A Polarie question

[StephenM]

Hi all,

I'm considering geting a Vixen Polarie tracker, and I have a question about tripods and ball heads. I currently use a 15 year old Manfrotto tripod, and have attached an image of the head. Can I directly attach the Polarie to this? And would the Manfrotto 494RC ball head (http://www.digitalcamerawarehouse.com.au/prod1662.htm) be a good choice to support the camera on the Polarie, or would you suggest an alternative?

Thanks,
Stephen

[Dennis]

Hi Stephen

I would probably steer clear of a ball head that has “mini” in its title!

My experience with ball heads has been that the larger, the better, provided the build quality is good. A larger ball head tends not to droop and also a larger ball diameter gives you finer control on the pointing of the camera. I have found small ball heads to be a little jerky and not so smooth in operation.

I have standardised on the Arca Swiss plates and so use the PC-36NS ball head from Photo Clam and this offers a reliable tensioning system as well as the “unlocked” and “locked” positions.

If your equipment bag is going to grow, you may end up with different heads and clamps so it would make sense to standardise on a single camera/lens plate design so that you do not have to fiddle with non-interchangeable plates.

Cheers

Dennis

[StephenM]

Thanks for the advice Dennis! I can see your point about the larger head being better. The trade-off is that it would be heavier (and I'm close to the 2kg limit of the Polarie before adding the ball head), and also more expensive (was hoping to find a ball head more in the $100 price range). Will keep thinking about it.

Cheers,
Stephen

[JB80]

Stephen,

Yep you can use the tripod as is as long as you have the drop in plate with the thread to the camera. That is how I use mine mostly, at an extreme angle you might be wanting a bit more clearance but there is no real problem and if you need it then just bite the bullet and get a second ball-head.

I also have the same Manfrotto 494RC but I have never tried it on the Polarie, it does say it can handle the weight of the camera but it does seem a bit small.
I use one of these and it's perfect really. http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/language/en/info/p2436_Triton-360--Rotations-Kugelkopf---bis-3kg-belastbar.html