As I Xi It

I’ve previously reviewed the Manfrotto 486RC2 ball head here which sits on my Slik Pro 340DX. Since getting my fancy Gitzo tripod legs as reviewed here back in May 2009, I needed a more substantial ball head to go with it.

Now, I could’ve gone all out and brought an Arcaswiss, Kirk, Really Right Stuff or Markins ball head, but given that my heaviest camera combo weighs in at under 5 kg, I thought it’d be overkill to splurge £300+ on a ball head. I opted for the more modestly priced Manfrotto 468MGRC2 ball head at just over £150.

Like the 486RC2, this 468MGRC2 oozes solidness. I have no doubt that if you were to lob it at someone, it’d take them down fairly easily, assuming your aim was accurate. My favourite thing about this ball head is the friction control which stops the camera from flopping about, something which I found rather annoying with the other ball head. The ball rotates smoothly and locks down tight without much effort. Given that I’m planning to use this Gitzo/Manfrotto combo while I’m off to Swedish lapland next month, the large rubberised knob (tee hee) would be easy to operate with gloves on. I’d assume it’d be easier to use for arthritics too.

The 468MGRC2 has a rated minimum operating temperature of -30^oC so I’m hoping that it’ll hold out while I’m shooting the aurora in in the arctic circle where temperatures are reported to reach -35^oC at night. If it does lock up, then I’d have to bind one of those self heating hand warmers to it.

Tags: 468MGRC2, ball head, hydrostatic, manfrotto, photography kit, tripod

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 at 6:43 pm and is filed under Photography, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.