Is there a "favorite" medium-duty ballhead among avian photographers? My head is buzzing with conflicting on-line "advice" regarding smoothness/stability, durability, weight and price. Maximum weight it would carry would be less than 8 lbs. Thanks.
David- First, when you say "favourite ..... among avian photographers" I assume you mean avian photography using telephoto lenses. The problem with a ballhead for this application in my opinion is that a telephoto lens and camera are normally fairly heavy rigs and inherently unstable (= floppy). If you support using a ballhead, you will have to be careful at all times to make sure the head it tightened or at least has lots of friction applied so that the rig does not come crashing down at the lens end or the camera end. With this amount of friction, the lens/camera combo is then difficult to move as you track wildlife in motion. As Nancy mentioned, the obvious solution to this is a gimbal head which is inherently stable yet will allow you to move the lens as you track your target. Wimberley, Jobu and 4th Generation make nice gimbal heads.
If you are really stuck on a ballhead I like my Manfrotto Hydrostatic head (which I use for small lenses doing macro/landscape), and the Really Right Stuff ballheads are superb. The best of both worlds might be a ballhead and a Wimberley Sidekick which converts the ballhead into a gimbal.
If you want a ball head I will go with what I posted. If you want a head for BIF then I will agree with John and if it is lenses like the 100-400, 300 f/4 or the 400 f/5.6 then as Nancy says I would hand hold.
I will be happy to sell you an excellent Foba ballhead, because I ditched it for a gimbal head that is vastly superior. You will pay a fair amount for a ball head, become unhappy with it, and buy a gimbal. Save yourself the price of the ball head.
Just purchased a Wimberely 2, it appears to be the "gold standard" for long lens bird photography. There are a lot of very nice and reliable gimbal heads on the market and I am sure you will find as many opinions as there are heads. If you could afford it, you won't go wrong with a Wimberely. As far as other ball heads I like the Kirk. Just another opinion though...
I haven't received it yet, but, after a lot of research, I went with the Arca Swiss V1, plus a Wimberley Sidekick. My largest lens will be the EF 500mm f/4L IS.
Today I've got the Mafrotto gimbal, which is nice, but screwing it on and off in the field when I want to switch from birds to take a scenic is a pain. The Sidekick with a good ballhead will make a much quicker change possible.
How large is your largest lens? That'll determine whether you need a full Wimberley or can make do with a "medium duty" ballhead. I really think that a medium duty will only serve you decently up to about a 400mm f/5.6.
I have a Markins M-10 that I use for my 300/4, 70 - 200/2.8 and 17 - 40/4. It is an incredible piece of equiment but it wasn't cheap. I use the Wimberley II for the 500/4.
Ballhead recommendations?
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