Hin's Photo Corner

The lithium grease seems to work well with my ball-head and I manage to try my travel camera with Nex 5N on the same Tamron SP 500mm f/8.0 mirror (55BB). It is another problem and challenge to face as the nex is a thin body and I don't have the expensive L bracket. The setup oscillates even when I try to touch the focusing ring. Unlike the Pentax, my travel camera don't have SR for manual lens and with the setup, I pick a higher ISO 400 to shoot the moon yesterday night to gain for a faster shutter to avoid shaking


Tamron SP adaptall-2 500mm f/8.0 mirror (55BB) mounted on NEX 5N



Having a flip out LCD is a big plus especially when the moon rises more to the vertical above.




Tamron mirror and Sony nex 5N on tripod

All documentary pictures was shot single hand with K-5 and FA 43mm as my left hand is holding a remote for the nex 5N setup. I usually do documentary with DA 35 but the 43 is more suited for night shooting




Moon Chasing with Tamron SP adaptall-2 500mm f/8.0 mirror (55BB) and Sony NEX 5N

Having the fold out LCD is a great help especially when the moon is closer to the vertical above you. And I share the same pain on my first shooting where I have to crouch under my tripod to find the moon with K-5. But in actual shooting in hand-held shots without tripod, the optical viewfinder in K-5 allows me to back myself against a wall and brace with the camera aimed high to the moon. The shooting becomes easier without the restraint of tripod. I am lucky to have the lightweight Tamron SP 500mm f/8.0 mirror as it is quite alright to hand-held the moon shots with the mirror lens in iso 200 ~ 400 and have a higher shutter.

And with a fold out LCD, I find the setup with less restraint and with more freedom to find the moon when used on a mono-pod


This is my mono-pod setup with the Tamron mirror mounted on my nex. I have an inexpensive Dolica WT-1003 mono-pod and a very cheap Manfrotto RC2 like quick release from Amazon. I am thinking of Manfrotto 494 ball head for my next upgrade on my lightweight traveling setup. If any of you have manfrotto 494, please help me if there is better alternative that I can consider in similar price range. My current traveling tripod head is Manfrotto 3229 which works better on mono-pod but falls short on a tripod due to absence of a ball head for more directional control.



My boy helps in holding the mono-pod setup. The Tamron mirror lens is actually quite small in use and it is one of long focal lens that I actually enjoy shooting hand-held. But it is best use on a mono-pod if lowest iso is what you are after. The AF ring is very capable for fine tuning. Sharpness and color is very reasonable for such a long focal length. When time allows, I will try to reshoot similar moon pictures with my 300mm with a 1.7x TC -- Photosniper Tair Phs 300mm f/4.5 or my F* 300mm f/4.5

• Moon Chasing with Tamron SP 500mm f/8 mirror and Pentax K-5
• Meteor Night Attempt with Pentax DA 10-17mm fisheye
• Twilight Color After Sunset with Pentax K-5
• Seeing Lights At Night with Pentax K-5
• Tamron SP 500mm adaptall-2 f/8.0 mirror (55BB) 
• Hiking with Tamron SP 500mm adaptall-2 f/8.0 mirror (55BB)
• Hin's Camera Gear

I have been taken a hiatus from blogging after I get a bit burned out in setting out various milestones to trim my gear. I bought my 645N over six months ago and it was not until the last weekend that I got a reasonably sturdy ballhead that I could take it out for some test shots.


I have a better ballhead with Linhof but I don't have the right base plate for quick release. I took a gamble in getting a cheap and seemingly inexpensive ball-head to try from ebay on KS-0 professional tripod ballhead. It came from Hong Kong and with shipping, it only costs $40. I won't recommend it right away as the build is not as good as I would like. But so far it does the job fine for me. I especially like the two controls knobs to secure the ball-head firmly in place while having the 3rd smallest knob for rotation. The unexpected weakness is on the 3/8" screw that I need to secure with a coin on the quick release. That is very inconvenient to use.



The ball-head claims to support 8 Kg or 17.6 lb and I am yet to test it on a heavier setup with longer telephoto lens. When I mounted my Pentax 645N with a FA 45mm f/2.8, the setup is very sturdy on the ball-head. I can actually carry the camera mounted on tripod while looking for a spot to set up the shooting. When I use the ballhead of my Tamron SP 500mm f/8.0 adaptall-2 (55BB), the whole thing looks sturdy and easy to use.









Impressions & Notes

• Quite small and have two knobs to tighten the ball-head in place
• Third smallest knob is used for rotation, quite smooth in the field
• ball-head claims to support for 8kg/17.6lb and so far so good in first outing with Pentax 645N
• First weakness is on the use of quick plate that is difficult to tighten unless I use a coin to help
• Second weakness on the knob control on the locking plate as I found the knob getting stuck in unwinding a couple of times. It looks like some lubricant is needed to help to ease up the friction noted.
• I like the extra locking feature which prevents the locking plate from dismounting.
• Build is not fantastic but I find it reasonable for the price.
• Seems easy to use with exception on tightening the locking plate screw, a coin can address the problem but it is still inconvenient for quick release.
• The KS-0 ball-head seems similar in design to Benro ball-head that I have seen.

Related:

• Pentax 645N purchase
• Canon 8800F flatbed film scanner
• Linhof Ballhead and Giottos MH-652
  
• Amvona AT-CF992 tripod
• Tamron SP 500mm f/8.0 adaptall-2 (55BB)
• Pentax K-x White Arrival
• Hin's Camera Gear

I purchased Dynatran AT CF992 from ebay almost a year ago and it is quite good in quality and it has three level indicators, made of Carbon Fiber with 4.75lb weight and the maximum support of 8.8 lb. The tripod exceeded my expectation and I would pay more had it not offered in eBay through the store vendor of Amvona.

Other tripods considered include DynaTran AT 858B on eBay as well as many Manfrotto Bogen tripods.



I seldom use tripod and I paid the price in not knowing to setup my tripod quickly. I began using the tripod on fireworks as well as sunset shooting.


Related:

• REI mini-tripod Ultrapod II
  
• Fireworks with Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 Di LD
• Linhof Ballhead and Giottos MH-652
• Benro lookalike KS-0 Professional ball-head
• Hin's Camera Gear

And the Ultrapod II comes with a Velcro strap that allows me to tight the tripod and camera onto a fence or tree trunk or any other lengthly object for securing the gear in place. Though I have not tried the Velcro strap, I am very pleased with the little tripod that is very handy for putting it in backpack along with my other camera gear.



Last week ABC Wednesday --
Model Trains



Impressions & Notes

• Well built and sturdy
• Very portable and perfect for table top and desktop
• Sturdy enough for both point & shoot and dSLR.
  
• I find it a bit awkward to mount camera on. I usually have the legs collapsed althogether and use the leg to screw in the tripod mount of my dSLR bodies
• Ideal tripod to shoot camera and lens that are for sale. The tripod helps to provide a better angle to the camera gear.
• I highly recommend this tripod

Related:

• Dynatran AT-CF992 from Amvona
• REI Ultrapod II mini-tripod On Big Lenses
• Joby Gorillapod
• Hin's Camera Gear