New Ball Head - Kaiser 6011

[rpcrowe]

I have been using two different ball heads. A Giottos MH-1300 on my Giottos MT-8180 tripod and a Flashpoint F-1 on my Slik 330DX tripod modified by substituting a shorter center column to save weight.


The little F-1 head actually does a fairly decent job of holding the camera steady with a lens as large as my 70-200mm f/4L IS attached...


However, recently while I was shooting some closeup and macro imagery, I realized that the F-1 did not have the capability to support the camera/lens at the various angles that I needed. I switched the Giottos head from the MT-8180 to the Slik and it worked just fine. However, I don't like switching things back and forth. I found a used Kaiser Medium 6011 ball head on eBay at a price comparable to many new "no-name" Chinese imported heads.

I purchased this head and it arrived today. All that I can say is that I am awed at the quality of the Kaiser head. It functions better than the Giottos head in that, I need to firmly tighten down the Giotto's knobs to ensure that my camera/lens will not move after I position the rig. With the Kaiser head, I just need to place finger pressure on the knobs to ensure that the camera/lens package won't move.

The specs on the Giottos and the Kaiser are pretty well identical (they both are said to support an 8 kilogram package) but, the quality of the Kaiser surpasses the Giottos by leaps and bounds. My Kaiser head has a Kirk A/C clamp. I do realize that I got a good deal in purchasing this head at the price I got it for. If I see another at about the same price, I will purchase it and sell the Giottos head. However, I have perused Kaiser 6011 heads, with and without C clamps on eBay and they are running 2x-3x the price that I paid for mine.

I have a nice tabletop Cullman tripod (also German made) that I have owned for almost 30-years. That little tripod is going to be the beneficiary of the F1 head...

[Cantab]

Richard, it sounds like you made a good find.

I searched for Kaiser heads on the websites for Henrys Camera here in Canada and B&H Photo in the US but drew a blank on both. So they don't appear to be readily available new in our part of the world -- although I'm sure someone may promptly prove me wrong!

[Manfred M]

Richard, it sounds like you made a good find.

I searched for Kaiser heads on the websites for Henrys Camera here in Canada and B&H Photo in the US but drew a blank on both. So they don't appear to be readily available new in our part of the world -- although I'm sure someone may promptly prove me wrong!

Adorama lists the 6011 model as discontinued, but Kaiser has been around for decades. It's a German company, so is not all that well known in North America.

Here is a link to the Kaiser tripod / head product web page:

http://www.kaiser-fototechnik.de/en/...ent.asp?w=2119

[rpcrowe]

I am very happy with the Kaiser head but, not to the point where I would sell my Giottos head and try to buy a Kaiser at the price point that that are being offered ($100 USD to $159 USD without an Arca Clamp). However, I have to make my decision as to which will be my main line head. Right now I am leaning towards placing the Kaiser head on my Giottos MT-8180 Leg Set and using the Giottos MH-1300 head on the Slick travel tripod...