(looking for a) New Ball Head . . .

The Kirk heads RULE! However, I use a quick fix from RRS that cost a few dollars and use it with larger lenses on my monopod. See the link for reference on "Optimize your monopod".

http://www.reallyright​stuff.com/projects/ind​ex.html

Markins has FINALLY got there asct together with a North American Distributor.
http://www.markinsamer​ica.com/MA3/about.php

CyberDyneSystems wrote:
Markins has FINALLY got there asct together with a North American Distributor.
http://www.markinsamer​ica.com/MA3/about.php

OK, this is great, but do I need to buy a plate and tripod base in addition to the head? That would be about another 120 dollars on top of the 379 for the ball head.

You'd want a plate or plates,. not sure but I would think that the head comes with one plate?

Tripod base? No,. you don't need that... it just looks like additional unnecesary weight to me.

Well I found a Bogen head I liked, one with hydraulic locking for $275 or so . . . but it went out of stock. SO I ordered a Bogen horizontal pistol grip and flipped it for left hand (I am right handed) operation and I just love this combo on top of my Bogen 3033 tripod. I stuck the surplus Bogen vertical pistol grip on top of the Bogen monopod I ordered at the same time. One of the quick pull down ones.

All is well in Tin Cup as far as tripod gear and such for the time being. If I ever get to Denver or Reno or a big city I would like to see 'nicer' ballheads in person. For my next rig. Or . . . I might just get what Tom gets to replace his.

Thanks everyone for the help and such on this.

Ditto, you will never regret it.

Why am I suffering along with a Bogen 3021/3030? Oh, because I don't yet shoot wildlife!

RJ, you won't see much in Denver! I have been to practically every camera shop and the availability of tripods and heads is awful! That's the reason I comment that buying tripods and heads is the hardest decision. I can make good choices on cameras and lenses without ever actually using one, but tripods and heads are such "hands-on" things that you just "pays your money and takes your chances."

LOL, yes Mark . . . I am glad to know another whom feels the pain of living in the red states. We just don't have access to the better photo goods and or services. Not even in two days drive. Salt Lake City is dismal as well, as far as I can find. Filled with Ritz and Nik*n gear. Low end Bogen and worse.

I do like my new grip however and I can not see the ground quiver through the lens with the 100-400 and 1.4 TC anymore. This is good. I was able to get a pan shot the other day with it as well. That was a plus.

I wonder how much grain, hay, and oats it would take to get to SanFrancisco? At petro going for $2.50/gal I am going to need to ride the nag.

Ain't that the horrid truth?

A complete newbie to balheads but having read all I could I went for the RRS BH-40

Couldn't be more pleased with it, very very well engineered, very well thought out

Simon, may I ask where in the uk did you get the rrs head ?...thanks

I think the only option for RRS, along with certain other "premium" American brands such as Newton Brackets and Custom Brackets, also the wonderful range of CopperHill cleaning products, WhiBal products and the POTN store, all of which are are only available from the US (direct from the company for RRS, CopperHill, WhiBal and the POTN store, or from a couple of big US distributors in the case of the flash bracket companies), is to order from abroad.

You may happen to find what you're looking for in the UK, but I don't believe there's any stockists - it's simply a case of finding very occasional second hand sales. Most people that have these products tend to hang on to them.


Don't forget to allow for about 25% charges when the package hits the UK. That's somewhere between 0 and 6.5% duty (most camera gear is around 3.5%, lenses are nearer 6.5% though I forget the exact rates). 17.5% VAT is then charged on the purchase price, shipping and duty. Finally, the postal or courier service usually adds a brokerage fee for settling up with Customs for you and billing you later (often something around £7.50).

Your credit card company will likely also add a charge - these days, there tends not to be a service charge for foreign currency transactions, but most card issuers push the Visa or Mastercard exchange rate a further 2.5% or so in their favour as a commission. PayPal tends to be a bit worse than Visa or Mastercard - has anyone found a way of telling PayPal to bill a UK issued credit card in US dollars rather than apply their own exchange rate which tends to be worse than the card issuer's rate?


I have had packages that are a bit over the limit for being duty free (up to around US$65 value) come in free of charge via the postal system, but have always been charged on packages coming in via couriers. I recently had a US$65 package come in from CopperHill via USPS Global Express (which is transferred to ParcelForce 24 when it reaches the UK), and I haven't been charged anything yet, despite a full Customs declaration being attached. It is possible to get a bill up to a couple of months later (FedEx did that to me once - the package was delivered without any mention of charges but I was later sent an invoice, which I had allowed for but expected sooner), but there was no sign of any Customs labels or stamps anywhere on the CopperHill box. In the last year, I've also had a WhiBal and and a couple of small packages from the POTN store come in via the postal service - none have had any charges applied.


I'm thinking of ordering a Newton bracket, and will probably order from B&H and ask them to send USPS Global Express. I'll budget on paying 25% in charges, nevertheless. At the moment, it is relatively advantageous to order from the States, as the dollar is quite weak (it's around £1 = $1.89), but I still only order from abroad if there's no UK supplier. The next best thing to ordering from the UK is ordering from elsewhere in the EU, as there's no VAT or duty to pay on intra-community trade.

David

Wow. I guess we really are spoiled over here. I still wince when I think about the time the Canadian government tried to extort $70 out of a POTN member when they tried to ship Nifty #1 there on a leg of his world odyssey. https://photography-on-the.net …p?p=1419434&pos​tcount=381

On top of that, they returned him in pieces. (RIP, Nifty #1 ).

well, I just splashed on a kirk bh-3 and camera plate....anyone want to buy an as-new manfrotto fluid head???