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Help with choice of Arca

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by Ken Newcombe on Fri Dec 12, 2003 9:07 pm

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Lat,

Unless you are looking to save weight the 468RC you have (if I remember) can be fitted with the Arca clamp for less money than a new head. The clamp is much better than the Mafrotto QR.

I have never had my 2 year old B1 lock up. It is operationally somewhat better than the 468 but not alot.

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by mv on Fri Dec 12, 2003 10:24 pm

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You might give realy right stuff a call, talked with Joe and he told me
they will have a new ball head out in January, might be worth the wait
for a look in a few weeks.

Michael

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by fredcor on Fri Dec 12, 2003 11:38 pm

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Thank you all, very much. I think I will go with the Arca B1. If there is a newer B1 model, how does one differentiate? I will be ordering from B&H in the US, is there a model number for the later verson of the B1?

Ken, even though I have used the 468 for about a year now I find the ball lock quite soft, but you are probably right and I should wait a bit and get a better tripod that is firmer than the Manfrotto I use.

Thanks again,

Latafat

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by Greg Downing on Sat Dec 13, 2003 8:52 am

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Latafat, this is the one you want:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/control ... 908&is=REG

Good luck and good shooting!

Greg Downing
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by Dan Barthel on Sat Dec 13, 2003 9:29 am

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Slightly off topic, but Andy raised an interesting suggestion about the new Gitzo 1228 || with the leveling head build in. I find that leveling heads are a huge timesaver in the field, and wouldn't be without one. As to ballheads, I have the Arca B1 and the Acratech. I don't like the Acratech as much in the vertical position, horizontally, it's ok.

NSN 061
Dan

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by abiggs on Sat Dec 13, 2003 9:40 am

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Actually, I have had my 1228 MK2 for a few years now, and I am not aware that they even made self leveling heads on the '2' series tripods. That would be pretty cool.

Andy Biggs
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by Greg Downing on Sat Dec 13, 2003 9:41 am

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One must remember that as useful as leveling heads are with gimbal style heads, they are completely useless with ball heads.

Greg Downing
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by E.J. Peiker on Sat Dec 13, 2003 10:30 am

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Greg Downing wrote:One must remember that as useful as leveling heads are with gimbal style heads, they are completely useless with ball heads.

Why do you say that? Even though I don't use one, they are very useful for setting up panorama sequences. For panos to stitch together well the base of the ballhead must be completely level (which is easy to do with a leveling head if the bubble level is still working) as to not induce any vertical misregistration when you pan the head with the panning control and then the camera must be perfectly level (via a bubble level in the hot shoe) to make sure there that everything lines up on the same horizontal axis.

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by Greg Downing on Sat Dec 13, 2003 11:55 am

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You are right in this case, as long as you level to top of the ball-head with the bubble in the hot shoe. I guess what I should have said is that when it comes to bird photography they are useless with ball heads because, if you are panning with a ball head you need the ability to move the camera for and aft, which requires a lose ball head, throwing the axis out of alignment anyway.

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by Dan Barthel on Sun Dec 14, 2003 3:44 pm

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Greg, level the ball head base with the tripod leveling head. Then to get the ball head absolutely level, snap in the Kirk ball head lock. You can now do panoramas dead level. You can also do the same thing with the overpriced bubble level we all own and lose regularly.