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Markins Q-Ball M10
Small and lightweight, the Markins M10 ball head can easily hold your DSLR with some pretty big lenses
By Robert Jensen
Arca Swiss, Kirk, Markins, Really Right Stuff - for photographers those names have become mantras for top quality ball heads. With their meticulous engineering and fine craftsmanship they are more like pieces of expensive jewelry or scientific equipment, than something as utilitarian as a camera support.
You can spend a fortune on the best camera and highest quality optics there are but if you can't hold them steady much of their picture taking capability goes out the window. Vibration is the enemy of sharpness. You can pick up vibration from a number of areas, your camera being one. With most DSLR cameras every time the mirror flips up and out of the way there is a significant amount of vibration induced.
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| Lens Plate |
That's why better cameras offer a Mirror Lock Up (MLU) feature. An alternative is to use the self timer feature if the camera has one. Vibration is also produced every time the shutter actuates. Its not much but it can also affect sharpness and contrast in your photos. Finally there are external influences, the main ones being wind and the photographer themselves. There's not much you can do about vibration from the wind except block it somehow. As for the photographer themselves, again a self timer can help but adds its own level of frustration if you're trying to capture the peak of action. You can pick up a cable release, either mechanical or electronic, depending on your camera. There are also wireless remotes which offer the advantage of the photographer not being tied to the camera.
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| Vibration is the enemy of sharpness in your photos |
Almost as important as steadiness is the ease at which you can move the camera when composing the image. Look at most tripods and you'll see them equipped with a standard pan-tilt type of head. These heads have three locking handles, one each for forward/back movement, right/left and rotation. When you're rushed its sometimes confusing which handle to unlock to move the head in the direction you want. What can offer an extra level of frustration is when you're trying to get a tight composition and the head moves slightly when you tighten the handles.
A popular solution to this is the ball head. Top ones, like Markins, are expensive, but considering how much time the studio or outdoor photographer spends with it, a ball head that is trouble free and easy to use ends up being a fine investment. Plus, a ball head properly cared for will last a lifetime.
Markins has been making some world class ball heads and accessories for several years. Markins is a South Korean manufacturer, started by Mr. Byung-Ik Mah, who is also an avid photographer. He started a quest to build the best tripod head in the world. Word about the quality of the Markins ball head has spread via word of mouth over the years until it gained its world class recognition.
TIP: An overlooked advantage that the M10 has over a standard pan and tilt head is that it is shorter, and the less you raise the camera from the apex of the tripod legs (where they come together) the more stable your support. This also means you should avoid raising the center column of your tripod if it has one.
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