Arca Swiss B1 – Useless
So yesterday I had a client for the day and we went out to a location I really like to cover the basics of exposure.
I’d brought my tripod and Arca Swiss B1 ball head – which I might stress, has been sitting on a shelf for the past 6 years because I found it too heavy for traveling with.
It worked in the house; I was able to demonstrate how it worked, got in the car, got to the location and found that the tensioning dial on it was completely locked, while the ball is completely free.
I’ve tried everything in my power to unlock the dial, but I’m still left with a ball that flops around and is now completely useless.
Why I’m writing this post, is because I don’t rate reviewers or review sites. If you look through the web, all you’ll find is site after site saying how terrific this ball head is, and then go on to say that it has a problem with locking up, as if it’s a tiny, inconsequential issue. Stinking reviews, where clearly the author hasn’t done his homework, has copied stuff from other reviews and has probably only lived with the item in question for a few days (if that).
I met someone once who wrote for gardening journals. He told me he wrote reviews to which I asked him “Do you ever write a bad review?”. His answer was “no”, because I’d never get anything else to review ever again.
It’s like critics of plays, books, music….. why listen to some complete stranger about their view point, when you don’t even know if they’ve written any books, music or plays. Same with reviewers of camera gear…. if they don’t show you some stellar images to back up their reputation, I wouldn’t listen to them.
This Arca Swiss Ball Head has a major flaw, and it’s not something I would be prepared to live with if I were away from home. A locked up ball head in the middle of Bolivia, or even after a 4 hour car journey into the Highlands of Scotland is unacceptable.
I had the same problem and eventually got rid of it. But in a pinch, there is a fix. Someone told me about it in the field when I was totally locked and on a costly trip. When the knob locks, to the exact opposite of what you would normally do, and tighten it down as hard as possible. This actually loosens the jammed head. I was told that Arca put out a special tech bulletin once suggesting this. It works for me.
Comment by glenng — 30 August, 2009 @ 5:12 pm
Hi Glenn,
I took a towel to the dial and gave it a good yank to tighten it up – and it worked.
Still not happy with it though. I’ve ordered a Really Right Stuff Bh-55 to replace it.
Comment by Bruce Percy — 30 August, 2009 @ 6:05 pm
I’ve got the RRS BH-45 and have been perfectly happy with it. Their stuff isn’t cheap but it’s solid. I looked at the BH-55 but the 45 is already rated to carry a lot more load than I ever put on the head, and I think their ratings are a bit conservative already. So the cheaper price and lighter weight of the 45 made the choice easy for me.
They shipped the goods to a hotel in the USA to meet me when I arrived for my trip and made things pretty easy to deal with. I’m hoping it’s the last tripod gear I buy, at least for a long while.
Comment by Niall Connaughton — 1 September, 2009 @ 1:56 pm
Hi Niall,
As much as I like RRS kit, they don’t always get it right. The tripod ball head I’ve used for the past 8 years is a Kirk BH-3, which annoys me because the ‘tension’ dial, used to make sure the ball doens’t flop, always manages to get snagged on something and the setting lost. I felt that the BH-45, as much as the weight of it and load balance was much more ’sensible’ than the 55, had a similar problem for me. It’s just a personal preference.
Now, having said all that, I tried out the BH-55 in Patagonia last year – George, a member of the workshop had it – and I fell in love with it. Yes, it’s big and it’s heavy, but the gearing on it is so smooth that I’ve been wanting one ever since. The 55 is really for my big tripod… I have two Gitzo’s. One is the smaller lighter 1228, but the bigger one is more suited to a bigger ball head. It’s for those car-boot occasions, when I can afford to have something that is much sturdier because I won’t be hiking so far……
Comment by Bruce Percy — 2 September, 2009 @ 10:00 pm