Ball head recommendations (please)

I am getting ready to purchase the Canon EF 500 f/4L and have decided to go with the Sidekick for convenience, rather than the Wimberley head. I am leaning towards the Gitzo GT-5530S and would like some advice / recommendations on which ball head to mount on the system. I've looked into Arca Swiss B-1 and the RRS BH-55 and both seem fine, but the past problems with freeze-ups on the Arca Swiss give me a bit of concern. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Sam

I've only had my BH-55 for a couple of months but it has worked flawlessly in a variety of conditions with my H1. I've had it out in the cold just a little and it worked fine. It is really beautifully made, very well designed and crafted.

Hope that helps.

Sam, I have a Arca-Swiss B-1 that had the lockup problem due to a defective collette inside. It was repaired under warranty about a year ago and has been flawless since - but there is a lingering concern of - will it reoccur ?

I've had my BH-55LR for over a year now and use it with the Sidekick and my 500f4 IS and have been very happy with it. I've used it in temps as low as -10F with no problems (although the sidekick got a bit "sticky" at those temps). RRS has some history of poor custumer service but with the new owners, my experience with them couldn't be better.

Hi Sam
I have 2 Arca Swiss B1s - one I've had for about 12 years and the other about 2. Neither have had any problems and work very well with the Sidekick and the 500.

Not to make the decision even more difficult, but you may want to look at the Kirk B1-H ballhead. I have used mine for 5 years and been totally happy. One of the knobs did come unthreaded, but I was able to fix it after one call directly to Kirk. They have really good customer service, and based out of Indiana.

Thanks to all replies. While not making my choice any easier, you have confirmed that all are up to the task of handling the 500 f/4. I'm thinking the Arca Swiss B-1 might be the better choice because of the slightly decreased weight. I know it's not that much of a difference between the others, but every pound saved means I'll wind up using the entire set-up more often and in potentially more remote locations. Thanks, again.

I have had my BH-55 for about one year. Great ballhead. Solid as a rock, smooth, easy to use. I primarily shoot large format and it handles a pretty big camera with ease.

Never used the others. The lockup on the AS would worry me. They say it has been fixed, but it seems to keep haunting users. Besides, RRS is a local manufacturer on the central coast of CA, in San Luis Obispo. Nice to be able to support local, small and good companies.

Acratech announced 2 new heads at the PMA show. They both support 25 pounds and
cost about $300. Check out image resource for a You Tube video about them. One of them is an entirely new concept that gets rid
of the need of a gimbal head.

Art L.

Thanks for the heads-up on Acratech, Art. I checked the Image Resource video as well as the Acratech web site. One of the potential weaknesses of this design is having camera body so close to the tripod. It looks like there is a real possibility that the tripod may limit the panning range of motion depending on the lens / camera configuration. I am going to invest in one of the more recommended models, hence my dilemma of exactly which one to buy. Thanks, again, for the info.

You might look into the Wimberley Head, Version 2. I use it with my 500/4 for catching birds in-flight. Very balanced and no panning restrictions. I have it attached to a Bogen 3021 tripod.

It's wonderful to have choices. I'm still using an Arca-Swiss B1 from the days when there were no choices. Oh, wait! It was wonderful to have one clearly superior option! I can't tell you anything about the new ball heads. I've read that they are better in many ways. I can tell you that, for general purpose photography, a ball head is great. I always use and L-bracket for shorter lenses. None of that dropping into the slot stuff for me.

Pete D.

I wound up going with the RRS BH-55, the Sidekick, and the Gitzo 3530LSV. Not as heavy as I thought all of this would be --- but that's only after moving this around in my living room. I am pretty sure I won't be lugging this around on extended excursions.

The BH-55 is very well built and looks super sharp. The whole set-up seems really solid and doesn't have anywhere near the amount of vibration I have with my 300 f/4 on a Bogen/Manfrotto 055MF4 with 468MGRC2 ball head. I can clearly see now that there would be no way that the 500 f/4 would ever be steady enough on that setup. Thanks, again, to all who weighed in on this.

If you are not going to use a gimbal head with that big lens, you may want to throw the Markins heads (I am thinking M20) into the mix.

How does the Markins compare? everything I've read about them seems pretty good but I've not actullly seen one in action.

thanks

Graham