Markins Q-Ball M10 Ball Head - Initial Review
With my recent purchase of the Feisol CT-3342 carbon fiber tripod I also upgraded my ball head to the Markins Q-Ball M10 ball head. This is my first ’serious’ ball head, after using a number of cheaper models with limited success. Their tendency to creep when used with larger lenses requiring constant tightening/loosening was frustrating in use. I therefore decided to move up to a more professional ball head. I was also looking for a head that is compatible with the Arca-Swiss mounting plates.
I ordered the Markins direct from their Korean office, and it was shipped in just a few days. Payment can be conveniently made through Paypal and an EMS tracking number was provided so you can track its progress.
The ball head was shipped in a plain black box.
Inside the shipping box, the ball head was stored in a smaller box. The optional protective pouch and an Arca-Swiss compatible plate for my Nikon D70 were also included. An instruction sheet was also provided.
The Arca-Swiss plate comes in its own box and includes an allen key for fitting to the camera.
The advantage of the Arca-Swiss style plates is their custom fit to your specific camera or lens. This gives a very sturdy base, and is significantly better than the generic plates provided with other ball heads, such as those from Manfrotto, that struggle to keep a tight grip on larger and heavier bodies and lenses. It also allows you to buy plates from other manufactures, such as the great ‘L’ plates from Really Right Stuff.
The plate was very well machined and fitted the base of my Nikon D70 very securely. Due to one of its edges being rounded (shown at the top of the photo below), there is no possibility of it rotating in use and the over-sized bolt keeps the plate securely attached to the camera. The two smaller holes on either side of the plate align with a spring-loaded bolt on the top of the quick shoe, locking the plate to the shoe. This gives an additional level of security if the locking knob on the shoe should come loose. The locking knob is also captive, meaning that it cannot come loose if you continue to unscrew it.
Inside its box, the ball head was stored inside a fabric bag. The bag could be used as a protective pouch, but it would not offer a lot of protection, except from scratches, as it is not padded.
The instruction sheet includes both a Korean and an English side, covering the basic operation and adjustment of the ball head. A clear description is provided of how to find the ’sweet spot’ of the ball head, which is the adjustment where the camera will not creep, but where it can still be moved freely. This is one of the biggest advantages of a professional ball head.
The ball head is very well engineered and machined. All of the components looked to be made to a very high standard and precision and the head and knobs rotated very smoothly.
The quick shoe includes a bubble level and the captive locking bolt previously mentioned. The position of the bubble level is less than ideal, as it cannot be seen when the camera is attached. It can be handy when first setting up the tripod, but I prefer to use a bubble level attached to the camera hot shoe.
The ball head includes 2 adjustment knobs.
The smaller knob provides adjustment of the panoramic base, allowing it to rotate for taking panoramic photos. A scale engraved on the base shows the degrees of rotation, helping if you want to rotate the base by a fixed angle. There is slight rotational movement of the base even when the knob is fully tightened (without over tightening it though), but after reading other reviews and comments made by Markins, this is not regarded as a design fault. You do have to use a lot of force to rotate it when tightened, so it is not an issue for me.
The larger knob actually contains 2 adjustment controls. The knob itself controls the tightness of the grip on the ball. On the end of the knob is a smaller adjustment screw (you can use the end of a finger to adjust it) that is used when you adjust for the ball head’s sweet spot.
Finding the sweet spot is very easy, as follows … You first loosen the ball by unscrewing the adjustment knob and you then unscrew the adjustment screw with the end of your finger. You can then tighten the adjustment knob until you find the point when the ball is locked, but you can still move the camera with ease. At this point there should be no creep in the head, even when a larger lens is attached and the camera is pointing down. Once this point has been found, the adjustment screw should be tightened, locking the ball head. It is really quick to adjust and only needs to be repeated if you change camera and/or lens that could introduce creep. I have found that I do not need to adjust the ball head when moving from 50mm prime to 200mm zoom lenses, but you may need to re-adjust if moving to a heavier f2.8 or 300mm+ zooms.
Overall, I could not be happier with myMarkins Q-Ball M10 ball head. Its solid construction should provide me years of service.
I will be providing an update to both the Feisol CT-3342 carbon fiber tripod and the Markins M10 ball head after I have taken them out on a few shoots.
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