Used 3Pod Pistol Grip Ball Head with Arca-Type Quick Release and Thumb Lever Lock

2024-08-04T09:53:48

Love the pistol grip but this does not support the weight of the Nikon full frame camera, 14-24 lens and flash unit while shooting vertical, even with friction all the way tight.

MELANIE R.

2023-09-17T20:38:24

3Pod Pistol Grip Ball Head is an amazing piece of hardware. As an (old) bird photographer I was finding that holding, focusing and stabilizing 4 or 5 kg of camera and long lens difficult and tiring, especially in low light. I found cranking my ISO to 5000 was unsatisfying especially for distant crops, so I tried supporting/stabilizing my gear on fence posts, branches, rocks, etc. with varying degrees of success. A heavy duty tripod was a pain to lug around and set up and caused me to miss more shots than not. I tried a monopod but found that it limited my field of view more or less to the horizontal plane, causing me to miss a lot of photo ops when birds were up in the branches or flying between them. Trying to track flying birds was almost impossible as the monopod traced an unpredictable arc across the sky. When I added the 3pod life got much better. I set it up so that the grip is under the lens, then locking on target is a breeze. Just squeeze the pistol grip, aim the lens. release, tweak your camera settings and start shooting. It takes a few seconds to lock the monopod to eye level but after that I can focus my efforts on stabilizing my shot. After some practice (and with good image stabilization) I could get a decent number of clear shots with 800mm and shutter speeds as low as 1/25 sec. (I get a lot of blurry junk too) With this set up I can extend the monopod above my head and tilt the head/camera almost straight up to catch birds or monkeys hopping around in the branches. The ball grip is super strong and allows me to walk with my monopod extended and walk with my camera resting on my shoulder like a rifle. - Loved the price - Loved the weight - Loved the grip/durability - Can be used to tilt and level so you can pick solid ground, tilt the monopod if needed, then level the camera. - Loved the cam lock quick release and safety lock. - The monopod locks tend to wear out faster than the ball head grip. I can't find rebuild kits for either. - ALWAYS wear your camera strap to avoid hardware fatalities. 5kg of gear bouncing down trails on a 1/4-20 stud can occasionally come loose.

Evan D.