Hi Jack,
I'm confused about your problem. Previously, you stated:
I'm not familiar with the Jobu gimbal you have, but I assumed that meant it is one that can function either as a full gimbal where the lens foot points 'down' and sits on the cradle clamp or as a side gimbal where there is no cradle and the lens foot is on the left side of the lens (looking from behind) attaching directly to the clamp. I'll try to illustrate with my side mount gimbal (RRS PG-02).
A collared lens mounts like this (using the RF 70-200/2.8 since I was too lazy to pull out the 600/4, the gimbal is a bit overkill):
View attachment 202503
By simply rotating the gimbal side clamp 90°, the upright part of the L-bracket allows the camera to be mounted:
View attachment 202504
Am I missing something about what you're trying to do? You mention balance, but you should be able to lock the gimbal clamp in whatever orientation you want, e.g. with the camera level. That's what I did above. Of course, if you have no tension on the clamp pivot, then you're right about balance being an issue. This is what happens when I loosen the large knob opposite the clamp (I was gentle since I knew what would happen):
View attachment 202505
There's an easy (but not free) solution to that, and the clue to it is in my head's designation – PG stands for pano-gimbal. Although I usually use it as a gimbal head, it can also be used to make panoramas. Doing that 'properly' means rotating the camera/lens around the nodal point of the lens itself (which varies from lens to lens). The solution to that is actually the same solution to balancing the side-mounted camera body on the gimbal (since the rig has to be balanced for rotation around the nodal point). That solution is called a nodal slide. I have the
RRS MPR-CL II, and with that locked into the side gimbal clamp and the L-bracket attached to the clamp that is integrated into the nodal slide, with the knob loosened the rig can be slid back and forth in the clamp to the balance point (which is why it's called a nodal
slide):
View attachment 202506
(Technically, just balancing the rig doesn't mean you'll be rotating around the nodal point for a pano, it's more complex than that...but if your goal is a balanced rig so the gimbal acts like one, that does the trick.)
Incidentally, if you want to use the cradle clamp so you have a full gimbal, but use that with a camera body mounted, the answer is the same – a nodal slide. As you can see from the design, the rail sits fore-aft in the bottom clamp (same orientation as a lens foot), but the clamp integrated into the slide allows you to attach the camera base plate (no L-bracket needed) that is oriented 90° to the gimbal clamp.
View attachment 202507
Hope some of that long post helps sort you out!
