L-Bracket and Tripod Head for D300 w/ Grip

I'm thinking about upgrading my Manfrotto 488RC2 Ballhead with a Kirk or Really Right Stuff ballhead with an L-Bracket on my D300 w/ Grip.

I want to shoot purely landscapes with the setup, and panos. I need to keep Arca style as my Wimberely uses that.

What do you like, or dislike with your ballheads. Any recommendations on a good, stiff, high quality head.

Thanks,
Matt

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************************************
Matt Shetzer
Checkout my portfolio at:
http://Shetzers.com
"Shetzers Photography" on facebook.
D300, 17-55mm, 12-24mm, 60mm macro, 200-400mm, 500mm

Check out the Support article by Thom Hogan on his website: http://www.bythom.com/support.htm

This is an article with very valuable information. Since you mention a Wimberly, I would suggest RRS's BH-55. You can check out Really Right Stuff's website for more information and pricing. You'll probably find many folks around here to endorse RRS's stuff.

mshetzer said:

I'm thinking about upgrading my Manfrotto 488RC2 Ballhead with a Kirk or Really Right Stuff ballhead with an L-Bracket on my D300 w/ Grip.

I want to shoot purely landscapes with the setup, and panos. I need to keep Arca style as my Wimberely uses that.

What do you like, or dislike with your ballheads. Any recommendations on a good, stiff, high quality head.

Thanks,
Matt

--
************************************
Matt Shetzer
Checkout my portfolio at:
http://Shetzers.com
"Shetzers Photography" on facebook.
D300, 17-55mm, 12-24mm, 60mm macro, 200-400mm, 500mm

Click to expand...

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Dave

I do not recommend using an L-bracket with the D300 add-on grip. The issue is that the L-bracket mounts to the grip and the grip mounts to the body, but the grip mount to the body is not rigid, it's got rubber between the two parts and the only clamp is the wheel you tighten by hand. The end result is that you don't have a rock solid tripod mount.

What I recommend instead is buying an L-bracket for without the grip installed. When you want to use the D300 with the bracket, just take the grip off. You will get a much more solid mount this way. That's what I do.
--
John
Gallery: http://jfriend.smugmug.com
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Thanks for the tips. I would of never of thought of getting it w/o the grip for that reason. Makes sense.
--
************************************
Matt Shetzer
Checkout my portfolio at:
http://Shetzers.com
"Shetzers Photography" on facebook.
D300, 17-55mm, 12-24mm, 60mm macro, 200-400mm, 500mm

I was looking into an L-bracket for my camera a few weeks back and a co-worker suggested the Acratech Universal L-bracket.

http://acratech.net/product.php?productid=71

It's Arca-Swiss compatible and can be used on different bodies.
I have yet to pick one up as I'm deciding on getting a mid-range zoom. =D

I'm quite happy with the RRS L-bracket, BH-55 and D300+grip.

As far as problems go, there are few. When I rotate the camera to portrait mode, I have to be careful not to catch a remote release cable in the quick-release clamp. If you use a screw clamp, you don't have this issue. I really like the speed that I have to change between portrait and landscape.

As far as solidness of tripod/clamp/grip, it's good for me. The only time I notice an issue is when I'm really trying to get absolute steadiness with a 400mm lens. There IS minor play between grip and camera, but in that case I'm not mounting the camera to the ballhead, I'm mounting the lens on its own tripod collar to the ballhead. The longest lens I have where I don't have a tripod mount is a 105vr, and any play in the grip just isn't significant to me.

Actually, I have two places where I have play when using my 80-400 lens on a tripod. The first is the tripod collar - Nikon's wasn't very good, so I replaced it with an RRS one. Much better. (I chose RRS so I can reverse the hood on the lens - Kirk's collar may be better). The second is play between lens and camera mount. I don't think I can do anything about this.

But I just don't have any issues with play between grip and camera. (It's less than lens/camera).

Hello,

I have a d200 with a grip and have been using a RRS BH55 and the matching L bracket designed for the grip. I have no problems. By the way the RRS grip does not have rubber or a thumb screw, to tighten it uses a allen wrench.
thanks

mshetzer said:

I'm thinking about upgrading my Manfrotto 488RC2 Ballhead with a Kirk or Really Right Stuff ballhead with an L-Bracket on my D300 w/ Grip.

I want to shoot purely landscapes with the setup, and panos. I need to keep Arca style as my Wimberely uses that.

What do you like, or dislike with your ballheads. Any recommendations on a good, stiff, high quality head.

Click to expand...

I went for the Markins M20L which I like a lot. Very high capacity figures (remember, it is not the weight the camera that matters, but the torsional force on the ball head) ...

I paired that with the Feisol 3471, which is a very tall and stable carbon fiber tripod with 4 sections. It is so tall that I never open the bottom sections, which means that the three thickest sections are always in use. No center post (the way I like it.)

Check both out ... Feisol has excellent delivery speed (my experience and others I have read about) but a goofy looking site. Markins is a world class entity of course ...

YMMV

Edit: Forgot to mention ... the whole kit folds down small enough to fit into a fairly large(ish) checked bag ... without tearing it down.

--
http://kimletkeman.blogspot.com
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TRice said:

Hello,

I have a d200 with a grip and have been using a RRS BH55 and the matching L bracket designed for the grip. I have no problems. By the way the RRS grip does not have rubber or a thumb screw, to tighten it uses a allen wrench.

Click to expand...

I think yo misspoke here. We're talking about the grip/camera interface which has rubber in that connection and only attaches with the thumbwheel. Yes, the RRS L-bracket attaches with an allen screw/wrench, but attaching the L-bracket firmly to the grip when the grip itself is not rigidly attached to the camera body does not help you much. You do not have a rock solid attachment at that point.

It's real easy for me to see when I attach a flash bracket to the bottom of my grip. You can see that the flash bracket is not rigid because of the grip/camera body attachment. That's the last thing I'd want in my tripod connection. I use a tripod when I want max stability. And, there are very few reasons to need the grip when shooting from a tripod. For me, max stability is a better choice.
--
John
Gallery: http://jfriend.smugmug.com
Popular: http://jfriend.smugmug.com/popular
Portfolio: http://jfriend.smugmug.com/portfolio

I have a Kirk ballhead and their L-bracket on my D300s. LOVE IT!!!! The only thing is when I don't want to take my battery grip with me it's odd to use the L-bracket as the version I bought is designed for use with the grip.

Kim Letkeman said:

I went for the Markins M20L which I like a lot. Very high capacity figures (remember, it is not the weight the camera that matters, but the torsional force on the ball head) ...

Click to expand...

+1 for the Markins heads.

I own a Q3 on a small travel tripod and an M20 on a large tripod and love them both.

I have an RRS bracket on the Camera.

And I would never want to be without the Arca-Swiss compatible plates/clamps.

How much does weight matter to you? I have an Acratech 'Ultimate ballhead', which is a trifling 450g, very rigid, beautifully made and self-cleaning; worth considering. I use that in conjunction with a RRS L-plate on a D300s and am very happy with the setup.