Of Weight
#Image Stabilization:
This smartphone gimbal boasts one single-axis, high-precision motor, which helps your gimbal maintain a horizontal state, offering a super anti-shake state and letting you snap blur-free photos comfortably.
#Anti-Shake Selfie Stick:
The gimbal comes with a 72cm long extension bar, which provides you with the facility of a selfie stick. Moreover, its ergonomic design makes taking selfies an effortless job. Also, it eliminates the probability of snapping blurry images or capturing shaky footage.
#Remote Control:
Unlike most gimbals on the market, this one offers remote control functionality with the help of Bluetooth. After connecting it via Bluetooth, you can shoot at any angle and even at a distance of about 10 m.
#Mobile Phone Tripod:
This bird photography gimbal is convertible into a mobile tripod. And to use this function, you need to open the handheld section of the stabilizer, place it on the desktop and then adjust its height according to your needs. Then, your mobile phone tripod is ready to shoot.
#Portability:
In terms of portability, this wildlife photography gimbal stands ahead of the rest of its competition. With its pocket-sized design and lightweight construction, it makes carrying super convenient.
You can put this 0.5-pound gimbal in your pocket and traverse through in the woods; yes, that’s easy.
In conclusion, this Obudyard single-axis smartphone selfie stick gimbal is exceptionally light, compact, and offers special functions to make bird photography easy and real fun. And you can get this excellent device for your android phone on this website.
That’s are some of the best gimbals for cameras and smartphones. Now let’s answer some most asked questions related to gimbals and bird photography.
How Do You Use A Gimbal For Bird Photography?
It depends on various factors. For instance, if you want to shoot using your smartphone, you need to mount your phone with the mounting clamp of your gimbal, and you are ready to snap some stunning images.
On the contrary, if you prefer using professional cameras with telephoto lenses, you should follow some mounting techniques, which are as follows:

The very first step to mounting your gimbal with a camera lens is to understand the basics of mounting and knowing how your gimbal fits on your lens.
Generally, most telephoto lenses come with a mounting platform that attaches to your gimbal head for bird photography. In contrast, gimbals feature a swinging arm with a mounting platform and a mounting plate for the perfect attachment of your lens.
First, you must attach the gimbal to a tripod and then install the mounting plate with the lens’s foot. Then, tighten all the gimbal knobs. Afterward, mount the lens, and loosen the mounting knob in order to inspect whether the lens stays in position or not.
If your lens drifts down, we recommend pulling the mounting plate a little backward or forward until it remains stable. Once you have installed the camera, lens, gimbal, and tripod, it is time to give it a final check.
For that, rotate the camera with lenses in all axes and see if they move fluidly, giving you a full range of motion. So, it’s that easy, and these are the correct methods of using a gimbal for bird photography.
Do You Need A Gimbal For Wildlife Photography?
According to the professional wildlife photographers’ statement, people shouldn’t use gimbals for wildlife photography unless they consider themselves serious about wildlife photography.

Hence, if you are one such wildlife photography enthusiast, you should get a gimbal and a tripod to avoid strains related to photography and level up your image capturing skill.
Can You Use A Gimbal For Still Photography?
Indeed, you can use a gimbal for still photography. In essence, it will be pretty helpful for you while taking various shots from tricky and awkward angles.

And you will always capture steady, blur-free footage thanks to the gimbal’s advanced algorithms, which correct all the unexpected jolts and bumps during filming.
Wrapping Up
It’s no wonder how beneficial it is to use a gimbal for bird photography. It gives you a stable base for panning shots, makes panning movement ridiculously easy, and most importantly, eliminates the hassle of carrying heavy loads of big cameras.
As you know, only the best ones can offer such facilities. Thus, we recommend you choose wisely after thoroughly checking out all the required features. However, if you want to avoid checking, you may pick any of the listed gimbals that will provide all these aforementioned benefits and make your bird photography effortless and fun.
Image Sources:
- Istockphoto.com
- Gettyimages.com
- Maxpixel.com