Since I love spending other people's money, I would suggest looking at the
Acratech Ultimate for a ball head. It seems to be a few bucks cheaper than the
BH-40, but I don't see Acratech (www.acratech.net) showing a plate for the E-3.
E-1, E-410, E-510 and OM, yes, E-3 - NO. I am using OM's with winders.
If you go for an Ultimate, get the rubber knobs on all controls (adds $20) and
get the quick release clamp with the detent pin - that adds $10. The rubber
covered knobs are nice, I consider the detent pin a must have. Note that the
detent pin works on plates that have closed ends or have bolts in the underside
of the plates. It prevents near miss accidents. Also note that you order it
with either the knobs on the left (for having your right hand on the camera) or
vice versa.
And, ballheads are crap for macro work when it gets down to 1:1 range. That's
why I have a geared head as well.
The only dedicated plates I have are for the bodies, mainly because nobody is
going to make plates for all those old lenses I throw on the OM's. I should be
grateful that Acratech made plates for the OM. There's a cottage industry out
there making Acra-Swiss plates that you could find to work on any given lens. I
wouldn't shell out big bucks for a lens specific plate unless it was unique
setup.
Jay
On 5/16/08 10:24 PM, "Jay Drew" <dreaded@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> But whatever you chose, tell us how it goes so we can lust vicariously.
>I have a really bad habit of overbuying, telling myself that I can amortise
>the extra cost over several decades (if lucky) so it's negligible! Hence the
>E-3, of whose features I'll only use a fraction. Currently no SWMBO/CDFO, so
>no checks and balances :-) .
>
>I think I'll start the tripod purchase top-down, with plate(s) and ball
>head. Then I can try a few of the recommended sets of legs, to see what
>really works for me - assuming Vistek have a good selection of their
>catalogue in stock...
>
>I'm thinking an RRS E-3 L-plate and a BH-40. Should I consider splurging on
>a dedicated plate for my 50-200 too?
>
>Michael
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