advice: Ball Head for Mamiya 645

[jmvdigital]

PS: As for the locking side-to-side vs. back-to-forward.... with something like the RRS, you could frame the vertical, lock the ball, and use the swiveling base, or the swiveling head if you get the pano head, to frame the side-to-side. Same thing, just reversed, and the ball stays locked.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Guy, but BH-55 has that "open tension" knob that you can set to whatever friction-level you'd like for when the ball is fully "loose." So, I believe, you could set that tension knob high enough so that when you unlock the ball, the head doesn't just flop over.

Also, what you describe about turning the Gitzo knob is precisely one of the reason I got rid of it within a month. I HATED having to turn that knob around and around to get it to loosen up. I also had to really crank on it to get it to lock properly. Both of these movements, combined with the fine ridges on the knob made my hands unhappy, ESPECIALLY when it was cold out. I remember being so pissed having to constantly take off my glove, unscrew the thing, recompose, screw it down tight again, put glove back on with my roughed up cold fingers. Ugh, I sound like a weenie, but damn I hated that head. The ball movement in my particular head was never smooth either. Nothing like the RRS. There was always some amount of friction on it, and it never moved smoothly, it would just kind of jerk along. A smooth, but tight friction would be ok, but this ball just didn't have it. The RRS is just the ticket for my style I guess. I like the quarter-turn to full silky smooth movement back to full lock. It's just plain easy, but yes, you do have to have a hand on your gear when you loosen it.

Obviously, YMMV. My features are your selling points, and vice versa.

-J

Hmmm which model did you have the 2 and 3 series do have a drag knob on it. Mine is very smooth.

My one issue with the BH-55 was like you said 1/4 turn and if your not holding it than you could have trouble. The Gitzo you almost have to force it to fall over or really unscrew it a lot.

 

[jmvdigital]

Drag knob, that's the word I was looking for. The BH-55 has a drag knob, though I don't use it. So in theory, you could set it to do the same as the Gitzo (i.e., not having your gear fall over when loose).

All that unscrewing on the Gitzo, and the force needed to recompose if you didn't, was precisely why I hated it. I think we're just opposites.

I had the GH3750 off-center ball head.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

The off center could be the difference. The biggest difference from memory now was i don't really have to screw down the Gitzo it just stays put , the BH55 you had to lock it down more. We need to play with them side by side but I do remember having trouble with the RRS , it is a great head though and did like it a lot but it fell over a couple times and it bugged me a lot

 

[dfarkas]

Drag knob, that's the word I was looking for. The BH-55 has a drag knob, though I don't use it. So in theory, you could set it to do the same as the Gitzo (i.e., not having your gear fall over when loose).

All that unscrewing on the Gitzo, and the force needed to recompose if you didn't, was precisely why I hated it. I think we're just opposites.

I had the GH3750 off-center ball head.

The Off-Center ball heads are of an earlier generation than the newer Center Ball heads like the GH2780. The new heads use hollow balls (Bubble Ball) with PTFE surface treatment and Teflon/Steel SADL (Spring Assisted Double Locks). The ball surface area is much larger and is very smooth when moving. The 3-series off-center head, while convenient for tricky angles can be a little herky-jerky without a lot of weight on it.

Bottom line, try one of the new center ball heads and you will love it. I think they are truly a leap forward in ball head tech. Highest strength to weight ratio, period. Also, by turning the tension knob, you can shorten the throw of the locking wheel so you don't have to keep turning so far.

David

 

[Jack]

PS: As for the locking side-to-side vs. back-to-forward.... with something like the RRS, you could frame the vertical, lock the ball, and use the swiveling base, or the swiveling head if you get the pano head, to frame the side-to-side. Same thing, just reversed, and the ball stays locked.

Problem is you need control in 3 axes and pan won't level the camera side to side.

 

[thomas]

Now if you use Arca plates on lenses and such or you prefer them than as you can see it will not take a Arca plate.

I use the Gitzo plates. They stay on the cameras all the time.
For stitiching with pano head I unmount the ball head from the tripod and mount it on the shoe of the pano head. This combo will not win a beauty contest but it works surprisingly well. This is not very stable nor acurate. But my Manfrotto pano head is BS anyhow and as long as I don't use wide lenses for stitching the axes don't have to be very accurate.
Regards, Thomas

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Got my GH 3780 today and it is sweet. Nice and light and strong like a bull.

 

[Hauxon]

For quality on budget you can take a look at Feisol ballheads. I have the CB-50D model and it's smooth and solid. I´ve used it with all my cameras including Mamiya RZ67, Mamiya 7, Canon 1DsII (with up to 500/4.5 L). It's just surprisingly good for the money ($160), and they have a lager one available (with 70mm ball priced $250).