Really Right Stuff Lever QR Clamp - Any Con's?

[Paul Sumi]

Part 3 of 3

Continued

Finally, here are my 100% crops of the RRS BH-55 (left) and Acratech V2 (right). Camera settings for all were f/8 at 1/15 sec using the Singh-Ray Vari-ND to balance the exposure.

If you look carefully, the RRS crop looks a little sharper IMO, but the difference is pretty hard to see.  I suspect that any differences would be more apparent with longer teles, longer exposures or perhaps higher resolution sensors.

Under these fairly benign test conditions, there seems very little difference between the two. However there is more to these ballheads than just stability.

Operationally I found the RRS ballhead to be much easier than the Acratech to set precisely.  For example, I centered the lens on the same spot for all captures.  Using the Acratech, the lens would droop very slightly after I tightened the controls and I would have to compensate for that.  With the RRS there was no droop; tighten the controls and the lens didn't move at all.

At this point I am going to keep the Acratech V2 and use it for my hiking and backup ballhead.  But the RRS will be my primary ballhead for those times when maximum stability counts and weight is not a factor.

Hope this helps,

Paul

[cyberean]

unless you plan to use RRS (and/or Wimberley) plates exclusively with your
RRS lever-release clamps, you may have potential compatibility issues with
plates from other brands ... per the following note:  LINK

for various reasons i use a mix of plates from both RRS and Kirk.  thus went
the screw-knob route for my RRS clamps.  so far, no complaints nor regrets.

[MarkL]

Many thanks for the comparison Paul. Given the lenses I use, I'm happy I'm not giving up much sticking with the acratech v2 and it's low weight.

I never had the drooping problem even with my RB67 with 180mm but the tripod mount location always made for good balance.

[Paul Sumi]

Many thanks for the comparison Paul. Given the lenses I use, I'm happy I'm not giving up much sticking with the acratech v2 and it's low weight.

Glad that I could be of help.  The V2 is a very good ballhead and mine has given me a lot of good use.

Best,

Paul  

[CatOne]

I use the screw-knob as well as the PCL1 clamp, which is basically a screw-knob on a rotating base. I could not be happier. Small turn and no camera can fall out but you can easily slide it in or out. Why would you want to use the lever over the screw-knob?

Personally, because I tried the old "slide out and back in from the side" trick as a means to avoid unscrewing the clamp completely to pull the camera out from the top.

I thought when securing the camera... TWICE... that it was in, when it wasn't.  I realized the temptation to save 3 seconds and a couple screw rotations was too high, and after bobbling and catching the camera like this the second time, I opted for the lever clamp which is so fast it removes this temptation.

A $150 investment to save a $10K mistake... worth it to me.

[JeffKohn]

Small turn and no camera can fall out but you can easily slide it in or out. Why would you want to use the lever over the screw-knob?

The lever has two open positions: one that lets you slide stuff in/out, and the second all-the-way open position that lets you drop something in. I find it much more convenient, and also easier to know for sure if the camera is really secure or not.