Which Ball-Head?

[gmfotografie]

hi my friends, it´s time for a good, new ball-head!

the fml cb58-ftr seams to be a very well designed and usable head.
also the arca-swiss d4 looks very good; but the price is much higher.

i will use the system for landscape and architecture.
i have a 5diii a 501cm and a chamonix 45.

maybe you can help me to find the right equipment (should be a long time equipment).
i have never worked with a gearded head but it seams to be very interesting for exact movements.
how accurate is the movement of the d4 without gear?

best michael

[Rolfe Tessem]

Take a look at the Acratech GP. I upgraded from an Arca Swiss B1, and it was a very worthwhile upgrade. I use it on Induro legs with a similar range of cameras.

[Ivan]

Sorry if Im late for this thread but I've had a Arca Swiss ballhead for more than two decades. Perfect precision and so smooth. Besides it is beautiful.

[angusparker]

Arca Swiss D4 - bit overkill. Or for minimalist RRS BH-25 - works for my Chamonix 4x5.....

[mervynyan]

for light setup, d4 is an overkill but it is worth the purchase.

[EdSawyer]

2nd the Acratech head recommendations. Those are really a fantastic piece of design work. I have the GP or GV2, I forget. But they are all good.

[csxcnj]

I got the FLM 58 with tilt lock from Ari a few weeks ago and really like it. Also like my Manfrotto 410 a lot. The FLM will be my 8x10 head when the time comes.

it's pretty much a toss up between the two but the 410 is easier for me to use when the air temps are in the finger numbing range.

[jeroldharter]

There are many good ball heads out there. If you are seriously considering a d4 then you could buy whatever you want. Your cameras are not that big but maybe your lenses are? You mention architecture so you might like a geared head. Of course, the Chamonix does not have geared movements so maybe the precision and cost of a geared head is wasted. I would find a ball head with a field camera a very annoying combination for architecture because of the flopping or at lease randomness of making adjustments. Something like a d4 or a cube would be ideal. But for general use nearly any good ball head would do.

FYI, the basic model Acratech weighs just about 1 lb so it is almost weightless compared to some heads. If your budget is right, you might like two heads: something like a relatively inexpensive Acratech for field work or general shooting and a d4 geared head for other work.

[Jeff Keller]

The d4 is very nice. So far I've only used it with a DSLR. The friction can be adjusted so that you can push the head into position but the gear drive is very quick to use. The action of the two axis: left-right and up-down are very well separated making it easier to adjust than a simple ball head. The non-geared version would probably be quite easy to use. The d4 is becoming my favorite head.

I got a used FLM 38FT prior to getting the d4. When the FLM is lightly loaded it appears to work as expected but doesn't with a heavier load: a DSLR with 14-24 / 2.8 zoom. Probably it needs to be serviced judging by how happy other members are with FLM. The d4 is much nicer but again my FLM probably needs servicing so my comparison isn't entirely fair to FLM.

The Acratech ball heads are very nice and seem quite sturdy even though they are light weight. I've been quite happy with it when using a 400/4 telephoto. Their drag can be set so that the camera won't drift but can be readily moved. It has worked well with a Canham MQC 5x7. I also got a Arca Swiss Z1 with a set of legs. The Arca Swiss seems to be the strongest head I've ever experienced. I would be hard pressed to choose between the Acratech and the Arca Swiss Z1 other than the weight vs. load capacity.

[Lenny Eiger]

Novoflex. Beautifully made, works great.

Of course, for architecture, I'd use a three-way head... more more controllable...

Lenny

[Sanders]

We use an Arca Swiss B1, but use generic cheaper mounting plates, excellent!

[Brassai]

I have a Chamonix 045n and a Nikon D7100 (biggest lens 80-400mm VR.) I use a Gitzo 1325 carbon fiber tripod with an AcraTech head. Have been using it for over 10 years now--it is perfect. Very solid, AcraTech head is superb.

[Greg Miller]

I have owned a few Arca-Swiss heads. The Really Right Stuff BH-55 puts them to shame.

[Drew Bedo]

Not sure that I understand the seemingly endless search gor the ONE BEST of any piece of gear. I get the endless search part . . .because there is no one best piece of anything.

I muat have four ball heads and have cycled many more onto and off of that roster. One solution for my 8x10 outfit is a sturdy tripod with a leveling center post . . .ofen I mount the 8x10 directly without the heavy-duty ball head. It is flexible enough for most of what I do and saves 3-4 pounds.

There are a couple of lighter ball heads for the 4x5 gear . . .and a Pan-Tilt head too. Which one goes under the camera depends on what I want to do. for some shoots light weight is the controlling parameter . . .sometimes a rock-steady lock-down is what it takes.There aalso is a side-arm that gets used for some directly ovver-head shots with the 4x5. Sometimes there is a heavy duty (H-D for 35mm SLR) X-Y focus rack for fine macro. None of this gear was bought new and it wasn't gotten all at once. These are tools not home décor.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that for me, THE GEAR isn't an end in itself, but a means to an end . . .the creation of meaningful images.

[Ari]

Well said, Drew.

[ROL]

I guess what I'm trying to say is that for me, THE GEAR isn't an end in itself, but a means to an end . . .the creation of meaningful images.

Careful. You will be unceremoniously drummed out of the Gear forum, if you persist. We will then have to start our own forum, where the ends are prints instead of "images". Then further segregate into posters who can spell. Just sayin'.;)

[Kodachrome25]

Can someone give me some tips in how to set the tension on the Acratech GP correctly? I am having a hard time with it and it seems to really need cranking down to lock, my cameras often go flopping over when I use it when I think it is locked down. It is far less easy to get dialed in than my old Arca Swiss B1 head, annoyingly so really....

[Jeff Keller]

I have an old Acratech head which preceeded the GV, was made mostly for spotting scopes, and was retrofitted (by Acratech) to have the drop slot of the GV. The minimum tension adjust knob never worked even though Acratech added it with the retrofit. I find it pretty easy to adjust the main tension knob so I've never worried about the minimum tension knob. You may have a similar issue. Contact Acratech and see what they have to say.

Instructions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OffEGXjhbk

[Drew Bedo]

Careful. You will be unceremoniously drummed out of the Gear forum, if you persist. We will then have to start our own forum, where the ends are prints instead of "images". Then further segregate into posters who can spell. Just sayin'.;)

Sorry to seem illiterate. While English is my mother tongue, the correct version of the written word has always been a herdle for me . . .and now my best corrected vision is 20/150 to 20/200 in one eye, so its harder. If spell-check can't catch it I likely won't either.My apologies.

Again: didn't ,ean to offend anyone's sensibilities by stopping short of hard-copy output, "prints" as you call them. Some of my best work has never been printed with any technology.

I belong to a collector's club here in Houston. We have members who always have the latest digital whats-it and others who have every Kodak ever made before 1950 (in the box with packing and mfg papers). We suspect a few of the latter to never have actually taken a photograph.

Whatever the case . . .its all good.

[Bob Sawin]

I use a Really Right Stuff BH-40 Ball Head with my Toyo 45AII, Mamiya 7II and Bronica SQb cameras. I find it to be great out in the field.

[Drew Bedo]

MHoth:

This thread id nearly three months old now.

Please give us an update—what have you decided?

What did you get?

How does it work for you?

[jesse]

I'm using RRS BH-55 ball head and it is good for my Ebony 4X5 and Shenhao 8x10 camera

[Greg Miller]

I recently added a RRS BH-55 with a PCLR clamp on to to my collection. The clamp has its own panning base and spirit level. So once you level the clamp/panning base, you can pan and not lose level (i find this to be a great starting point because a slight change in composition (slight pan left or right) does not require re-leveling everything - also a good practice to level the camera and use rise/fall rather than pointing the camera up or down). This lightened my load because by eliminating the add-on leveling base from between my tripod and the existing BH-55 head.