Ball Heads

All the funky stuff which turns your 550 gramme DSLR into a 5 kilo bag...
motor
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Joined: Fri May 29, 2009 6:53 pm

Ball Heads

Unread post by motor »

I have a giottos besalt lava tripod (7370) and am very happy with it. I also have an iDURO (C114) carbon tripod and happy as well especially when traveling. I have been using the manfrotto 322rc2 head on both with great results. My wife is starting to really get interested in this photo thing so I need to purchase a new ball head that will support my 400G very well. The manfrotto does but needs to be tightend down really well. I am looking for something to support close to 22-28 lbs for that is the rating of the Giottos tripod. I have looked at the Giottos MH-3300 Pro Series II Ball Head with MH-658 arca plate and was wondering if anyone had any comments on this setup? There are good comments on the net from Adorama and B&H but anyone have any personal comments? What head would you recommend for around $200 to hold 22-28 lbs?

Motor
David Kilpatrick
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Re: Ball Heads

Unread post by David Kilpatrick »

I have half a dozen different original Giottos heads, from the first days of their import to the UK when we photographed and tested the product range. The importing company lost the franchise before we returned the gear, with the result that I had a full set of ball heads and their original circular quick change mount. In all cases, the heads have stood up well mechanically but - the tightening screw can come out entirely and get lost (same problem with Arca Swiss, my 1993 vintage Arca head has a replacement screw found from some other product); the rubber grips on the knobs loosen, then split, and fall off leaving the knobs bare metal.

Giottos products have come a long way in the last 10 years. These early ones are well engineered but not all that well designed, they just copied other makes and didn't know what problems would arise.

David
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WaltKnapp
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Joined: Tue Mar 02, 2010 9:28 pm

Re: Ball Heads

Unread post by WaltKnapp »

One might also want to think that with cameras becoming hybrid still/video cameras that ball heads are probably not going to be the best choice, certainly not for the video half.

Walt
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