Guess Who Came Back from the Hospital...

My Manfrotto 488RC2 finally came back after being away for over 3 weeks! All reparied and good as new.

Good old 488RC2 was a bit surprised when she got home tho, she was greeted by a slew of new comers. In those 3 weeks some other ballheads popped up. It is quite the big family now.

Welcome home 488RC2!!!

that horusBennu FX-45Q looks gorgeous! what is the middle and far right brand?

They are all HorusBennu (well, other than the single Manfrotto). The LX series seems to have their logo when the FX series just says their name.

Is the LX a different color than the FXs? If so, was that by choice?

Might I ask why 5 ballhead?

klr.b wrote in post #12088120
Is the LX a different color than the FXs? If so, was that by choice?

I am not sure if my LX-5 is just strangely colored or all LX models are slightly off colored from FX models.

ZXDrew wrote in post #12088216
Might I ask why 5 ballhead?

Well...

I have three tripods, a monopod, a macro rail, and a video slide rail. Now, I know thats 6 structures that need a head when I only have 5 ball heads, no worries, I have a Manfrotto panning head not pictured...

Ok... the real reason is...

I had a 488RC2 but I am not super thrilled with it's performance. I also wanted to start getting away from the RC2 system. When my 488RC2 broke (hence the trip to the hospital), I bought the LX-5. The LX-5 is EXCELLENT. A steal at $100 IMO. I was so impressed with the LX-5 that I wanted to try HorusBennu's travel size heads. I ordered a LX-2T and a FX-34Q... at least I meant to... turns out I ordered a LX-2T and a FX-45Q. I still wanted a FX-34Q so I ordered one of those as well.

I have to say, my favorites so far are the LX-5 and the FX-34Q. I haven't tried the LX-3 but I doubt it's cost savings will make it appeal to me over the LX-5. The LX-2T is ok for $50, but I much prefer the FX-34Q. I will have a review of the FX-34Q later when I get to fully test it.

So there... I now have a head for everything support structure I have.

The HB heads all seem to share characteristics of multiple heads, but most notably,
Adorama's Flashpoint series and the Smith-Victor lineup.

I find this lineup intriguing.

Can you share anything about how the receiver plates are attached to the heads?
I ask because I'm already heavily invested in the Manfrotto RC-2 system, and it'd cost
me a wad to convert to Arca-Swiss - style systems for all my camera and lens mounts.
Could I conceivably replace the head receiver platforms with RC-2 mounts, or do you
think I'd be wasting my money and time by looking into it?
I've got easily 10 RC-2 plates in use on my lenses and cameras, so I'd rather not invest
in a wholly new system.

I've been noticing your information about the HorusBennu heads for a while, anyway,
and I've been rather intrigued by the information so far.

I have 4 RC2 plates, but I honestly bind the A-S plates to be better. I guess I am now kind of invested in the A-S plates since each ballhead came with a plate, lol.

Anyways, back to your question, the quick release clamps are removable, but from the ones I have tried it on, the ball to the clamp meeting point isn't perfectly flat. It still might work (especially with some shaving/sanding), I don't have the right sized screw so I haven't tried.

I will post some pics tomorrow.

Some Pics Today ... of the LX-5

5/32in allen... it seem to fit fine, but there might be a similar size metric allen key since these are designed in Korea.

Here is one of the FX-45Q

From the side of A-S plates. You have two lines of thought.

1. It's a metal plate that has a screw on it that attaches to your camera body or lens. Ebay has lots of them from China. You can buy 10 of them for less than $100

or

2. You get what you pay for, and buying anything less than quality will cost you in the long run.


Both are true. If you are happy to stick with the screw clamp like those with the HorusBennu LX series pictured above, then any of the Arca Swiss style plates will work without any problem. But if you want to move to a fast change leaver like used on the FX require a much tighter tolerances on the width of plates.

That is not saying that if you buy some off ebay they won't work, but you are taking the risk yourself.

Personally, I prefer the screw type as I find it just as fast and gives me tactile feedback that it is tight and my lens/camera won't simply fall off. Personal preference for me.

Ah, thanks so very much for the pictures, Will!

One could easily grind the tips off the head stalk if needed.

I certainly appreciate your efforts to illustrate the workings of these ballheads.
The efforts are much appreciated from my viewpoint.

mjmackinnon: I think you've missed my point, if your comments reflect my concerns.
I simply don't want the Arca-Swiss system, at least not yet. I've got a lot into my RC-2
system already, and I was asking about it as it applies to my current situation.

Wow, quite a collection you have there!

That line up pic is nice