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New Gitzo 1780 Ball Head? ? ?

I was thinking of adding a Gitzo 1780 ball head to a Gitzo 1541 tripod. Has anybody has any experience with this new head? It has a high load rating for its overall weight. I plan to use it with a M8 camera and the longest lens I have is a 90mm Summarit. The older ball heads just didn’t have that many favorable comments, but since this is the newer model, I just have not been able to read any reactions to it. Thanks for your comments.
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Hi Patrick:

I recently topped my own 1541 (my travel pod) with that very head and have used it successfully with my medium format rig! What I really like is the friction is bi-directional, meaning you can loosen the knob a little and the camera only moves easily fore and aft allowing you to maintain side-to-side level while you adjust vertical. Very light, very solid and very sweet to use!

It definitely gets a :thumbs:
 

Dale Allyn

New member
Jack, which clamp do use on this head? i.e. are you using an RRS or similar clamp for use with camera and lens plates?

Looking for info to pass to a friend who is looking for a new travel head.
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Jack and I are both using the RRS pano head on our Gitzo heads i went for the 2780 model on my 2541L which is my only tripod. The 1780 is very nice for the M8 for sure and bigger as jack uses his
 

Dale Allyn

New member
Thanks, Guy. I'll pass this along. I doubt that my friend will be interested in the pano clamp for his travel set, and will want to keep it simple. I just sort of wanted to confirm that there were no serious issues with fitting the 1780 with a good QR clamp.
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Jack, which clamp do use on this head? i.e. are you using an RRS or similar clamp for use with camera and lens plates?

Looking for info to pass to a friend who is looking for a new travel head.
I have the model with the normal stud up top and thread on the panning clamp or a regular clamp depending on my needs and weight requirements. FWIW, the top of this new head has this weird surface that feels slick but grabs whatever you screw down on it tightly. Works very well in stock trim with whatever clamp you want to screw on!
 
SOLD!
Thank you very much for your input. This sounds very good for someone who likes to use tripod whenever possible. This head with a quick release plate is the way to go for me. I quess I am of the old school that thinks the sharpest lens you own is a tripod.
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
FWIW, a shameless plug for a few of our friends here:

David Farkas at Dale Labs in Florida as he has these in stock. I am almost certain Sean at Camerwest in California also has them in stock too, and both are great shops to deal with!

Tell them I sent you LOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!
 

Homey

New member
I just came in here to post a question about Ball heads. I was going to ask advice about them then I saw this post.

I was actually looking at the 2780, the Kirk BH-1 and some Arca Swiss heads.

The Gitzo 1780 handles up to 22 pounds so really why would I need more??

The only questions I have about the Gitzo are are the Deg markings on the bottom easy to read and is the head easy (and smooth) to pan.
Also is the head itself easy to adjust and tighten down. I mean can you do it on the fly while keeping one hand on the shutter and with your eye looking through the view finder?

Thanks guys. $250 is a lot cheaper than what I thought I was going to spend.
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
I have the 2780 and only went for the bigger size becuase it is my only tripod and i am using MF system BUT and this is a big BUt the 1780 will also handle MF systems with ease also. For me over kill is sometimes better but if your using a DSLR or a M8 than the 1780 is very nice and yes on the fly tightening down is great and also it has friction that you can actually release your hand and won't fall over, than a quick turn and your locked down. Panning is not as smooth as with the Pano head from RRS but it is not bad either. Also markings are pretty easy to read.

Oh the 2780 also has a extra friction control that the 1780 does not
 

Homey

New member
Thanks Guy..
The extra weight handling of the 2780 would be just for piece of mind so what's that worth?

I will be using mostly the 1Ds MII or the 5D with short lenses. Even with the big primes I won't ever get to 16 pounds so I should be fine. The heaviest big white lens is only 11.8 pounds.

Thanks for the tips. B&H has the 2870 on sale now, with the QR plate system for $350
Thats not a bad price.
Looks like a winner to me
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
I really like the 2780 but the 1780 will work too. I do like the overkill and piece of mind. Now if your hiking a lot than maybe the 1780 but these heads are very light weight and actually hollow inside. The nice thing i did not describe on them is have the clamp or knob to the left or right of the camera . The friction will tilt up and down very nicely according to where the friction is, very nice feature but here is the best part going side to side the friction is very tight. Now the purpose of this if you are level on the horizontal plane than you can easily tilt up and down and it stays level. Very cool feature and will not slip to the side if you let go and if you do happen to fall over it is front and back and a short stop so the camera really would have a hard time topping over. They put some nice features in this and when Jack and i looked at it we both bought one on the spot. I had the BH-55 and loved it but does not have these features and a lot lighter. i did buy the center post one and add the RRS pano head and that adds 140 to the cost of mine but you don't have to go that route
 
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