What's the best tripod ball head for M

[RockyIII]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I like the Gitzo GT0541 tripod with the Really Right Stuff BH-30 ballhead for M cameras.

 

Rocky

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[think]

I use the RRS as well. It's usually mounted on the "SLR" GorillaPod which works great off the chest and can be used in an unbelievable number of ways. It's portability with this ballhead makes it a no-brainer for travel.

 

If I need more support it's easily detached and mounted on an alternative tripod.

 

I use PhotoEquip grips on my M6's which gives me the centered thread, but also combine this at times with a small RRS plate for use on a pano rig.

[40mm f/2]

The Arca Swiss P0 or P1 are a significant improvement to previous designs. The camera rides close to the the ball head (short lever) held by planetary gear with a fastening ring accessible from any side.ARCA-SWISS :: The Monoball p0: a whole new knobless tripod head at Imaging Insider

One feature is that the rotation is above the ball - so when the head is horizontal adjusted one can rotate the camera in the horizontal plane (great not only for panoramas). I use the P1 with my 5X7 and the newer P0 is even smaller and lighter.

[peter_n]

I currently use two Markins Q3T ballheads for just about everything (my heaviest camera is 5.23 lbs), they are very well designed with excellent build quality and will work well with Gitzo series 1 and 2 tripods.

[click]

I'm completely sold, well almost, on the Arca-Swiss P0 combined with a Gitzo Explorer. It appears that that combination will give me great strength, flexibility, macro usage, and speed in portraiture.

 

Has anyone used this particular combination before?

When the arm is extended is the M stable enough to cock it?

Will the ARCA M quick release plate work well with the arm?

[40mm f/2]

I use the P1 /explorer with my large format - arm extended. P0 will be even better for a M

[click]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I sincerely thank everyone who contributed to my new tripod decision. I'm confident that the information presented here lead me to make a wiser decision. I have discovered that I truly only need one tripod for everything I'll ever do and I do like to keep things simple.

[RobertJRB]

I use the P1 /explorer with my large format - arm extended. P0 will be even better for a M

 

I have a gitzo GT1550 traveler, and want a new ballhead with top panning so the P0 comes to mind.

The tripod is a serie 1 gitzo with takes 8 kg (small ball head with is supplied with the tripod only takes 2 kg)

The arca swiss P0 takes much more kg's, and I'm afraid its a bit overkill for a M camera.

 

Are they a bit in the same leage, gitzo traveler serie 1 and the P0, or is it overkill?

 

Is there also another smaller ballhead with toppanning?? I also like the RRS, but I can not see if they have toppanning, so does the gitzo ballheads.

[Manolo Laguillo]

Arca-Swiss's P0 and P1 ballheads use again a thinking method Herr Vogt did employ in the 80's when redesigning the view camera and developing it to a new and very intelligent solution: turning the thing upside down!

 

If we look carefully we will notice that the camera is locked directly onto the head itself, and that the head is locked onto the tripod itself via the base! My english is bad, and I am really unable to say it better, sorry...

 

This, and the absence of a 'normal' knob, does make an original new solution for an old problem.

 

My Arca-Swiss ballhead is an old one, from the 80's, and still made near Zurich. There are 2 balls, one smaller inside the bigger one. There are 2 knobs, one for each ball. One ball moves in the axis front-back, the other in the axis left-right. When unlocking both knobs the ballhead behaves as a normal ballhead. When unlocking only one or the other of the knobs, the corresponding ball moves in only one axis.

This is not the way the Markins ballhead behaves, I think.

[40mm f/2]

The arca swiss P0 takes much more kg's, and I'm afraid its a bit overkill for a M camera.

 

There is not anything like to much holding power but to much weight of a head. The P0 is around 300g like the BH-30 from RSS but has more than 2x the load capacity.