Who needs a fluid head ? or "Who is afraid of the BBH" (1 Viewer)

i just purchased a large manfrotto carbon fiber ,from someone second hand,locally.it is a large tripod,but quite light,about 1500 gr. and feels very stable..i was going to use for now with my old manfrotto 128rc.The old manfrotto is not state of the art,by any means,but has smooth fluid action and it adecuate for observation ..but its a handfull amd not light weight,at almost 2 pounds.So when i mounted the head on the tripod ,the difference with my old aluminum tripod was not a lot..It would count on a full field day,but to make it worth i would have to find a lighter head...if it does indeed exist in my budget!..
Now,the carbon tripod came fitted with a quite large,older ,single control manfrotto ball head,model #352rc..i had no use for it,and since i will be moving soon i was going to sell it .I use a ball head in my small tripod to support my mini 50 mm spotting scope,and works fine,..The small scope doesnt have a rotatory collar,so the ball head allows for some movility sideways and an action feeling that goes well to the "fast moving " concept..so far tests i did with the large scope and the small ball head were not satisfactory,but this new ball head is twice the size of the small and much more sturdy...so i decided to give it a try...This head weights 430 gr..less than half the weight of the 128 ,and the combo carbon tripod/ ball head is considerably lighter than my old aluminum tripod/128 combo...placing the head sideways and rotating the scope collar is more stable than i thought ,kind of like an altazimut system !..It is not as smooth as the fluid head,but very light and more than adecuate to use the scope..So i think im putting the old 128 to rest and adopting this new combo for my official kit.One thing i like about the tripod is the possibility of mounting the column sideways ...sounds weird,but the side arm makes a great rest for my,large..and heavy,sketching pad...but more on that idea in a future thread...

Hi,

I'm actually using a ballhead (with the quick release pointing up) on one of my tripods which I got with a used scope. It's an old Cullmann Titan legs and ballhead - no column. Just the right thing if you need to support 20kg+ of medium format gear.

Unfortunately it weights around 5kg but it certainly is stable - and in case you want to use it on gale-force wind, you can always add a bag of cement or two for additional stability.

It resides on my balcony for the daily quick peek across the river to watch the cormorants and grey herons. I like the quick aiming (with the diy aiming aid from this forum) with this - certainly less fiddly than a video head.

Now that I read your post, I might look for a used light ballhead to go with my carbon tripod...

Joachim

jring said:

Now that I read your post, I might look for a used light ballhead to go with my carbon tripod...

Click to expand...

I've been experimenting with ballheads quite a bit - and they don't really work for me, especially not in windy environments. I much prefer lightweight video heads which are much more stable IMO. They're also a lot better when scanning large flocks of waders or geese. The only ballheads that work in my experience are heavy and expensive, like the Arca Swiss.

Hermann