Light ballhead recommendations

nandbytes

nandbytes

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People on the big A7 thread got me thinking if there was a good light ball head for A7RII+16-35mm/2.8 GM?
So say 1500g max.

I currently have markins Q3i with quick release lever which is awesome but it weighs 1/3rd of my tripods weight (feisol CT3342). I wonder if I can do better...
 
I have a Giottos MH 1301. I don't think they make them anymore.
 
I hate ball heads but have just got a manfrotto one and to be fair are quite good quality!
I also looked at the pig iron ones if you want arca Swiss qr
 
woof woof said:
I have a Giottos MH 1301. I don't think they make them anymore.
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That one seems heavier than my markins @516g vs. 375g

Mark twiglet said:
I hate ball heads but have just got a manfrotto one and to be fair are quite good quality!
I also looked at the pig iron ones if you want arca Swiss qr
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Which one?
 
Thanks for the idea. Sirui c-10s seems to be lightest one at 220g. Not bad, might give that a go unless someone can suggest a better one...
 
Q3i is actually quite light (375 g) for 38mm ball diameter head. It is lighter than many generic 36mm ball heads.

Yes you can get something slightly lighter, but most likely it will be nowhere close to the same experience and weight difference will be rather small.

Smallest Feisol CB-30D ahs 30mm ball and weights 290g.
 
mpe said:
Q3i is actually quite light (375 g) for 38mm ball diameter head. It is lighter than many generic 36mm ball heads.

Yes you can get something slightly lighter, but most likely it will be nowhere close to the same experience and weight difference will be rather small.

Smallest Feisol CB-30D ahs 30mm ball and weights 290g.
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Just 90g saving is probably not worth it.

Q3i is awesome especially with the quick release lever. It's also quite an expensive ballhead.

I have come across RRS BH-25 that's only 180g. I wonder if that's any good...
 
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I thought markins was expensive the RRS BH-25 is silly expensive :D
 
In terms of weight vs performance, you'll struggle to match the Markins Q3, let alone better it.
 
HoppyUK said:
In terms of weight vs performance, you'll struggle to match the Markins Q3, let alone better it.
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I am not trying to better it. I am simply considering whether I need so much performance. So something smaller and lighter like RRS BH-25 might do just fine for the most part.
 
Never used the BH-25. I think these are probably for monopods or extremely light use.

If you want an all-around ball head for DSLR-like body and normal sized lens I wouldn't want anything with ball diameter smaller than ~35mm.

Every head has to balance between size/weight and stability. I think your Q3 strikes a sweet spot actually.

If you absolutely need to reduce weight of your setup by 100-200g, one option is also to replace legs for something like GT1545T, remove the central column assembly (1.08kg -> 0.8kg) and keep the Q3. I think you will be more happy than with CT3342 and paperweight ballhead.
 
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mpe said:
Never used the BH-25. I think these are probably for monopods or extremely light use.

If you want an all-around ball head for DSLR-like body and normal sized lens I wouldn't want anything with ball diameter smaller than ~35mm.

Every head has to balance between size/weight and stability. I think your Q3 strikes a sweet spot actually.

If you absolutely need to reduce weight of your setup by 100-200g, one option is also to replace legs for something like GT1545T, remove the central column assembly (1.08kg -> 0.8kg) and keep the Q3. I think you will be more happy than with CT3342 and paperweight ballhead.
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Going by reviews BH-25 is able to handle combos with D800 and lenses like 70-200mm f/4 and 14-24mm/2.8. So I felt I was covered for my use case.

Q3 is indeed excellent, no issues with it. Just wondering if I could reduced weight even further. (I would still keep my Q3, its simply awesome and works so well)

Gitzo GT1545T sounds like a decent idea. But it also out of my price range. Even if were willing to pay the price for gitzo I would wonder if I could get the weight down even further with both tripod and ballhead.

The idea isn't to save 100-200g. The idea to save as much weight as possible (within my budget limits). But I will keep an eye out for a used gitzo tripod to pick one up at a good price if possible.

Thanks for the ideas, very helpful :)
 
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nandbytes said:
I have come across RRS BH-25 that's only 180g. I wonder if that's any good...
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I have 2 of these and they are really good but as you say expensive. I bought mine used but they don't come up often on eBay. ffordes usually has some Really Right Stuff in stock as well.
 
maarten.dhaese said:
I have 2 of these and they are really good but as you say expensive. I bought mine used but they don't come up often on eBay. ffordes usually has some Really Right Stuff in stock as well.
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Thanks for the heads up on ffordes.

What is the heaviest it can handle in your experience? or rather what's the heaviest you have used comfortably?

I know someone visiting from the US end of this month. I am considering asking him to bring me a new one. $155 doesn't seem half-bad for it if it'll serve my purpose.

If you don't mind me asking how much did you pay for yours?
 
maarten.dhaese said:
I have 2 of these and they are really good but as you say expensive. I bought mine used but they don't come up often on eBay. ffordes usually has some Really Right Stuff in stock as well.
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There's some pretty good copies of the RRS heads, Novo for example: https://www.novo-photo.com/novo-lgh-25-ball-head.html

Only thing I dislike is the clamp is very small, if you replace that it's a nice little package at a third of the cost of the RRS (there were especially good deals for them during TPS).
 
I've just halved my tripod weight! No I didn't cut it up! Changed my manfrotto 055 legs with 410 geared head for carbon legs and ball head and l bracket
 
nandbytes said:
What is the heaviest it can handle in your experience? or rather what's the heaviest you have used comfortably?
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I have just put my 5DIII+85 f/1.8+flash on it (this weighs in at 1.6 kg) and it seems to hold up OK, although ideally I would want to put it on a heavier tripod and ballhead:

20170904_191443_003 by Maarten DHaese, on Flickr
20170904_191337_001 by Maarten DHaese, on Flickr

The BH-25 only has a single locking lever and no fine adjustment so if you're trying to carefully frame a macro shot, there might be some sag after you lock the ballhead down.

I bought one BH-25 new more than 10 years ago so can't remember what I paid and the other one I got as a package deal: TFA-01 Table Tripod + BH-25LR. I paid £129 used to ffordes, which I thought was reasonable given that it would cost much more to import it from the US.

Personally I use these tripods for my m4/3 gear mainly, which is much lighter.
 
If the objective is to ease the burden of transporting stuff, then the other way of looking at it is a 'carrying solution'.

I found that way much better (and far cheaper) than trying to shave a few grams off this and that. For example, swapping shoulder straps for sling-straps, shoulder bag for sling-bag etc - loads of choice out there. I also use a 'photographer's waistcoat' now and then. Have a look at a ThinkTank Speed Freak bag, coupled with a Black Rapid or Peak Design camera strap.
https://www.thinktankphoto.com/products/speed-freak-v2
 
I like to think I have got good carrying solutions for most of my use cases. I have got a similar bag to one you pointed out and also peak design stuff already. Also f-stop gear for longer hikes which makes things easier to carry.

I suppose in grand scheme of things may be a couple 100g won't make a huge difference. But one likes to think... :D
 
nandbytes said:
I wonder if it's as good as the RRS :thinking:
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The short answer is no but I don't think most people would notice, certainly I haven't for the BH-25.

That wasn't true of the larger models though, I could notice a bit of a difference in use and I prefer the RRS knobs as they felt more comfortable.

Given the choice I would not spend the extra for the RRS heads but as I already have them I just keep the Novo's around as spares should I lose or damage the RRS ones.
 
Just my thoughts.

My lightweight/travel ball head is the Triopo RS3. It is light, small and cheap though you will have to factor in a QR clamp - about £10. Nothing is perfect and this head has only one single control for everything. I like this but it may not suit all users. However it is the smoothest and best locking ball head that I have yet tried at any price or size.

As to your Sony A series + a 16-35? No problem - even my 800mm F5.6 + a Canon 1 series body does not test it. I cannot really say how well it handles out of balance loads as my 4 series Gitzo tripod is too bendy )yes read that again!) - suffice to say it is more than up to any job. My other ball head is the big Sirui K40X - great head but it will not support as much as this silly little (RS3) head.
 
johnf3f said:
Just my thoughts.

My lightweight/travel ball head is the Triopo RS3. It is light, small and cheap though you will have to factor in a QR clamp - about £10. Nothing is perfect and this head has only one single control for everything. I like this but it may not suit all users. However it is the smoothest and best locking ball head that I have yet tried at any price or size.

As to your Sony A series + a 16-35? No problem - even my 800mm F5.6 + a Canon 1 series body does not test it. I cannot really say how well it handles out of balance loads as my 4 series Gitzo tripod is too bendy )yes read that again!) - suffice to say it is more than up to any job. My other ball head is the big Sirui K40X - great head but it will not support as much as this silly little (RS3) head.
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you-had-my-curiousity.jpeg


i find what you are saying a bit hard to swallow but let me see if I can try it out myself cheaply.
 
nandbytes said:
That one seems heavier than my markins @516g vs. 375g
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I'd never heard of your head so I Googled it and it looks like it's a quality high end piece of kit. My cheapo ball head weighs next to nothing yet it's apparently heavier than yours and I do wonder what you'd gain weight wise by swapping yours out. Is swapping it really going to save you anything worth saving?
 
woof woof said:
I'd never heard of your head so I Googled it and it looks like it's a quality high end piece of kit. My cheapo ball head weighs next to nothing yet it's apparently heavier than yours and I do wonder what you'd gain weight wise by swapping yours out. Is swapping it really going to save you anything worth saving?
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Swapping implies I'd be selling my Q3, which is very unlikely.

Whether its worth trying another ball head, I don't know really hence I made this thread :D
 
nandbytes said:
Swapping implies I'd be selling my Q3, which is very unlikely.

Whether its worth trying another ball head, I don't know really hence I made this thread :D
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I'm glad you'll be keeping it as it looks rather good and I think you'd regret selling it.
 
nandbytes said:
you-had-my-curiousity.jpeg


i find what you are saying a bit hard to swallow but let me see if I can try it out myself cheaply.
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And so you should! Realistically how can a £30 Chinese cheapie really be a worthwhile head?
Everything we read suggests that if you want a good stable head then you have to spend LOTS of pennies - generally this is true. However there are exceptions - like the RS3.

Sorry for the dodgy picture but it should give you an idea. Note the 600 F4 is set up as far out of balance as I can get it and the 3 Series Gitzo underneath is a bit bendy so It was hard to properly test how good the lockup/rigidity of the head really is. My newer 4 series Gitzo is not stiff enough to test it either.

Please note that I do not recommend ball heads for these lenses! I was just curious to see what it could cope with but Canon/Nikon no longer make anything heavy enough - I strongly suspect it would fail with a 1200 F5.6 - but my 800 F5.6 L IS is not a challenge.
 

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johnf3f said:
And so you should! Realistically how can a £30 Chinese cheapie really be a worthwhile head?
Everything we read suggests that if you want a good stable head then you have to spend LOTS of pennies - generally this is true. However there are exceptions - like the RS3.

Sorry for the dodgy picture but it should give you an idea. Note the 600 F4 is set up as far out of balance as I can get it and the 3 Series Gitzo underneath is a bit bendy so It was hard to properly test how good the lockup/rigidity of the head really is. My newer 4 series Gitzo is not stiff enough to test it either.

Please note that I do not recommend ball heads for these lenses! I was just curious to see what it could cope with but Canon/Nikon no longer make anything heavy enough - I strongly suspect it would fail with a 1200 F5.6 - but my 800 F5.6 L IS is not a challenge.
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Thanks for the picture. They also have RS-1 and RS-2 versions. I wonder if they are also equally good. My set-up is relatively light.
 
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nandbytes said:
Thanks for the picture. They also have RS-1 and RS-2 versions. I wonder if they are also equally good. My set-up is relatively light.
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I haven't used them but I would imagine the RS2 would do nicely.
 
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