Ballhead showdown. $300 and $400 range

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Archive 2009 · Ballhead showdown. $300 and $400 range

Cableaddict
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p.2 #1 · Ballhead showdown. $300 and $400 range

Bump.

I'm hoping maybe someone has some useful empirical info on the Feisol ballheads.

I still can't find ANYTHING.

Oct 02, 2009 at 08:00 PM

MrGreen
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p.2 #2 · Ballhead showdown. $300 and $400 range

Cableaddict wrote:
Bump.

I'm hoping maybe someone has some useful empirical info on the Feisol ballheads.

I still can't find ANYTHING.

Well when I was looking into buying my setup from Really Big Cameras I asked Kerry about the Feisol heads but he basically told me, in not so many words, that the Photo Clam heads were superior in every way.

While I haven't tried out any Feisol heads, all I can say is the Photo Clam heads are really, really awesome.

Oct 02, 2009 at 09:55 PM

753951
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p.2 #3 · Ballhead showdown. $300 and $400 range

Cableaddict wrote:
Bump.

I'm hoping maybe someone has some useful empirical info on the Feisol ballheads.

I still can't find ANYTHING.

Well, I just typed "Feisol CB-50" at Google and on first page got few hits to reviews written by people who owned one. It looks like most are dated in late 2006 and 2007. Bottom line, it does perform as they expected and no one was disappointed in it. People do not buy them as much as RRS, Markins, Kirk or Acratech and that's why you don't see that many first hand experience reviews. As for why don't people buy more Feisol ballheads, I can only guess. I was thinking about it and decided to buy Photo Clam instead. It's about how confident you are with your decision and weather you want to be guinea pig.

Oct 02, 2009 at 10:41 PM

Cableaddict
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p.2 #4 · Ballhead showdown. $300 and $400 range

753951 wrote:
Cableaddict wrote:
Bump.

I'm hoping maybe someone has some useful empirical info on the Feisol ballheads.

I still can't find ANYTHING.

Well, I just typed "Feisol CB-50" at Google and on first page got few hits to reviews written by people who owned one. It looks like most are dated in late 2006 and 2007.

Yeah,I saw that. It's the only review anywhere, it doesn't compare it to anything else, and it's almost 3 years out of date.

Weird.

Oct 03, 2009 at 01:05 AM

tvphotog
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p.2 #5 · Ballhead showdown. $300 and $400 range

If you look at the Photo Clam, just compare apples and apples. The 33NS ball is 5mm smaller than the Markins Q3t. This has a real effect on ease of use and on slippage as you point the camera slightly down. As others have mentioned, you take a chance with an item new to the market.

Oct 04, 2009 at 03:34 PM

nathanlake
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p.2 #6 · Ballhead showdown. $300 and $400 range

I would suggest you dump all three and buy an Acratech GV2. More expensive, but much better. If you every plan to use a Sidekick, the GV2 is better designed for that use.

Oct 04, 2009 at 11:38 PM

Lars Johnsson
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p.2 #7 · Ballhead showdown. $300 and $400 range

nathanlake wrote:
I would suggest you dump all three and buy an Acratech GV2. More expensive, but much better. If you every plan to use a Sidekick, the GV2 is better designed for that use.

You can't be serious saying that Acratech GV2 is much better than Markins, RRS, Kirk or Arca-Swiss

Oct 05, 2009 at 04:39 AM

sjms
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p.2 #8 · Ballhead showdown. $300 and $400 range

Oct 05, 2009 at 12:57 PM

bp044
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p.2 #9 · Ballhead showdown. $300 and $400 range

tvphotog wrote:
If you look at the Photo Clam, just compare apples and apples. The 33NS ball is 5mm smaller than the Markins Q3t. This has a real effect on ease of use and on slippage as you point the camera slightly down. As others have mentioned, you take a chance with an item new to the market.

I am hoping by now the dust has settled and there is some definitive data as to wheather the above ballheads are comparable in performance. Any comments ?

Oct 29, 2009 at 03:37 AM

wlachan
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p.2 #10 · Ballhead showdown. $300 and $400 range

I have owned the B1 for a decade, and had the chance of checking the range of PhotoClam ballheads in HK early this year. Judging from the finish and craftmanship, they are every bit as good as the Arca Swiss. This is however, w/o knowing the actual materials and how the inner mechanisms were made. But the locking was +ve and I would guess they might actually replicate the AS locking mechanisms too (unlike Benbo which just copied the look with crap inside). For quality small tripods, I think 36 or 40 would be the right sizes. 55 would be the size of B1. The smallest 2 models in the series are really too small for anything serious imho.

Oct 29, 2009 at 09:27 AM

Billdev
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p.2 #11 · Ballhead showdown. $300 and $400 range

I also have a Feisol 3441-S Travel Pod, and I have been using it with a Photo Clam PC-33 NS for almost one year. I am very happy with this combination, and extremely impressed with the quality of the PC ballhead. I think you will continue to see positive reaction to Photo Clam as more people try their products and recognize the excellent value they provide.

Oct 29, 2009 at 06:48 PM

godzakka
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p.2 #12 · Ballhead showdown. $300 and $400 range

One more vote for Photoclam on CT-3441's. I have the PC-36N and it works well up to a Sigma 150-500 on a Canon 40D w/2x TC. A little vibration at first, but to be expected with nearly 7 lbs of gear on top. Live view and remote shutters solve the little bit of vibration caused by pushing the shutter button.

Oct 29, 2009 at 10:58 PM

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