Ball head recommendation for landscape photography

I am going to Oregon coast in June and will be taking a lot of pictures on the beach in the sand. I will be taking my older Manfrotto tripod which currently has a trigger type ball head over my new Benro 1192 CF travel tripod that came with Benro B1 head. I want to get a recommendation on getting a better tripod that I can use in extreme weather for the Oregon trip and that will work well overall for my general landscape photography, in less demanding places. I am using 5Dm3 with RRS L plate.

I was thinking about Acratech Ultimate BH. What that be a good choice for me?

I don't know what your budget is, but it's hard to beat an Arca-Swiss, Markins, or RRS ballhead. Personally I use Arca but I hear nothing but good things about the others I mentioned. I have no experience with Acratech, someone else will have to get you the word on that.

jcothron wrote in post #15803933
I don't know what your budget is, but it's hard to beat an Arca-Swiss, Markins, or RRS ballhead. Personally I use Arca but I hear nothing but good things about the others I mentioned. I have no experience with Acratech, someone else will have to get you the word on that.

under $400 should get me decent one from all the brands mentioned and Acratech. I just want to make sure I buy something that lasts.

Not sure I would call the Oregon Coast extream weather in June .... then again I guess that depends where you are coming from. Other then sand and salt water its fairly calm in June. I was just shooting there a couple weekends ago, if I was in the sand I would not retract the legs till I was back at the house and used the hose to clean them off. When I had it in the salt water of the Tillamook Bay, again just hosed it off when I was back at the house.

Anyways enjoy your trip its beautiful and I always find new spots every time I go.

Littlejon Dsgn wrote in post #15803979
Not sure I would call the Oregon Coast extream weather in June .... then again I guess that depends where you are coming from. Other then sand and salt water its fairly calm in June. I was just shooting there a couple weekends ago, if I was in the sand I would not retract the legs till I was back at the house and used the hose to clean them off. When I had it in the salt water of the Tillamook Bay, again just hosed it off when I was back at the house.

Anyways enjoy your trip its beautiful and I always find new spots every time I go.

Being in the water + sand = extreme conditions for me

I will visit - Cape Kiwanda SNA, Cape Meares Lighthouse, Oswald West SP, Tillamook Bay,Yaquina Head Lighthouse, Seal Rock SP, Shore Acres SP, Bandon SNA,
Coquille River Lighthouse, Cape Blanco Lighthouse, Pistol River SP, Harris Beach SP,
Wreck of the Mary D. Hume, Brookings Azalea Park, and Crater Lake National Park

dkizzle wrote in post #15803960
under $400 should get me decent one from all the brands mentioned and Acratech. I just want to make sure I buy something that lasts.

If that's the case, I'd get one of the first 3 I mentioned (RRS may be higher than that can't recall) and call it done. I'm thinking the Arca Z1 SP was $350 or so. Not sure on Markins pricing.

dkizzle wrote in post #15804014
Being in the water + sand = extreme conditions for me

I will visit - Cape Kiwanda SNA, Cape Meares Lighthouse, Oswald West SP, Tillamook Bay,Yaquina Head Lighthouse, Seal Rock SP, Shore Acres SP, Bandon SNA,
Coquille River Lighthouse, Cape Blanco Lighthouse, Pistol River SP, Harris Beach SP,
Wreck of the Mary D. Hume, Brookings Azalea Park, and Crater Lake National Park

That sounds like a great trip, hope you have a few days set aside for it There is a location off the side of 101 as you are headed South to Tillamook Bay, just past Rockaway beach but before Garibaldi (45.562896,-123.935394) that at low tide you can climb out onto the rocks and get some great views of the bay.

Littlejon Dsgn wrote in post #15804047
That sounds like a great trip, hope you have a few days set aside for it There is a location off the side of 101 as you are headed South to Tillamook Bay, just past Rockaway beach but before Garibaldi (45.562896,-123.935394) that at low tide you can climb out onto the rocks and get some great views of the bay.

Thanks for the tip. If possible we will check it out. Do you have a picture of what we can expect?

dkizzle wrote in post #15804357
Thanks for the tip. If possible we will check it out. Do you have a picture of what we can expect?

I do on my computer at home, will dig it out ... it did not come out the best it just happened to be low tide when driving buy. And it started raining a good amount when I was down there, so I did not get what I was hoping for but did get a few general images.

dkizzle wrote in post #15803635
I was thinking about Acratech Ultimate BH. What that be a good choice for me?

It seems to have been a good choice for me and it probably will be for you too. I use Arca-Swiss Z1 and Markins ballheads (among others) and in January I bought an Ultimate because the head I was using locked up in the severe cold. The Ultimate fixed that problem but in the summer I'm often in or near salt water and sand, and you can run the Ultimate under a faucet if it gets covered with sand or mud and you can't do that with a Markins for example. Its open design makes for very easy maintenance.

Acratech seems to think so too. When you order the ballhead from them one of the web pages in the interaction has this piece of text on it: "The Acratech Ultimate ballhead is designed to be a light weight sturdy ballhead for use in extreme outdoor environments." I think that describes it pretty well.

The Oregon coast is really mellow in June. If you're lucky you might get some afternoon and morning fog. The most extreme conditions usually occur when you're waiting for good light in the many microbreweries.

Gochugogi wrote in post #15806660
The most extreme conditions usually occur when you're waiting for good light in the many microbreweries.

There's so many that they are just referred to as breweries Its the norm.

sublimesun wrote in post #15807845
There's so many that they are just referred to as breweries Its the norm.

Its hard to find good beers when traveling lol. I found it funny when I was in Texas a couple years ago, they had oregon beers on tap lol. Nothing like walking into a pub and having 50 different beers on tap lol.

Gochugogi wrote in post #15806660
The Oregon coast is really mellow in June. If you're lucky you might get some afternoon and morning fog. The most extreme conditions usually occur when you're waiting for good light in the many microbreweries.

I'm not only a photographer, I'm also a homebrewer I hope to try some new and exciting beers during my trip. I expect to be stuck in Portland airport for a few hours on my flight out and will be spending it mostly at United Club lounge, which includes free beer and I hope it will have some local draft that is not BMC (Bud Miller Coors for you laymans)

peter_n,

I feel the same about possible cleanup, I will be spending a lot of time on the beach, some in the water.

I have used the Acratech GP-s for a couple of years now, and have had it in the windy desert in nevada, and in the water spray of snowmelt--no saltwater yet. I really like the versiatlity of it on my travel pod. That being said, I still like my Arca Z1 on my large pod, but I wouldn't feel as comfortable taking that head into really dirty conditions. The Acratech head is a great design, and is made with quality materials. I would recommend getting the locking lever clamp versus the screw clamp, as I believe it works better, and you won't confuse the screw knob for the ball locking knob--something that I did too often in the dark...