Equipment & Techniques > Cameras, Lenses and Shooting gear

Ballhead Drift

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MBehrens:
Can anyone explain the physics of why a ballhead will drift after tightening with the smallest of weight applied to it.

Here is my story.
I had been using a Giottos MH1300 BH. It is not the most expensive BH around and I was always frustrated with the drift that would occur after locking it down. Though it seems to be a very solid piece of equipment, as I'm handling it and writing this it still does.

Thinking that I simply had not spent enough money on this BH (it never came out on any comparison lists, must be junk) I researched and settled on the Induro BHL2S. This if fairly highly regarded in some circles and 3x the cost of the Giottos, it must be much better. Well is is somewhat better but I'm surprised by the amount of drift that occurs with it as well. Note I am not over loading this BH, my go to rig these days is a Fujifilm X-T2, and the 55-200 lens is my biggest glass. With battery grip the whole package is probably ~4lb. This is a BH rated at 26lb.

I would think that if I tighten this down that the grip on the ball would be solid, but the view in the camera slowly drifts down a bit. It does stay put once drifted into position, but this initial drift seems like some kind of design flaw. Maybe I'm using it incorrectly, but it seems pretty simple, point camera, tighten BH... not sure where I might be amiss.

Hopefully someone can explain this phenomenon.

Thanks, Morey

Rob C:
If this happens in vertical shots, it might be associated with not the head itself but with the screw that holds camera to head. On my massive Gitzo triopod with an equally massive twin tilter head, the 180mm on a Nikon combination slowly loses its position and rotates downwards when in vertical mode. In this case, it is the moment about the point - the turning force from gravity around the screw between head and camera - that is the flaw. In my own case I was able to fix it by putting a cut piece of perspex into a slot at the back of the plate. This perspex rib holds up hard against the rear of the camera and so no turning can happen anymore.

I see no way of doing that with a ball head if it's the ball itself that slips within its base. The easier solution would be one of those camera grips that goes from vertical to horizontal without the need to readjust the top of the support head. However, the weight might still be enough to induce turning moments. Ball heads have always felt less than ideal to me. The last one I owned was a Linhof, and I didn't like it much either.

I have "favourited" a video of Peter Lindbergh fighting a Pentax 67 doing exactly the same turning trick during a studio shoot... trouble is, there are so many of his that I can't remember which it was that had the clip. Suffice to say that with all his financial success, if he couldn't fix it...

Rob

jrsforums:
Another area to look for "drift" is the clamp and plate.  I found that Manfrotto RC2 System often had built in "wobble". Good Arca-Swiss stuff, not so much.

Jim Metzger:
Arca Swiss B1 has a slight "oval" ball on their head to eliminate drift when tightened down. I am not sure about the ball from companies like RRS (BH55). RRS also designs "anti-rotation" flanges in their plates to prevent camera twist about the mounting plate.

I believe it is this level of engineering that commands the premium price of these heads and plates.

rdonson:
Check that 26 lb rating on the ball head.  Sometimes those ratings are deceiving as they refer to vertical load, not when you're off the perfect vertical axis.  I use a Sirui K-30x with my X-T2 and up to a 100-400 Fuji lens.  Its rated at 66 lbs and if I had a heavier lens that I was using I might move up to the K-40x (77 lbs).

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