With a plethora of adjectives to describe exquisite Italian design the likes of exclusive brands Ferrari and Gucci, one could easily place Zenelli and their latest top-of-the-line gimbal in the same class. This is a head turner. This is nature photographer high-fashion and with functionality that matches this incredible look.

All fine and dandy but what is it?

Admittedly most if not everyone outside nature photographers and gear heads knows what a gimbal head and with good reason. What appears to be a fallos symbol more than a camera accessory is in fact one of the most important aspect in still and videography – Stabilization.
And while a gimbal can give tremendous stabilization on even the largest lenses it is in fact NOT the most important cause when choosing a gimbal. Where high-end gimbal heads shines and the Zenelli CARBON ZX Carbon Fiber certainly belongs in this category is SPEED. How fast and how easy can you move a 25 pounds camera setup. How effortless and easily can you swing, pan and tilt your gear in the heat of action.

Why not just buy a cheap $99 gimbal of Ebay, they’re all the same right?

WRONG, there’s much more to the gimbal than just a low price point. This is truly a class where you get what you pay. A $99 gimbal might give you a place to rest your biggest lens, but as soon as you get in the action you’ll find out how badly it pans or how badly it tilts – How badly it functions! How cheap and poorly used knockoff chinese aluminum can be and how frustrating it is to buy anything besides top-quality products. I’m all for getting as much for the buck as the next one but there’s not reason to save a bit to give up a lot.
Are you into high-end gear? Do you strive for the best? Then why not use the best gear to get there.

Zenelli CARBON ZX Carbon Fiber

There’s only so much you can write about things and still not convey the full message. Having tried ALL the major gimbal brands and products on the market ($99 gimbal included) I can truly say the Zenelli CARBON ZX Carbon Fiber gimbal head is a good as it gets!
Ultra sleek exquisitely made woven carbon fiber with beautiful bends and pattern, aircraft grade! aluminium and large knobs that can be used even with huge winter gloves. In warm light this gimbal looks stunning!
I love how they included the italian flag in the base.

This is a product that was made with a certain amount of pride and it shows.

You know you have something unique and high quality when it takes just a hint of effort to lock the head completely. If you have a thing for pushing locks with your pinky here’s the product where you in fact can do this!
Zenelli included a brilliant quick-lock you’ll use when transporting it from A to B.
As you might have noticed they even included a camo-cover and they even included 2 large sized lensplates.
Take a look at this video to see how easy it is to use.

Quick-release shoe in the swingarm

In fact this is nothing new or groundbreaking. But there’s only a handful of gimbal heads where the quick-release truly offers QUICK release. Remember how I talked about the gimbal is all about speed. The Zenelli CARBON ZX Carbon Fiber clamp-style release means you can mount your camera-combination within seconds, if you were to switch your 500mm lens with a 800mm lens.
With the older style knob release chances are you’ll still be turning the release knob even when the actions sequence is long gone.
As easy as it is to close the clamp as easy it is to open it again. It takes slightly more effort but you’ll learn it in no time.
The clamp is the Arca-Swiss type, but since there’s no true standard how wide the plates can be Zenelli made the clamp fully adjustable, just to be sure you’ll never run into the problem where one plate might be too wide or too narrow – Awesome!

Why not just choose an aluminium version like the Zenelli KEVLASS-Z Gimbal Head and save money?

Fair question! My answer is; why settle for the lesser product?
If you have already invested $20000 worth of camera equipment well knowing you bought the sharpest lenses and the very best camera body combination, why settle for a product that is less stable, prone to failure and weighs twice as much?!
One of the multiple benefits by chosen carbon fiber is not only does it weigh close to half of the aluminium counterpart, its MUCH more rigid and less prone to bend. In the heat of the action the last thing to want to happen in the head failing due to metal fatigue or inferior rigidity. You won’t have that happen to you with this carbon fiber gimbal – Ever!
As already mentioned one of the major benefits by using carbon fiber is weight. And indeed the Zenelli CARBON ZX Carbon Fiber is the lightest full-size gimbal head on the market by a fair share. In fact it weight almost HALF of its main peers.
Zenelli made that possible by using clever sculpting techniques both for the carbon fiber as well as the aluminium. A full-size gimbal head with a weight lower than a milk carton, only a mere 900g including the swing-arm is truly a magnificent achievement.
You know when you’re looking at something real and are about to lift up an item only to find out it weighs ever so less than you’d imagined – You’ll do the very same with the Zenelli CARBON ZX Carbon Fiber gimbal head.

Conclusion

What can be said that I haven’t said already. – As expensive as this carbon fiber gimbal head is there’s no way around it – It’s as good as it’s gets. If you want the lightest, smoothest, fastest and coolest looking gimbal head on the market the Zenelli CARBON ZX is the only option. If you’re already heavily invested into the best camere-gear money can buy why settle for anything less.
This is the cream-of-the-crop and as good-looking as it is a professional tool for any serious nature / wildlife photographer.