Kirk BH-1

I need some help please.....
I am planning on getting a new ball head system, I want a Kirk Bh-1 and a Wimberly Sidekick. My problem is I dont know what plates I need for this?
So here is my situation, I have 2 lenses with tripod collors and I will also want to be able to secure my camera body to the ball head on ocassion. What type of plates am I going to need for this? My lenses are well within the parameters for this rig. The biggest lens is a 300 f2.8 I may be reading about this all wrong, but it seems to me that there are a couple different styles of plates to put with this. I dont know wich is the ones I need?

Thanks for the help.

Campbell,

You have the option to use either generic Arca Swiss Lens & camera plates (not recommended: the Kirk BH-1 comes with 1 generic plate to get you started).

The following companies sell dedicated plates: check their website for the plates fitting specific lenses / camera bodies:

RRS: http://www.reallyrightstuff.com/
Kirk: http://www.kirkphoto.com/
Wimberley: http://www.tripodhead.com/

As deBult said, just go on the Kirk site (or one of the others) and look up which plate you need for which lenses. If any of your lenses are the big glass 300 f/2.8, 400 f/2.8, 500 f/4, or 600 f/4 I strongly urge you to get the correct Wimberley plates for those as they have safety stops that will sooner or later save you from dropping one of these lenses.

Thanks guys.
So I need to match the plate to the specific lens and camera body?
Would the 'stock' plate work for the camera body? It would only hold a wide angle lens with the body.

Thank you

I had the Kirk BH-1 for 5+ years. I liked it.

It was stolen. The replacement looked like it came out of somebody's garage and had an open channel (instead of solid) mounting plate.

I sent it back. Kirk gave me a refund.

I bought an Arca-Swiss B1. I like it more than its predecessor (and its load capacity is higher).

In brief, I like the Kirk. I like the Arca-Swiss even more...and it has a higher load capacity which, if you're going to be in the Wimberly league, you may wish to consider.

Now back to your regularly scheduled program.

For the camera body#QP-050
For the 300mm f/2.8 IS lens:
P-30#QP-300

Check here for these parts:
http://www.naturescapes.net/retail/wimb ... plates.htm
http://www.naturescapes.net/retail/wimb ... plates.htm

You will note that Wimberly and RRS recommend plates longer than the foot of the lenses. This is so you can slide back and forth for perfect balance depending on the body, flash, battery pack, extender. I've found Wimberly's recommendations to be right on. For the Camera body, Kirk does a good job of matching the plate to the body so it won't twist.

Hi Jason,

This is the set-up I have. My biggest lens is also a 300 f2.8. I can't live without my Kirk L-Bracket for my camera body. It makes it so easy to compose both vertically and horizontally without readjusting the ball or flipping the ball to the side. I use the basic plate that comes with the head for my back-up body.

I love the sidekick, I made the mistake of buying the Wimberley P-30 plate for the 300 f2.8 instead of the P-20 recommended. It gives me plenty of room to move when balancing the lens with converters and plenty of room to mount the Wimberely flash brackets but unless I turn it around when storing the lens the reversed hood will not fit.

Get the Wimberley lens plates. they have stops that keep the lens and camera from sliding out of the sidekick if it is left a little loose.

BTW, How was Bosque? I'm sorry I couldn't stick around a few extra days to meet and shoot with you.

I third (or fourth) the use of Wimberley plates for the lenses (and the P-5 for the camera body) but I also think the Kirk ball-head is just as good, if not better, than the Arca-Swiss. This is coming from an owner of the latter...

Neil,
Bosque was AWESOME! Met some great ppl out there. I am planning on going again next year. Maybe I will have my new ball head rig by then?? lol
I shot a little over 1000 pictures out there, so I am looking forward to the 5 or 6 good ones I get back. haha

I suggest you get the Wimberely plates for two reasons. First there are stops at both ends to prevent disasterous slippage of big lenses out of the ballhead clamp. Second, the Wimberely is double groved (top and bottom) so that you can mount their flash/macro brackets on the top grove while using the bottom grove for mounting to the ballhead. This give you the versitility to add flash or reflectors to any setup and have the flash exactly where you want it. Very flexable and convenient for macro work with a big telephoto lens. The Wimberely flash and macro brackets are the best.

Greg Downing wrote:I third (or fourth) the use of Wimberley plates for the lenses (and the P-5 for the camera body) but I also think the Kirk ball-head is just as good, if not better, than the Arca-Swiss. This is coming from an owner of the latter...

As I said in another post, I will disagree here.
I've had both Kirk and Arca (the newer one).
In short, Kirk is good. Arca is better.

The new B1's have solved the lockup problem.

The Kirk BH-1 is still a good ballhead but not as good as it once was.
Last year mine was stolen and I needed a replacement. Kirk was out of stock!

There were no Arca's to be immediately found but Arca offered to let me use one!

When my replacement Kirk arrived it looked shoddy -- like it was built in someone's garage -- and the once solid mounting plate was replaced with an open channel design. I sent it back and got the Arca.

Don't get me wrong. I'm still a Kirk customer but not for the ballhead. I find that they do not handle as nicely as the new Arca. Plus Arca offered better customer support.