Ball Head Recommendation

[Kurt Harrigan]

I'm looking to buy a new ball head. I have a Nikon Z7 and use the typical landscape lenses and nothing over 300mm although I may get a 400mm at some point. Does anyone have any recommendations? I pretty much just need a ball head that also has the pan feature and that's about it. I'm currently using a Markins Q-Ball but I'm having a few problems....

-Kurt

 

[JimFox]

Hey Kurt, because of my Astro I needed a new steady and strong, low profile, lightweight ballhead. I couldn’t see spending $300-400 on a name brand. I found a couple on Amazon. And the good news they only cost around $50 to $60.

I don’t know if you want a no name brand, if you are I can look up which ones I ordered.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Well you asked, and RRS is my go to place for tripods and ballheads. Not cheap but well made.

 

[Kurt Harrigan]

Hey Kurt, because of my Astro I needed a new steady and strong, low profile, lightweight ballhead. I couldn’t see spending $300-400 on a name brand. I found a couple on Amazon. And the good news they only cost around $50 to $60.

I don’t know if you want a no name brand, if you are I can look up which ones I ordered.

Sounds great, Jim. If you could forward them I would appreciate it.

 

[JimFox]

Hey Kurt, I have bought 2 of these so far and I really like them. A couple of things I was looking for.

1. No knurled knob to tighten. I wanted a lever. This was important as my thumb and fingers would get sore on long trips from constantly gripping the knurled tightening screw. The lever, is so much easier and more solid, especially when I doing Astro and I have my D850 and the Tamron 150-600mm hanging onto it, that's a lot of weight to lock down solidly.

2. I also wanted the larger ball, but in a low profile head. This was specifically for Astro as I needed a super lightweight ball head, but also one that didn't extend the camera out even another inch from it's mounting on my Astro Tracker, as that would increase my weight I would need to counterbalance. For just every day shooting on my regular tripod, that part doesn't really matter I guess, but I do think the low profile ball head "feels" more sturdy being lower.

Amazon.com : Low Profile Tripod Ball Head-INNOREL Panoramic CNC Metal Camera Tripod Ballhead with 1/4" Arca Swiss L Plate Bracket and Quick Release Plate for Tripods, Monopod, DSLR, Camcorder, Max Load 44lb/20kg (E40) : Camera & Photo