adam613 wrote:
sjms wrote:
howardm4 wrote:
I'll bet the 'heat damage from a turbine' story is interesting.

photographing a GE90 engine during an engine run from a cart stand that i use that serves as a camera support. right after the engine run i removed the camera from the support with the ballhead on it. somone released the brakes on the cart to move it out of their way. it then rolled slow and quietly right up to the turbine case and the ballhead made contact and began to absorb copious amounts of heat from the case. they make nice heatsinks. in the less the 5 minutes of contact the polymer cup was goo. no discoloration of the green anodizing but it real smooth on the ball while being moved with gloves on. sort of like butter. then after cooling it got a little jumpy. sent it to Markins in Canada and they rebuilt it. the tech up there never saw this green color before and actually offered to replace it with the newer lighter model at the time so he could have it. this one has way too much use history with me.


You are my new hero...

i knew you needed one so here i am. i guess you really had lowered expectations and thats what i delivered

Steezus wrote:
sjms wrote:my only real issue with them is they have too many sizes to closely spaced. but then thats their issue not mine in reality totally unnecessary.

You must be real frustrated with RRS then! Every time I open their catalog it boggles my mind to see how many different support items they carry from the clamp up. It is like you have all the parts you could ever want to build either an Autobot or a Decepticon!

you see boggling i see opportunity and a systematic approach.

their products are like lego where i an build what i need when i need it. not like a russian doll concept of one product that you open and come up with the next smaller size of the same thing over and over. so much for design inovation

i'm still waiting on my tripod leveling based from them.

sjms wrote:you see boggling i see opportunity and a systematic approach.

I thought Autobot would give it away, and if that failed, then Decepticon had to at least raise suspicions..

?

Transformers?

sjms wrote:


you see boggling i see opportunity and a systematic approach.

their products are like lego where i an build what i need when i need it.


Agreed. One of the reason I eventually accumulated went the full Ultimate omni-pivot pano rig from RRS is that I can configure the various bars and clamps in a great many ways for putting the camera exactl ywhere I want it for macro shots, etc. there are a couple of example of this in my portfolio at http://www.ellisvener.com like http://www.ellisvener.com/#a=0&at=0&mi=2&pt=1π=10000&s=22&p=0 , http://www.ellisvener.com/#a=0&at=0&mi=2&pt=1π=10000&s=2&p=1 and http://www.ellisvener.com/#a=0&at=0&mi=2&pt=1π=10000&s=1&p=3 as wel las standard single and multi-row panoramics.

If the RRS stuff stretches your budget too much right now then look at the bars and macro gear at http://www.novoflex.com/en/products/ and http://www.sunwayphoto.com


But I suspect sjms, like me, grew up with an Erector set

you bet! they'd never get past the consumer products safety council today the way we had it. way too many little parts.

novoflex macro gear today is in the same price range as RRS. admittedly a brighter color though.

adam613 wrote:
sjms wrote:
howardm4 wrote:
I'll bet the 'heat damage from a turbine' story is interesting.

photographing a GE90 engine during an engine run from a cart stand that i use that serves as a camera support. right after the engine run i removed the camera from the support with the ballhead on it. somone released the brakes on the cart to move it out of their way. it then rolled slow and quietly right up to the turbine case and the ballhead made contact and began to absorb copious amounts of heat from the case. they make nice heatsinks. in the less the 5 minutes of contact the polymer cup was goo. no discoloration of the green anodizing but it real smooth on the ball while being moved with gloves on. sort of like butter. then after cooling it got a little jumpy. sent it to Markins in Canada and they rebuilt it. the tech up there never saw this green color before and actually offered to replace it with the newer lighter model at the time so he could have it. this one has way too much use history with me.


You are my new hero...

got any real nice aircraft shots?
GE90

sjms wrote:
?
Savas K wrote:
Transformers?

It was saracasm. sjms, your position seems a bit at odds with other things you have said in regards to Photoclam. No doubt RRS is an awesome company and makes a ton of great gear, but they have 4 tripod heads, 3 that literally could fit inside themselves like a russian doll. I count 5 for Photoclam. So I find it odd to fault that company even though you obviously love RRS who also will develop a component, then create the same design in various sizes as well.

Basically, I don't think you have a very objective view of PC which would be okay if it was because they were so far unproven over a long period of time, but you instead chose paradoxical criteria it seems.

So far, I haven't heard of any problems with PC falling apart or seen a cutaway or breakdown of the gear showing sloppy work. To me, that is all we have to go off as far as build quality goes unless people report they are failing and handle like slop as well.

Don't get me wrong though, I think RRS is a pretty amazing company and that BH-40 will replace my head if it ever fails to deliver in the future. It just doesn't seem like you take a very objective approach in regards to any support equipment if it isn't Gitzo or RRS.

it seems your saracasm eluded more then me. in fact it still does. but then its pretty irrelevent.

cute shot of the Tori Gate at Miyajima. last time i was there was sept 1992. needed a serious paint job back then. way too hot for me there too. cruised up to Sapporo after a stop over at my friends apartment in Tokyo to refill my film supply. bagged a few peaks there in Daisetsuzan National Park while up there. Hokkaido is the best

Miyajima turned out to be as far south that i ever got there. Wakkanai was the northernmost. but then again any further north from there was Russian territory

Thanks for the review. In my looking around, I had missed this one. I've basically decided on getting the PC-44NS in red. If I may, let me add a little bit more information that I have gathered. First is that I can already see that the bubble levels are virtually useless as a circular level would have been better. I understand that it is difficult to view having to look underneath the side of your camera and still shows fore and aft level so much more clearly than lateral.

With quality seeming to be similar among "higher" priced heads, I gather that all would meet my amateur needs. However, a nice thing about these photo clam heads is how they can fold up inside a Feisol tournament tripods (and likely others like Benro Travel Angel) with or without a center column. The difference in design seems to be that the pan and ball tension knobs are 90(?) degrees apart allowing them to fit with a tripod leg in between. Most seem to be about 45 degrees which would interfere with the legs. Kerry from reallybigcameras gave me an excellent and lightning fast explanation/clarification about what works which I will quote. From his explanation I take it that only 33, 36, and 40 heads bought through him will fit between the legs. Look carefully on ebay listings, and you'll see the difference. Definitely worth buying from Kerry.

For lenses up to 70-200mm f4, I'd recommend the PC-36N/NS. If your 70-200mm is an f2.8, I'd move up to the PC-40N/NS. For the Bigma, the smallest ballhead I'd recommend is the PC-44NS. The only ballheads I normally stock in colors are the PC-30N and PC-33NS in red, blue and gold, and the PC-44NS in red. These heads, plus the all the black Photo Clam ballheads from PC-30N through PC-44NS will fit within the reverse folded legs of the Feisol Tournament Class tripods with, or without, the center column installed. The colored PC-36N/NS and colored PC-40N/NS
will not fit in the reverse folded legs of the Tournament Class tripods without the center columns installed. I believe they may fit in the reverse folded legs of these tripods with the center column installed, but I have not tried this.

It may seem odd that the color of the PC-36N/NS and PC-40N/NS ballhead would make a difference in whether or not it will fit within the reverse folded legs of the tripods. When I first started working with Photo Clam, I asked them to move the position of the pan locking knob on their PC-33NS, PC-36N/NS and PC-40N/NS to fit within the reverse folded legs of the Feisol tripods. The agreed to do so, but required that I commit to purchase a large quantity of each head they modified to meet my request as it requires a new set of anodizing masks for each size and
finish color. I was willing to make that commitment for the all three sizes in the black finish, but only for the PC-33NS in the colors. The PC-30N and PC-44NS are newer products that were designed with the an locking knob in the ideal position. So, if you want a red ballhead that will fit within the reverse folded legs of the CT-3442/CT-3342, without the center column installed, your choices are the PC-33NS or PC-44NS.

Steezus wrote:
You must be real frustrated with RRS then! Every time I open their catalog it boggles my mind to see how many different support items they carry from the clamp up. It is like you have all the parts you could ever want to build either an Autobot or a Decepticon!

Actually the opposite, RRS has a real good foundation for building custom rigs but they don't have everything I needed, so I had to machine some of my own stuff. It's currently a combination of RRS, Arca-Swiss, Hejnar, Kirk, Cambo and various milled aluminum bits.