Boom 'Pods and Ballheads

Okay, so I recently completed my Giottos collection (lol) by adding a carbon fiber tripod (the MT 8170) as I'm looking to get into some macro... The boom is absolutely a boon.

What do most people use for a head? This tripod doesn't necessarly need one, but for starters I like QRs. The boom vs. standard tripod is a bit of a different school of thought and they behave differently.

The thing that makes the most sense is a ballhead. You can position the tripod any which way and have the ballhead act like a gimble and keep the camera horizontal and level (or portrait, obviously). This is how I use it for the most part.

I have the MH 1001-652 medium ballhead with QR. I also shoot with a 1D2N and any one of the lenses in my sig. I find that even with the 24-70mm, the ballhead has one helluva time trying to hold the load "sideways."

I imagine a larger ballhead would be one way to solve the problem. The one I have is rated above the weight I'm using, but there's a difference between supporting the weight normally and another thing out to the side, where leverage increases the effective weight.

Another solution is to not use a ballhead, but then positioning the camera becomes a little whack (if not impossible) and is stuck to the 'pod.

I don't recall the model number,m. But I have one of the larger Giottos ballheads,. might be the 1001, which I have converted twice,. once for Manfrotto RC2 QR system,. and then to Arca.

It's a real bargain head for only about $100.00 or so if i recall... and enough "ball head" for any lens I use short of the Big honking super-tele primes.

I guess I'm saying I'm surprised that it's not tight enough for use with the lenses you mention...
But maybe I have a larger model ( I'll check when I get home)

On the other hand,.
1: I don't do high magnification work, so this may mean my assesment of the head is moot (seems likely actually)

2: I have a full sized "mondo" ball head,. a Graf studioball..
This head is easily twice the size and weight of the Giottos, and is MUCH sturdier. Units like this one, the RRS, Arca Kirk, Markins and others are really in another world from the lightweight and small Giottos.

I mention this to illustrate that I would think a ballhead may still be very workable,. but for macro work perhaps one of the mid range units is not enough.

OK, I have both the Giottos 81?0 and the Aluminum Gitzo explorer, both with the lateral arms. And I use them that way a lot for low angle shots. Like Cyber above, I have a Giottos 1001 converted to A/S with a Kirk clamp.

The real problem with most heads used this way is the necessity of a rock solid panning brake lock. That's what is needed to prevent creep when the tripod arm is lateral, the ball head is on the end, the ball rotated into the drop socket. Most heads do not achieve this without effort.

And the answer is....
The Giottos can NOT hold the weight of a 1-DMkII, a long macro, and macro flash lever/fulcrumed out. The ball is too small.

The AcraTech Ultimate is a fine beautifully crafted piece of engineering and design that fails in use under this condition. The weight actually leads to flexing of the whole AcraTech head with its cut out design, rather than the typical creap.

The Markins M10 is getting there. Rock solid in any position. No creep. Zero. Getting near the goal. Only problem is the design Markins uses for the panning brake requires Herculean tightening of the panning brake lock knob to prevent slipping. The Markins can take this tightening without damage. I know. The Q is, can the user? It's tough. But, in an otherwise perfect ballhead, the panning brake is the only weakness.

So, we come to the RRS BH-55 with a panning brake lock design that meets what you need. Plus, the Really Right Stuff has two drop notches, ideal for use out on the lateral arm.

So, if you have the bucks, buy it right the first time, and be done with it. For use on lateral arms, for macro, go for RRS. I'm not sure, but I think the BH-40 may have the same panning brake design.

Jack

Looks like Jack has wrapped this up pretty nicely..

But I did just want to follow up..

I have the Giottos "MH300" which is there largest Ballhead, and rated at double the weight that the 1001 is rated for.

And even in this case,. compared to my Graf Studioball,. it is a lightweight.

I KNOW my Graf is not any better than,. and in fact is a bit less sturdy than the Markins,. so if the markins is not up to snuff in this environment,. then there is no way that this larger Giottos would handle the task either.

Interesting... I've read about the Arcatech flexing, etc. I figured ballheads would likely present a bit of a problem with all this weight without spending some cash. I don't do too much in the way of macro, at least so far - but I'd like to be able to. I'll have to check out the RRS BH-55 that you mentioned, Jack. I agree, doing it right once is the way to go.

Thanks for sharing that about the Giottos, CDS. One thing I had considered was swapping for their largest model, figuring a bigger ball might solve the problem. I didn't have any problems with their pan lock - just the overall ball tightness. I didn't want to go nuts on tightening it and have it explode or something.

For now, the solution I came to was kicking the ball into the side notch and having the camera level - so that the weight on the ballhead is more typical. This limits my capabilities somewhat, but I guess if I really needed a shot I could remove the ballhead and go right into the head screw with the camera for now.

Thanks, guys.

Off to the RRS site...