Tripod Ball heads

[nickjohnwatson]

I've got a giottos MH1312 ball head at the minute and i't been fine with my 550D and smaller lenses, but I've got a bigger camera now and coupled with filters and when i use my 70-200 (with tripod mount ring) its just not sturdy enough to hold the weight, the ball can be moved even when its at its tightest settings.

I was thinking of changing it to this one ........

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Manfrotto...747?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item5d508b20f3

Just wondered if anyone uses it and can let me know if its sturdy enough and hard wearing?
I had a manfrotto one before but it was a 3 way head and i hated the faff on having to adjust 3 different axis to set it so a ball head is much preferred.

Any help would be appreciated

Nick

 

[mpe]

I had previous version of this (488) and it wasn't very good. There was a significant frame shift after tightening the ball.

 

[dinners]

I had the 498rc2 ballhead before moving back to a 3 way head.

Held my 1D3 with 100-400 fine.

 

[PaulButler]

I have it's smaller brother and that is fine.

 

[Nod]

Most ball heads will suffer from creep. If you want/need exact positioning, go for a geared head.

 

[mickledore]

You might like to consider going down the Arca route. IMHO much easier to use, and so simple when going to portrait mode - no of that hanging off the side stuff.

 

[HoppyUK]

Suggest search recent threads

 

[gramps]

Good solid arca-style supplier: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SUNWAYFOT...858?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4d1d5bc36a

 

[nickjohnwatson]

Just a little update, I went for the Manfrotto 498RC2 and its been great so far, very steady and easy to use/manouvre. Would recommend it Cheers @dinners