Tripod for Macro?

Can someone recommend a good ball head? I was looking at the Benro B1 but it has mixed reviews.

Don't get a Benro ballhead. They make decent tripods but their ballheads are lacking. Sirui have an impressive line of value ballheads; take a look at their K-20X, K-30X or K-40X depending on your equipment size & weight.

I do a lot of macro, mostly bugs and flowers in the field, but also table-top work indoors in the macro studio. For outdoor shooting I never use a tripod. I shoot hand-held, often with diffused flash, but also in natural light. For the indoor work, I use a camera stand, not a tripod. Indoors, tripods are clumsy things and are a tripping hazard. They are not reliable for precise focusing if your floor gives slightly, as was pointed out in a recent thread here at POTN.

A table-top camera stand is very useful for a lot of indoor macro work. You can make your own or buy one. They are expensive, so I made one. You can outfit your stand with a rail and ball-head.

This may or may not be applicable for what you want to do, but I thought I'd describe my solutions.

I should add that I own three tripods, but I never use them for macro.

What actually wrong with the Benro heads? Lot of people say not to get them but I haven't seen much of reasons.

Archibald wrote in post #18402940
I do a lot of macro, mostly bugs and flowers in the field, but also table-top work indoors in the macro studio. For outdoor shooting I never use a tripod. I shoot hand-held, often with diffused flash, but also in natural light. For the indoor work, I use a camera stand, not a tripod. Indoors, tripods are clumsy things and are a tripping hazard. They are not reliable for precise focusing if your floor gives slightly, as was pointed out in a recent thread here at POTN.

A table-top camera stand is very useful for a lot of indoor macro work. You can make your own or buy one. They are expensive, so I made one. You can outfit your stand with a rail and ball-head.

This may or may not be applicable for what you want to do, but I thought I'd describe my solutions.

I'd love to see what you put together.

sawsedge wrote in post #18403023
I'd love to see what you put together.

Here is my macro camera stand.

It's just a wooden box with plenty of internal bracing, screwed and glued, and has a handle-like thing (double wood and braced) that is used for mounting the head. The box is filled with rocks so it stays put. It is heavy.

On top I have an old Manfrotto ball head (cheap thing but doesn't matter once it has been tightened up) and on top of that the StackShot focusing rail. And on top of that an Arca-Swiss clamp for my lens or camera. Even though the box is square, it stands on three "feet" in the form of largish screw heads. So technically it is a tripod. Actually, three support points are necessary or it's going to wobble.

The contraption has a small footprint, which is an advantage when working indoors.

JaySop wrote in post #18403019
What actually wrong with the Benro heads? Lot of people say not to get them but I haven't seen much of reasons.

Most of the complaints are about droop after lockdown, in other words when you tighten up the main knob the ball doesn't stay locked. There can be a variety of reasons; a poor friction (drag) control, soft aluminum, poor machining, and perhaps in more than a few cases the poor technique of the person using it. Its easy to find information about issues on the internet, this link was just the first hit on the search term 'benro ballhead problems'.

Archibald wrote in post #18403038
Here is my macro camera stand.

It's just a wooden box with plenty of internal bracing, screwed and glued, and has a handle-like thing (double wood and braced) that is used for mounting the head. The box is filled with rocks so it stays put. It is heavy.

Mine now resembles yours, only taller (and less stable), with a Wemacro on top. Mine uses an old security camera wall mount thrown out in the '80s by the NASA LeRC.

I've noticed vibration issues, so I'm considering building one like yours, although without a table saw, it's kind of tough.

I may at least start design work this weekend, although I'm more inclined to use lead bird shot than rocks. There's a sporting goods store relatively close by that sells reloading supplies and a bag or two of bird shot shouldn't run me much, as well as being a good stabilizer for my tripod outdoors.

Temma wrote in post #18457919
Mine now resembles yours, only taller (and less stable), with a Wemacro on top. Mine uses an old security camera wall mount thrown out in the '80s by the NASA LeRC.

I've noticed vibration issues, so I'm considering building one like yours, although without a table saw, it's kind of tough.

I may at least start design work this weekend, although I'm more inclined to use lead bird shot than rocks. There's a sporting goods store relatively close by that sells reloading supplies and a bag or two of bird shot shouldn't run me much, as well as being a good stabilizer for my tripod outdoors.

Very good.

There are many ways to build these things. You could bore a hole through a good-sized brick, run a bolt thru it to fasten a head, and put 3 feet on the bottom.

Or make a basket-like thing and pour cement into it for weight.

Show us what you made when it is done.

Archibald wrote in post #18458264
Very good.

There are many ways to build these things. You could bore a hole through a good-sized brick, run a bolt thru it to fasten a head, and put 3 feet on the bottom.

Or make a basket-like thing and pour cement into it for weight.

Show us what you made when it is done.

I'd really like to get an optical breadboard, but the cost is prohibitive ($300+).

What I might do is use a large block of wood, like a cutting board or butcher block, perhaps combining it with a plain aluminum or steel plat.

[EDIT - Something got lost and then got merged with the below addition.]

I'm thinking about something vaguely like this, a heavy wood/plywood/MDF platform with four 3/8" threaded rods, onto which is affixed another platform adjusted with nuts and washers.

Not much advice from me as to what to get, but I do suggest you try to rent what you decide on, at least initially to test it out. Unless you have "local" exposure to a very large photo equipment supplier then it may be a trial and error situation dealing mail order. These things are a pain to return and expensive to return using common shipment methods.

The people at LensRentals (https://www.lensrental​s.com/) rent quite a few tripods. In fact I would recommend you give them a call or email them with your needs and they can help you as well.

Archibald wrote in post #18458264
Very good.

There are many ways to build these things. You could bore a hole through a good-sized brick, run a bolt thru it to fasten a head, and put 3 feet on the bottom.

Or make a basket-like thing and pour cement into it for weight.

Show us what you made when it is done.

I actually (at least in the short run) went a different way.

This is a piece of remnant shelving from a home store. Onto that is a mounted via 5/16 threaded sleeve, a tapered furniture foot. Onto that goes a Zomei ballhead. Finally onto that goes my Wemacro and camera.

The subject stage is constructed from 1/2" PVC pipe and a mini ballhead. The subject platform is just a thin wooden sheet with a t-nut glued to the bottom.

So far, it's worked very well.

At first I thought I was having movement issues, but that actually turned out to be dirt on my sensor.

This probably won't be the final version. I'm still balking at $300 for an optical breadboard, but I may replace the board with a thick wooden cutting board, or add a metal plate underneath.

Temma wrote in post #18471879
I actually (at least in the short run) went a different way.

This is a piece of remnant shelving from a home store. Onto that is a mounted via 5/16 threaded sleeve, a tapered furniture foot. Onto that goes a Zomei ballhead. Finally onto that goes my Wemacro and camera.

The subject stage is constructed from 1/2" PVC pipe and a mini ballhead. The subject platform is just a thin wooden sheet with a t-nut glued to the bottom.

So far, it's worked very well.

At first I thought I was having movement issues, but that actually turned out to be dirt on my sensor.

This probably won't be the final version. I'm still balking at $300 for an optical breadboard, but I may replace the board with a thick wooden cutting board, or add a metal plate underneath.

Hosted photo: posted by Temma in
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forum: Tripods, Monopods & Other Camera Support

Hosted photo: posted by Temma in
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forum: Tripods, Monopods & Other Camera Support

Hey, Temma, that looks like a neat macro rig!

Archibald wrote in post #18471935
Hey, Temma, that looks like a neat macro rig!

Thanks.

It could be better, but it's the best I've come up with so far, based on experience as I go along.

I'm thinking about replacing the board with a much thicker cutting board (or something similar), if I can get one at a reasonable price.