Ultimate ball head

I shared some emails a while back with the Acra people. The owner is
toying with the idea of and even lighter ballhead made from magnesium
and titanium. I'll be waiting a little longer to see if this new head
comes out. At present I have an ArcaSwiss B2 for my 8x10 camera and
two Linhof ballheads (II & III) for my other two tripods. The Profi
II is the one I would like to replace. The B1 would be the best but
weighs nearly twice what the Linhof does (not good for backpacking,
which is what I do with this head). The Acra would be better for
weight purposes but is just slightly lighter than the Profi II. For
now I'll wait for either a lighter Acra or when I get tired of
cleaning and lubricating the Linhof.

George

I had a Gitzo offset ball head once in Magnesium alloy. It was like a little
swimming pool spring board. I guess you have to be careful that the
materials you choose have the appropriate stiffness as well as density.

On 7/4/04 4:46 am, in article
, "George Stewart"
wrote:

I shared some emails a while back with the Acra people. The owner is
toying with the idea of and even lighter ballhead made from magnesium
and titanium. I'll be waiting a little longer to see if this new head
comes out. At present I have an ArcaSwiss B2 for my 8x10 camera and
two Linhof ballheads (II & III) for my other two tripods. The Profi
II is the one I would like to replace. The B1 would be the best but
weighs nearly twice what the Linhof does (not good for backpacking,
which is what I do with this head). The Acra would be better for
weight purposes but is just slightly lighter than the Profi II. For
now I'll wait for either a lighter Acra or when I get tired of
cleaning and lubricating the Linhof.

George

In article ,
(George Stewart) wrote:

cleaning and lubricating the Linhof.

That dark strip of material that surrounds the ball on the Profi series
is a strip of material with the lubricant in it. There is no reason for
the user to lubricant unless they want to defeat the factory's feature.

If you want a very advanced head with no observable lubricant, detented
tension control that works with or without gloves on, exceptionally
smooth movement, 3 slots for camera positioning and great weight
capacity and no lens/camera shifts when using either tension or locks
then look at the new Novoflex ClassicBall 5.

--
To reply no_ HPMarketing Corp.

Next time it freezes up try TIGHTENING it further. Just a bit. Then loosen
it. It should unlock normally.

Thanks, that's how the Arca people told me to do it the first time it froze.
The problem has been the lack of tools available with which to tighten it
and then loosen it. I haven't been able to accomplish that by hand.

"jjs" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Vladamir30" wrote:

But does the Acratech have the beloved 'deadly lock' problem of the
Arca?
Not that it's a problem for the informed, but it is rather nice
because it
sends a couple to e-bay every year for the rest of us.

If by "not a problem for the informed" you mean those who carry a wrench
around with them, I guess it isn't a problem. But [...]

Next time it freezes up try TIGHTENING it further. Just a bit. Then loosen
it. It should unlock normally.