Hi guys,
A looooooong time ago I promised a review of the Really Right Stuff TVC-34L and BH-55 ball head with lever release. RRS's top of the line four section carbon fibre tripod and ball head combo (for my needs anyway). I apologise in advance for the quality of some of the pics (most were taken with a point and shoot) and don't chastise me for the dust on my camera either :-)
A bit of background first - I shoot absolutely anything, however I particularly enjoy really taking the time to set up a shot properly and that's when a tripod is invaluable for me. I used to use a much smaller aluminium tripod that I picked up in Vietnam for something like $45 US. It served me very well for a while but in the end the weight of my equipment well and truly overloaded that tripod's capacity. So an upgrade was in order. I remember reading a great post once from one of our members around the money people spend on tripods and heads when they slowly upgrade rather than buying something that will do the job for a lifetime so that was in the back of my mind.
RRS BH-55 Ball Head:
The biggest frustration for me was the "droop" in the ball head when I tensioned the ball and let go of the camera, so that's where I started. I tossed up between Acratech, Arca Swiss, Induro and Really Right Stuff. In the end the RRS BH55 suited me best in terms of price, capacity and attention to detail - that and the fact that I haven't seen a bad review on them anywhere. You're probably thinking that the RRS's price wouldn't be a tick in the box but have a look at the price of Arca-Swiss ball heads... wow.
So I ordered the RRS BH-55 (the 55 stands for a 55mm diameter ball) full size ball head with the lever release clamp, a camera plate to fit the battery grip on the 5D Mark II and a lens plate for the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II. When the package arrived I was certain I'd made the right choice. First impressions were that the ball head is huge - much bigger than my old one. In saying that it's actually quite short compared to others in this class. Next was that attention to detail is spot on - every component is machined to perfection, even the lens/camera plates are fantastic. The next thing I noticed was how smooth everything was (and there is no lubrication on the ball itself), obviously a function of the build quality. The whole lot comes in a good padded bag to protect the head from dust/ knocks when travelling around.
IMG_3492_800px by Ben's Reviews, on Flickr
The picture above shows the various components of the BH55. The tension adjustment works really well, depending on the weight it's holding I have it adjusted so that it will just hold firm with the main locking knob completely released. This way it only takes a small force to adjust your framing smoothly without worrying about it moving once you let go. There's anodised microadjustment markers (0-9) so you can set it differently for each lens combo but I don't really worry about that, I just do it on the fly as it's a quick process.
The pan locking knob is pretty straightforward, it locks the position of the panning function. From what I gather panning uses a braking system pretty much like the drum brakes on a car to stop movement. There's laser engraved markers at 2.5°, I haven't really had a use for them yet but they look pretty fancy. Anyway, panning is ridiculously smooth and it works as it should.
The main locking knob is something I like. It's big, so it's easy to find if you're looking through the viewfinder, it's tapered so it feels good in the hand and again it's silky smooth. It takes very little force to secure the ball head in position so there's no need to over tighten or get your ring spanner out to stop the camera moving once you let go of it. There's also two cut out notches out front for those times when you need to view at extreme angles.
Overall the ball head is perfect for me. There is absolutely no movement once I lock it in place, it's so smooth to operate, is quick to use and so far has been robust enough to withstand from 45°C heat out here in outback Australia, to -15°C in Iceland. Here's proof - it was that cold in Iceland at night while photographing the Northern Lights that it was covered in ice and still worked flawlessly, on the other hand I couldn't feel my face.
PB170152 by Ben's Reviews, on Flickr
Lever Release Clamp:
The lever release clamp is very nice also. On my old ball head the lever itself would hold the plate in place, so there was only one point whereby the plate was in contact with the lever to secure it. The RRS lever release actually moves one whole side of the clamp. So there's an entire surface as wide as the clamp that's in contact with the plate so it's never going to slide out or move.See below:
Open:
IMG_2908 by Ben's Reviews, on Flickr
90% Closed:
IMG_2907 by Ben's Reviews, on Flickr
Locked Closed:
IMG_2906 by Ben's Reviews, on Flickr
Open:
IMG_2910 by Ben's Reviews, on Flickr
Closed:
IMG_2911 by Ben's Reviews, on Flickr
Again, the lever release clamp is very smooth. The lever is nice and long so it's easy to close and it takes minimal effort to lock it in place. The plates slide in and out of the clamp nicely. It's exactly what I need.
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great shot
