Arca-Swiss L60 Leveler

My first geared head was a Sunwayfoto GH-Pro (a D4 copy) and it has taught me a lot. It has two controls for each axis, for large movements you use the pear shaped knobs and the round knobs for fine adjustment. I often used the wrong pear shaped knob and so messed up the axis I wasn't trying to adjust. The other thing I found in use was that I really didn't use large movements that much at all because I mostly used it on an articulating center column. Unfortunately the GH-Pro is too big and heavy for a travel tripod too.

The Arca-Swiss L60 Leveler (on the right below) is described by A-S as a "double cradle mechanism to introduce micrometric adjustments in 2 directions". It has panning at the top and base, and just one control each for pitch and roll, so no more mistakes. It's limited - just 10° of movement in both x and y axes. It looks like A-S used an axe on a P0 Hybrid and put a 3/8"-16 socket in the base of the top part.

The L60 is about half the size of the GH-Pro. It weighs 1.0lbs and I've paired it with an FLM leveling base that weighs 7.8oz, so the total weight of the unit is just under 1.5lbs. My regular ballhead on the travel tripod is an Acratech GP-s and it weighs 0.91lbs. The L60 + FLM LB-15 at 1.5lbs is not top-heavy on my traveler.

The leveling base has the same 60mm diameter as the L60 and it has 15° of movement so the paired unit has 25° in both x and y axes, which is more than I will ever need. I realize that this is still a somewhat limited range of movement for many but plenty enough for me and perhaps others. The L60 is worth looking at if you need some precision on trips.

That looks handy for panos or just very fine adjustments.