Ball head tension - good performers?

frons

I have fought with my Bogen 3055 for the past 15 years and think it's time to get something more user-friendly. I have it paired with a Benbo Trekker, an unconventional combo to be sure. I love the Trekker, but the Bogen has got to go.

While shooting, I find that once the 'pod is set, I am often moving the camera position slightly to keep a moving subject in the frame and/or reframing. Not having the ball on the Bogen locked as tightly as possible allows this without too much fiddling with the locking lever.

What better ball heads have you used that have a good tension adjustment? I don't want to have to be fiddling with the locking knob when I need to be focusing (I am still using the mf Nikkor 200/4 with a D200). I'm leaning toward the Kirk BH-3, but not having used it, I'd like to know if there may be a better head for the way I shoot.

kdog

The Really Right Stuff ballheads have an adjustable "drag setting", that does exactly what you want. It even has a scale on it, so you can remember the drag settings for a particular camera/lens setup, and return to it later.

You can read about the controls on RRS ballheads here: http://reallyrightstuff.com/ballheads/04.html

Note that you don't actually have to use the drag adjustment for this. You can simply leave the main locking knob slightly loose which allows for movement as well. Remember, the larger the ballhead, the smoother the drag action will be. Mass is your friend here. That's why I opted for the BH-55.

Manfr3d

I am using an AcraTech Ultimate Ballhead (UMB) V2 with a Sigma 80-400mm with great success. It has a main locking knob and a tension adjustment knob.

Art Scott

I know the bogen gotta go .......but I rally like the Bogen/Manfrotto 322 rc grip ball head ......once I learned how to use it .....it is great......I use it with a Konica Minolta 7D's and also my medium for mat kit with prime lenses upto 300MM + flash bracket and potatoe masher flash units (sunpak 622) = ROCK SOLID but smooth action

Jabba

I went with the Acratech- and if I had to do it all over again, I'd choose RRS for the very reason you're concerned about.

carmel6942

Art Scott wrote:

......once I learned how to use it .....it is great......

Art,

What do you mean in learning how to use it. I just purchased one and am curious what I could do better or different with it?

Thanks

BigAl

I found the BH-3 to be wanting with the weight of a Bigma and a 40d. It was sort of Ok with the 350d and the Bigma, but the extra weight of the 40d was just too much. I've since gone over to a Manfrotto 702RC2 fluid video head. I've replaced the vertical motion lever with a much shorter one. For horizontal alignment, I keep the tripod collar "loose-ish" and rotate the camera/lens within that.

frons

kdog wrote:

The Really Right Stuff ballheads have an adjustable "drag setting", that does exactly what you want. It even has a scale on it, so you can remember the drag settings for a particular camera/lens setup, and return to it later.

You can read about the controls on RRS ballheads here: http://reallyrightstuff.com/ballheads/04.html

Note that you don't actually have to use the drag adjustment for this. You can simply leave the main locking knob slightly loose which allows for movement as well. Remember, the larger the ballhead, the smoother the drag action will be. Mass is your friend here. That's why I opted for the BH-55.

Yeah, the RRS heads are nice, but they may be out of my budget, even used. I hadn't made the connection between ball size and drag action; good to know.

Art Scott

carmel6942 wrote:

Art,

What do you mean in learning how to use it. I just purchased one and am curious what I could do better or different with it?

Thanks

Getting tensions correctly set and remeber it would rotate if I just grabbed the handle and twisted......basically there were some info left out of my little manual and once I found this out and remembered it....I was good to go.......