Re: [APML] ball mount inquiry

["Joseph O'Neil" <joneil@multiboard.com>]

At 23:27 6/4/03 -0500, you wrote:
>Okay, so I'm gathering hardware for a barn-door tracker, yea! I'm looking
>for a ball and socket type camera mount I can bolt onto the tracker. Looking
>over the web, I see lots of other folks use various kinds of these, but I
>haven't seen info on where they've been purchased. I cannot seem to find
>them locally.

         Overall  the best ones are - in the USA - made/imported by 
Bogden.  Outside USA we know hem as Manfrotto.  By the term "best", I mean 
in combination of both price and performance.  There are better ones to be 
sure, but they are also a lot more money.
         Also, avoid the really cheap ones.  I built a barn door tracker 
once and used a cheap, no-name ball socket head, and had no end of problems 
- suh as slippage during exposure.

         You cna find photo tripod heads online at any camera store - B&H 
Photo & Video, Calumet Photo, KEH Camera, etc, etc.  howeer, a used Bogden 
head is also a very viable alternative.  I use about three Manfrotto 
tripods personally for my daytime shooting, and of those three, two have 
used heads.  On a tangent, I would avoid used tripod legs & collars, as 
they seem to take a beating over time, but the tripod heads seem to survive.

         you might also find some other good Bogden tripod heads, just as 
viable as a ball & socket joint head, so keep yoru eyes open.

         Finally, the socket at the base of Bogden/Manfrotto heads, the 
part where it attaches to the tripod collar & legs, is, if memory serves me 
correct, a 3/8ths inch bolt, NOT the standard 1/4-20 bolt you see on top of 
hte head where you attach the camera itself.
good luck
joe


http://www.oneilphoto.on.ca
http://www.multiboard.com/~joneil
Una salus victis, nullam sperare salutem


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