Ball Head Advice Required.

[Twombly Red]

Evening,

I am on the lookout for a decent ball head that will allow me to use a 40D with a wide angle and a macro lens. Sometimes a 400mm f5.6 when needing to travel light and a bit 'jack-of-all-trades' for the day. I will also need to be able to use a bird spotting scope on it while I am on holiday to keep luggage weight down to a minimum.

So I wanted to ask if anyone here knows of any spectacular deals going at the moment. Manfrotto would be nice since I have quite a few quick release plates already.

Giottos seem quite smooth. Has anyone got a KOOD ball head and are they happy with it. They seem to be value for money. Do they take Swiss Arca plates?

Then again, these ball heads on eBay seem to be of a solid KOOD type build and take Arca swiss plates. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/KS-0-Tripod-Ba...item2a04dac258 Does anyone have any experience of these?

Any further advice always appreciated too.

Many regards,
Andrew.

[nirofo]

I've been using a Benro B-2 MkII Ball Head for the last 18 months, it's an excellent head, very well made and has fine adjustment and can be locked solid, it comes complete with an Arca type quick release clamp and plate. I have used this head with my Nikon D200 and Tamron 200-500 with no problems, I can recommend it.

See it here at this web link.
http://photopal.co.uk/product_info.p...products_id=42

nirofo.

[gordon g]

I used one of the heavy manfrotto ballheads for a while, found it easy and intuitive to use and very stable even with a 500mm lens. However, I now use a heavy manfrotto geared head for landscape and macro. This is because fine adjustment is so much easier with this head, and the ballhead is really only used with the long lens for birding these days.

[Twombly Red]

Thanks Nirofo and Gordon. I shall now look into the option of geared heads but I think a ball head is my next purchase to tick quite a few boxes so I can go birding and do some photography with the same set up when using public transport. The Benro looks a decent piece of gear but a bit out of my price range for now so I think I may have a shot at the eBay 'knock off' for now and flog it later when I want to upgrade to a Rolls Royce model.

Thanks again and sorry for replying very late.

Regards,
Andrew.

[Twombly Red]

Evening,

In the end I decided to cough up a bit more and went for the Benro KS-1 ball head off eBay.

Since this thread I researched various heads and struggled with making a decision between a three way or a ball head and which make/model to go for.

The opinions on Benro being a cheap Chinese copy of Gitzo left me in slight trepidation when waiting for the delivery. I was half expecting it to be of an inferior finish and quality to the 'eBay Indian Gimbals' that I once had.

I got the head this morning. Poor quality? Not a bit of it at all, it is well engineered and finished. I have had a play with it and I think this is a quality item and it ticks a lot of boxes for a travelling birder/photographer. I am highly impressed with it.

It locks solidly and holds a decent weight. Landscape and macro photography will be a breeze with this head. When using my longer 400mm f5.6 lens I simply drop the ball head to the side and use it like a Gimbal. It is not as fluid as the Jobu head but works on the same basis and lets me go out for the day with one head when doing general photography.

I shall now be obtaining some more plates to convert my whole set up to the Arca Swiss system and focussing on the Jobu Gimbal and this ball head for all my needs.

There is a sliding safety pin system on the plate holder of the ball head making the use of some other Arca Swiss plates impossible unless you remove it completely (the safety pin) but it is a minor hindrance to me at the moment.

Cheers,
Andrew.

[andy153]

Hi Andrew, was going to reply earlier but forgot. - I have already done what you are doing - I use Arca Swiss, Markins and Acratech ball heads on my supports and "L" brackets by Kirk on the bodies. For those lenses that need plates on their collars I use Kirk plates. "Really Right Stuff" is also worth looking at.

[Twombly Red]

Hi Andy.

Ouch, those names are out of my price range at the moment. I now need to look out for a cheap and easy ballhead that I can convert to a swiss plate for the monopod and I am fully over to the swiss system. The birding scope is still on the Manfrotto plate though with it's own tripod but I don't use it much these days sadly.

Cheers,
Andrew.

[andy153]

Andrew, I have found several plates and heads quite cheap on ebay. But the most important thing is not the head but a steady sturdy tripod to put it on.

[Twombly Red]

Yes, thankfully I have a decent Feisol tripod to put the head on as well as a metal Manfrotto for windier days.

Cheers,
Andrew.