New Head Required...

Ironheart

@spraynpray, I think from manfrotto's perspective they got the tolerances just right. They want you to stick with their system and found a way to keep the others out...

Golf007sd

@Ironheart: If that is the case then they should not label it under the umbrella of "Arca-Swiss compatible."

Nuke

It's probably a play on words. Their plate will mount into the normal arca-swiss adapter but a "normal" arca-swiss plate won't mount into their adapter. I guess that is some kind of compatibility but they are going to piss a lot of people off. In the end, it will bite them in the backend.

Gitzo

Spraynpray;
Do yourself a favor; get on eBay and find yourself a good, "lightly used" Arca Swiss B-1 ball head; you will never have any more problems with "creep"; as to cost........I snagged mine from a delightful gentleman in the U.K. about 10 years ago; got it for 180 "pounds" ( sorry, don't know how to make that little "pound thingie")

The B-1 has one big knob; and you DON"T have to "tighten" it to lock the ball; just twist it slightly.......and that's it! The thing is rated to hold 45 lbs; (it definitely will hold that) also.....on the face of the big knob, flush with the surface, is a small, round "thingie" which can be turned by one's finger tip to adjust the big knob;

There is also a much smaller knob near the base to lock the whole head in "pano" movement. (they made the B-1 i two flavors; with pano, and without; mine has the pano; ( I can't imagine why anyone would not want it.)

BTW.......back when I found mine.......(which took a few months)...... I saw a few fetch MORE on eBay than you could buy them for at B&H in NYC; (problem was, B&H always had them on back order, and no one wanted to wait. Don't take my word for it; find one someplace and try it; you'll very quickly see what I mean!

Another HUGE feature of the B-1 you won't "see", just by casually looking at it; when the ball is adjusted properly, you can mount a heavy camera/lens, and without moving the fixing knob, hold the camera level, then let go of it; unlike all other ball heads, the camera will start to move down, but will become progressively tighter , and will stop before the post holding the ball gets to the body of the head; (in other words, it prevents "flop-over"); the way this works is very simple, but very difficult to manufacture, apparently. The ball is ever so slightly "aspheric", by a few thousandths, causing it to become tighter as the ball moves away from level.

spraynpray

@ Gitzo: Too late mate - my new head has arrived. The 'Three Legged Thing Air Hed 2 Evolution 2' (called 3LT2 from now on!). It is no BH2 (no lever fastening) but is is excellent VFM with its 88 pound capacity.

One small thing that irritates is that it is small for its capacity so the tripods mounting plate overhangs a few millimeters around its base. Apart from that, it does not have the finger-tip tightening of the Manfrotto Hydrostats, but then it doesn't have the compatibility issues either. Tightening to rock-hard is a firm twist on the knob, but not the white knuckle (and still not tight) of the Slik. The great thing is that it weighs a fraction of the Slik's weight so my new sticks just got even lighter.