Hi All,

I am buying a markins ballhead (either M10 or M20 still have to decide) and I would like to know if you recommend i go with their shoe and plates or I should go for something else.

Gear that I will be using with it includes,

5d2 with battery grip
1d2N
Lenses,
70-200
300 2.8
400 5.6
500 4

Any help will be appreciate it like fresh water in the desert.

I went w/ an M10, RRS lever clamp and RRS L-brac. I prefer the lever vs. screw type but thats a personal decision.

edit: it would have helped if I read what lenses you were using

If you like to use a ballhead (instead of a gimbal) for those long lenses, buy the largest head M20. An L bracket is also just a waste for those lenses, you can't really use it together with them. For shorter lenses the L-bracket is nice. You need lens-plates together with long lenses instead. Wimberley, Kirk or RRS are good brands for those. The original Markins clamp is ok. But the same brands as for the lens-plates are also very good of course.
But the 500 lens is much nicer to use on a gimbal head.

I have an M20 and a Q3T - both have RRS QR Lever clamps on them. There is no better clamp than RRS and every ballhead should have one, IMO.

Here's the M20:

howardm4 wrote:
I went w/ an M10, RRS lever clamp and RRS L-brac. I prefer the lever vs. screw type but thats a personal decision.



So did I, but my largest lens is the Canon 100-400. I bought the Markins with the clamp unattached. Sent it directly from Markins to RRS to have the lever clamp attached. I'll use the Markins clamp on my monopod (the extra cost of the Markins clamp was not much when you buy it with the head).

Barry