Arca ball

[Rusty Jarrett]

After a days shoot is there proper care to be taken to this head ? Mine seems to get small deposits on the surface and would like to properly deal with this.

Thanks, RJ

[Brian Ellis]

I don't know about the deposits but the Really Right Stuff guy suggests leaving the ball loose when the storing the head. He claims this will minimize the infamous "Arca Frozen Head" phenomenon.

[Frank Petronio]

Bob Watkins, the Arca-Swiss US service provider says just the opposite - keep it tight and not flopping around. RRS is a great company but they are not always correct - or maybe they are trying to promote sales of their new head?

He wrote an article called the "Care and Feeding of Your Arca-Swiss Monoball" - it is at http://www.precisioncameraworks.com

Newer models can not "lock-up" and with proper handlling you can prevent any Monoball from ever locking up. Most people treat them roughly when they are really a precision instrument -

[Sidney Cammeresi]

RRS have been making that recommendation for years.

No idea why you have to assume everything is a big corporate conspiracy.

[Ellis Vener]

never lubricate the ball and be very careful with what you clean it with. The best way to clean it is with a clean dry cloth and no cleaning fluid.

[Brian Ellis]

Frank - The Really Right Stuff guy made that recommendation long before he started selling his own head, I think I read it about five years ago.

Why can't "newer models" lock up? I bought mine around 1995 which I assume makes it an "older model" but when the major knob center gizmo thing fell out and got lost I was required to spend $100 or so to have the head updated because Arca Swiss didn't have the old style gizmos in stock any more. I assume that makes it a "newer model." The head has frozen once since having that modification done so it can happen unless, of course, there are other changes to the "newer models" that I don't know about and didn't have done.