It incorporates stainless steel ball bearings and operates as smoothly as buttered teflon.The ball tension knob and panning base knob are smaller and of different enough feel from each other that there is no chance of mistaking them. I particularly liked the heft and feel of the main ball release knob. On one occasion the screw collar became lost, and I spent the final two days of a location shoot attaching the camera to the head’s mounting plate with gaffer tape. This is vital, because more than once I had the shoe locking knob on my B1 vibrate loose. It also has the side benefit of reducing the weight of the head.Īll knobs are captive, which means that they won’t fall off if they accidentally happen to unscrew. This makes it much easier to drop the camera into a vertical orientation without having to release and then retighten the panning base knob. There doesn’t seem to be a detail that has been overlooked.įrom a practical point of view I immediately liked the fact that the head has two cutouts for vertical positioning. Every detail, from the turning of the knurled knobs, to the laser etched scale engravings are of the highest quality. This is the machinist’s art carried to the highest level.

The next thing that you notice as you remove the BH-55 from the sack is its almost jewel-like finish. My habit is to pack my ballhead in a sweater, but hey, a fitted bag is a welcome attention to detail. This is designed to hold the ballhead when traveling between locations. The first thing that greats you as you open the box is a fitted neoprene stuff-sac into which the head is packed. He also has continued the tradition of quality which RRS is so well known for, and now, after a lengthy development period, Joe has brought forth the GH-55 ballhead. But nevertheless their products were so good that people (myself included) put up with the hassles of doing business with them.īut that was then, and this is now, and the company’s new owner Joe Johnson has within the past two years transformed the company into one that’s a pleasure to do business with. Not a formula destined for success in the current environment. You had to write to them, order a printed catalog and then place your order my mail. They didn’t conduct business over the Net, and they didn’t accept payment by credit card.

These items are of the highest quality, and have developed a huge following among pros and advanced amateurs alike.īut for the longest time RRS was a very difficult company to do business with. This is small online firm that designs and manufactures a wide range of camera mounting products, including mounting plates, rails, flash arms and more all the things you need to properly mount your cameras, lenses, and flash units. Is it, as RRS claims, the finest ballhead ever? It Really is Right Stuffįirstly, you should know something about Really Right Stuff -aka RRS. There are some fine alternatives in the full-sized ballhead sweepstakes, but the brand-new BH-55 looks like it’s ready to become the new category leader. Now there’s a challenger that may well be the finest ballhead ever made, and which is going to replace my trusty B1 head - the Really Right Stuff BH-55. It has its foibles (such as a tendency to lock up unexpectedly, usually at the most awkward times), but in almost a decade of regular use, from Arctic to the desert, to tropical jungles, it’s never let me down.

It’s expensive, but it is rugged, and handles heavy cameras and lenses with ease. The B1, as everyone calls it, has long been the most popular pro-grade ballhead on the market. My choice in tripods is the Gitzo Carbon Fibre models, and for the past 9 years I’ve primarily used an Arca Swiss B1 ballhead. Two of the most important devices that photographers need are a first-rate tripod, along with a versatile ball-head and quick mounting plate system. Maybe even more so, because these are the foundation devices that can make or break a location shoot. Long-time readers of this site, and also subscribers to The Video Journal, know that I believe that accessories such as ballheads can be as critical to successful field work as the finest cameras or lenses.

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