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- Pat MacInnes
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I'd be interested to hear more about the ball head you mentioned. I want to move away from the Pan & Tile Manfrotto one and i know ball heads you really get what you pay for and I don't trust cheap ones where I have £4,000 sitting on top of it.
I'm terrible at remembering numbers and product names but I think this is the one:
http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-giottos-mh1300-652-series-ii-ball-head/p1025891
I first thought the actual base plate was a bit mickey-mouse but it's all very well machined and the double catch lever means you have to intentionally want to release the plate to get it off; it's not going to come off by accident. I was mulling over the cheaper £40 ball heads but the rep said these were the new breed as such, because of the adjustability when it comes to the friction on the ball. He said that a lot of birders have been using these for scopes and bigger lenses because they have that fluid feel once adjusted to the weight of the lens/camera. Really impressed with this - there are two otters similar that are cheaper but I think they are smaller and have less maximum load.
The other head I liked was this:
http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-giottos-vh6011-658d-2-way-video-birding-head/p1518593
had a beautifully smooth up/down action that was adjusted by a lever on the side to adjust the friction. Plus it's spring loaded so when you reach its maximum tilt, it wasn't to return itself to horizontal so it makes moving a large weight much easier. Not that versatile as a general head because of the lack of tilt to put a camera in vertical orientation but as a panning head, it was silky smooth also. I might buy one of these to go on whatever tripod I go for, solely for video work.
Looked at manfrotto and Gitzo but aside from the prices, nothing stood out more than what Giottos were showing. They have some brilliant aluminium tripods that go to 180cm and are super-super light. Probably not free from vibration in a strong wind because of their lightweight (a counterweight could help) but as general tripods for hiking around, £70-80 is a brilliant price I feel.
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