Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Ball head for spotting scope?

I am looking for your experience or thoughts on using a ball head for a spotting scope.

My current setup is Gitzo 1542T with Swaro DH-101 pan head and a Swaro 80mm spotter. I am looking to cut some weight before a Dall hunt and wondering what you guys think.

Any other suggests are appreciated as well. Thanks

ejo:

My experience with pan heads for spotting is somewhat limited but I'll offer what I do have.

I have a friend who uses a set of Swarovski 15x56 binos for spot and stalk hunting. Those are pretty heavy binoculars. He mounts his binos on a Swarovski pan head, which has broken and he has tried to repair it with super glue or something similar. He sent it back to Swarovski and they sent him another one, which also broke. He has finally given up and has gone back to using just the adjustments integral to the tripod.

I own a Sunpak Pistol Grip Ball Head. It's very hard to pull the trigger and that makes it very difficult to operate. But at least it hasn't fallen apart. IMO the small improvement in performance isn't worth the extra weight of carrying it in a backpack. I've given up on it and I have also gone back to using just the adjustments integral with my tripod.

I bet there are people who have had good experience with a pan head. But I'm not one of them.

KC

I tried many different tripods but most were just too heavy to bring along for most hunts. That is, until I tried the Zipshot. For backpack hunting it is hard to beat a Zipshot Mini, or the regular size Zipshot. I leave it attached to my spotter. The ball head is just okay but for weight savings, they can't be beat.

http://www.amazon.com/Tamrac-TR404-ZipShot®-Mini-Tripod/dp/B00488B4YG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423714313&sr=8-1&keywords=tamrac+zipshot+mini

Not a Ball Head and not the lightest, but the Manfrotto fluid head is the best I have used with spotting scopes. It really holds adjustment and doesn't require tightening or loosening anything.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1060928-REG/manfrotto_mhxpro_2w_2_way_pan_tilt_head.html

I use a Manfrotto Ball Head mount, and couldn't be happier.
Very compact, no levers sticking out, and give me all the control I could ask for.

Nice tripod, I have the same one. I put a small Photo Clam ball head on it. http://www.photoclamusa.com/?page_id=65

I just checked ebay, here is one for $89, a great price!! http://www.ebay.com/itm/Photo-Clam-..._DefaultDomain_0&hash=item234aa23e85

The whole setup is 3 lbs even. I went on ebay and bought a bunch of 60mm Arca Swiss plates to put on my small scope and binocular adapters and of course have a Arca plate on my camera so that everything works on the same tripod.

The ball head has a panning feature, you just have to make sure you have ahold of your scope when you loosen the ball to adjust elevation. I am used to that as I use ball heads all the time for photography.

Where are you headed? I'm also going sheep hunting this summer!!

-Doug

Thanks for the information.

I will have to order one up and give it a try.

DesertBighorn - I'm heading to the Talkeetna mountains in 2016. Looking to get my gear settled and well used before the trip.

Good luck on your hunt, please share the pics.

I have been using a Manfrotto 494 head for the last few years and REALLY like it.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/searc...0660319&InitialSearch=yes&sts=pi

They make one a little bigger as well, it is a 496.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/searc...0660321&InitialSearch=yes&sts=pi