Ballhead

[harleygirl239]

I bought my husband the gitzo carbon fiber tripod and now he needs a good ballhead for it, he wants to do panoramic and I want to make sure it's a good one. Can anyone give me some idea on a good lightweight ballhead?
Thanks

[jhom]

Which model Gitzo? My recommendations would be Markins. A Q3 for the 1 or 2 series. A M10 for the 2 series and a M20 for the 3 series.

[Roger W. Spillman]

I would go with Really Right Stuff. Here is a link.
http://reallyrightstuff.com/rrs/items.asp?Cc=BALLHEADS&Bc=
in my opion it is the best made. I would go with the BH-55. Roger

[RPCrowe]

IMO, you cannot go wrong with any Really Right Stuff gear. Just select a head which would match the weight package of the heaviest camera/lens combination which will be used.

However, I have had absolutely no problems with gear from Kirk Enterprises either. I use a Kirk MPA-1 tilt swivel head on my monopod and it works just fine.

I would definitely select a head with an Arca Compatible quick release set-up. The AC system is the best you can get and the equipment is usable cross brand... In other words... you can use a RRS L-plate with a Kirk AC compatible quick release or a Kirk plate with a RRS quick release. This makes it a very efficient system. My RRS L-Plate works great with my Kirk MPA-1. There are lots of manufacturers producing Arca Compatible equipment and you can often get plates used on eBay.

Here is a link to the L-Plate advantage...

http://reallyrightstuff.com/QR/05.html

The disadvantage to camera specific L-plates is that you sometimes need to buy a new plate every time you switch cameras and the plates tend to be expensive. That is one of the reasons that I am still shooting with a 30D. I have an L-plate for that camera and a new L-plate for another camera would cost about $100 or so.

[harleygirl239]

Thank you for all the imput his tripod is the 3 series. I'll go on a search now and check these options out and decide from there.

[harleygirl239]

I would go with Really Right Stuff. Here is a link.
http://reallyrightstuff.com/rrs/items.asp?Cc=BALLHEADS&Bc=
in my opion it is the best made. I would go with the BH-55. Roger
Someone told me these are heavy?? What's your opinion on that

[2mnycars]

Others will shudder! I have 2 Leica ball heads. (and one table top tripod about a foot high). They're amazingly well built and light. Old school stuff. The ball head stud just screws into the camera body. There's no plate for quick-attach. I see them every once in a while on ebay.

Recently there was a Gitzo ballhead on sale on ebay posted by a Canadian neigbour. I wasn't crafty enough to buy it.

Linhof used to make ballheads, and so did Benbo (not Benro) Many others as well. Some may be available on ebay for decent prices.

I'm responding because you were looking for light solutions. The heads and brackets dscribed above are well chosen by good phtographers thatuse their equipment a lot and demand the best.

DAVeL
Toronto