[hangu]

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Looking for a good tripod head for my monopod and future tripod. I'd like to go to the Botanical Garden soon to take some macro photos of flowers. My heaviest lens is probably my metal Vivitar Series One 90mm f2.5 with macro adapter. It weighs a good 5 lbs with my Pentax K-x attached. My budget is about $50-100. I'd like something small, light yet sturdy and stable. I'll be happy to do research and reviews myself, just would like some names and advice. Thanks much.

Edit: Forgot to mention that I have no preference toward ball head, although it does look easier to use. As I don't have a tripod yet, any ball head + tripod combo at a good price would also suffice.

[24X36NOW]

I know you probably don't want to hear this, but the best head for a monopod is not a good tripod head.

Here's some monopod heads with Arca-Swiss style quick releases:

Kirk Enterprises : Manfrotto 234 Swivel tilt head with Kirk Quick Release

Really Right Stuff - Monopod Heads

If you want a good tripod/head combination in that price range, I'd go with the original style Tiltall, since it's well built and has a THREE WAY pan head. Any two way pan head is useless, as you can't level it without playing with the length of the tripod legs (an exercise in frustration guaranteed to make you never want to use your tripod).

Tiltall:

TE01B Tiltall Tripod - Black (Max 70")

[hangu]

Thanks for the advice, in that case, I'll get a monopod head. What's the Arca Swiss style quick releases?

The Really Right Stuff seems to be out of my price range, not to mention over kill with my current set up of 5lbs.

Do you just not recommend ball styled monopod heads?

[Ratmagiclady]

Thanks for the advice, in that case, I'll get a monopod head. What's the Arca Swiss style quick releases?

The Really Right Stuff seems to be out of my price range, not to mention over kill with my current set up of 5lbs.

Do you just not recommend ball styled monopod heads?

For monopods, you usually just need one direction of movement, is the rationale, since the monopod itself can move or tilt. I think for your macro flower work, a ball-head might actually help just cause you might get down at a lot of crazy angles. (Maybe some macro fan can come along and say whether or not that matters. )

Arca style quick releases are one of the common standardized kinds that a lot of people use and accessory companies make stuff to fit. (I use em, too: they're not the quickest type to attach in general, but they are a simple and reliable design that also means you can get a longer plate and sort of slide it around like on a focusing rail, fit themto lots of different specialized things you might find useful later, and they're pretty small, light, and strong.

There's other good kinds, too, but I like these pretty well. Partly just because they are so simple, which means the more inexpensive versions have less about them which might go wrong, also they come in as high a quality as you might need. May be a worry for later. (I don't generally think much need of a quick release on a monopod, anyway, unless I was using other camera support, too at the time. If you have just the one camera on an outing, and just the monopod, you could use just a fairly nice old-style ballhead and I'm sure be pretty happy. It's not too big a deal to just spin em on, I think.

[hangu]

RatMagicLady, thank you so much for your explanation on arca-style quick releases. That made a lot of sense. I'll be looking into a ball-head design then.

So, any recommendation on an inexpensive but quality ball-head attachment for a monopod, anyone?

[Pentaxie]

I do agree with Ratmagiclady's comment.
For monopods, only one direction of movement is used normally sice a monopod is flexible (in terms of angles) as compared with a tripod.
IMO, the Arca quick releases is one of the most common standardized type most people used.
There could be others, but my preferance is the Arca.

[Russell-Evans]

To get the Kirk solution, but at less cost, I put together the parts myself.

The Kirk solution is $96
Kirk Enterprises : Manfrotto 234 Swivel tilt head with Kirk Quick Release

The Manfrotto 234 is $26 from Adorama. I was able to get this locally for $23 including sales tax.
Manfrotto 234 Swivel Tilt Monopod Head - Supports 5.6 lb

The Kirk 1.75 QR clamp is $39, sold by Kirk on Ebay.
KIRK ENTERPRISE 1.75" QUICK RELEASE CLAMP - eBay

Total is $65 by purchasing the "kit". Saving $31 for whatever monopod you are going to buy. My suggestion is to get a self supporting monopod to use as a portable flash stand when not needed to support your camera gear.

Thank you
Russell

[twokatmew]

To get the Kirk solution, but at less cost, I put together the parts myself.

The Kirk solution is $96
Kirk Enterprises : Manfrotto 234 Swivel tilt head with Kirk Quick Release

The Manfrotto 234 is $26 from Adorama. I was able to get this locally for $23 including sales tax.
Manfrotto 234 Swivel Tilt Monopod Head - Supports 5.6 lb

The Kirk 1.75 QR clamp is $39, sold by Kirk on Ebay.
KIRK ENTERPRISE 1.75" QUICK RELEASE CLAMP - eBay

Total is $65 by purchasing the "kit". Saving $31 for whatever monopod you are going to buy. My suggestion is to get a self supporting monopod to use as a portable flash stand when not needed to support your camera gear.

Thank you
Russell

Newbie question: But don't you still have to buy a quick release plate? What would you recommend. Looking at Arca, I see a lot of options starting at ~$40. I have a Kx, and my largest lens is the DAL50-200.

[hangu]

To get the Kirk solution, but at less cost, I put together the parts myself.
Thank you
Russell

That's brilliant! Thank you, I'll do that most likely. I'm still tempted by ball heads but they tend to be a lot more expensive. I've already bought a monopod (velbon neopod 6) Should have considered a self supporting one like you said.

What would you recommend as a plate to round this off? I have a Pentax K-x.

[Russell-Evans]

Newbie question: But don't you still have to buy a quick release plate? What would you recommend. Looking at Arca, I see a lot of options starting at ~$40. I have a Kx, and my largest lens is the DAL50-200.

The least expensive plates I know of are the Smith Victor plates at $10. There are also the Flashpoint plates for $12. I personally prefer an L-bracket, but these are a minimum of $100.

Thank you
Russell

[hangu]

The L bracket offers nothing but the ability to mount the camera vertically without compromising stability, right?

I'm highly tempted by this "photo clam" and the price seems right....
PhotoClam Ballhead PC-30N Color Photo Clam PC30N NEW - eBay (item 300365973223 end time May-10-10 02:45:06 PDT)

[Russell-Evans]

The L bracket offers nothing but the ability to mount the camera vertically without compromising stability, right?

Also with the Manfrotto 234 you only get one direction of movement. So do you use the head for tilt, or do you try to tilt the entire monopod? If you use the head to tilt, then the only way to rotates into portrait for a lens without a tripod collar is to loosen the QR clamp and rotate it 90º so that the head then moves the camera side to side, thus allowing the camera to flop to one side of the monopod or the other.

Thank you
Russell

[twokatmew]

Russell, what tripod are you using in that photo? I'd like to get one that allows me to get shots close to the ground.

[hangu]

More questions:

Which right angle viewfinder is that? Any good?

Which ballhead are you using?

[Russell-Evans]

Russell, what tripod are you using in that photo? I'd like to get one that allows me to get shots close to the ground.

More questions:

Which right angle viewfinder is that? Any good?

Which ballhead are you using?

It is a Induro AX-214. keh.com sells discounted Induro tripods. There are a few, a AX-113 at $85, AX-114 at $95, and a number of the CF CX versions that start at $199. I got to compare the Induro, Giotos, and the Manfrotto XProD tripods all at the same store and came away liking the Induro the most.

The ball head is a Feisol CB-50. It is a pretty large ball head and I think I should have bought a smaller head. Once I learned how to set the tension, I got to liking the ball head. Mine isn't, however, as smooth around the rotation axis as I would like, but it perfectly usable. The sticking is the result of having to keep tension on the rotation. If there isn't enough tension the head rocks in its base.

The right angle finder is a Seagull 1-2x. I like it and it is usually sold for under $50. I use even when I'm not down low so that I can use the tripod collapsed. I usually only extend the top two sections of the legs. I've had it for about three years and it is still like new as far as being tight about its rotation.

To make it easy to use, I used a silver Sharpie to mark the two positions on the barrel where the diopter was correct for my eyes. I just line up the marks in 1x or 2x and start composing or verifying focus.

The Seagull eyecup shares the same universal adapters and costs around $3, $4 now.. It is a lot easier to use this eye cup with the right angle finder than with the Pentax finder as you simply leave the adapter on the camera. The only issues with the eye cup is that the cup is shaped and I found the rubber to be a bit hard.

To make the eye cup more comfortable I bought another eyecup for its circular softer rubber cup. The cup fit perfectly as a replacement to the one that came with the Seagull. It can be folded back over the mount and I can use it in this position.





The eye cup does move your eye back from the finder, so there is some shifting of where you look to see the status display. I have gotten so used to this now, that I don't even notice the issue anymore.

You of coarse can just use the Pentax supplied finder, but you should buy the Seagull eye cup anyway just to have the spare adapter in your bag. Nothing is worse than trying to find a dropped black piece of plastic in the dark.

Thank you
Russell