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Flying Saucer Ball Head
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![](images/beanbags/ballhead_sideview-TN.jpg) |
Shown
with tripod ring
from a Canon 300mm |
I
often photograph birds from the window of my vehicle in
situations like a wildlife refuge, in which case I use
bean bags for support. But whenever I panned left and
right, the tripod foot would bind in the bean bag, and
the lens wanted to flop over on one side all the time.
When I panned right, the side mirror was at the same level
as the lens and in the way. It made following the action
a bit of a hassle. Spinning the tripod foot up out of
the way helped, but I lost what little height advantage
it offered, making the lens sit even lower.
The
solution seemed to be something like the "Molar
Bean Bag" by Vertex Photographic with their V2
Plate and a gimbal head. That would have been a solution
ranging in the hundreds of dollars. I wasn't ready to
spend that much for another gimbal and bean bag when I
already had one of each. Neither was I going to hassle
with swapping my gimbal between the Gitzo and the bean
bag. There had to be a better way. I got the old creative
juices working and came up with the insanely simple and
inexpensive "Flying Saucer Ball Head".
The Flying Saucer Ball Head?
![](images/beanbags/FlyingSaucer_Ball_Head-withQRclamp_2162-TN.jpg) |
![](images/beanbags/FlyingSaucer_Ball_Head-withQRclamp_2164-TN.jpg) |
Two
views of the ball head with my
favorite quick release clamp attached |
Yup,
that's what I call it. I think you'll agree it's an apt
description. I never would have thought a 6-inch piece
of 2x6 pine stud with a bolt in it could be so useful,
simple and effective, but I believe this idea is the epitome
of simple design form and function. It's really only half
a "ball", but that's all it takes to make my big, heavy
telephoto lens pan and tilt smoothly while resting on
a bean bag. It screws on and off the lens tripod foot
with the flick of a wrist. Even if you have to go out
and buy a stainless steel 1/4-20 or 3/8-16 bolt to make
one of these, it'll only cost a couple of dollars. For
larger lenses you will want to add a clamp to allow some
balancing adjustment with the plate on your lens mounting
ring as in the photos at right. With my clamp attached
I have 3-1/2 inches of slide range to adjust the balance
point, which allows perfect balance with the 500mm lens.
![](images/beanbags/ballhead_on_500mm-TN.jpg) |
The
Flying Saucer Ball
Head with 500mm lens
used on a bean bag |
To
the left are photos of the top (showing the 1/4 20 stainless
bolt I used), and the bottom (showing the countersink
hole). You may instead need to use a 3/8-16 bolt, depending
upon what sort of head or clamp you will be attaching.
At the very top left you can see the edge-on side view
with a lens collar attached. I have provided a large diagram
explaining how
to make the Flying Saucer Ball Head. It's relatively
simple to make with simple tools, although a wood lathe
is by far the easiest and fastest way to make one. Even
making one the hard way with hand tools took me less than
two hours. As a supplement to the diagram, the series
of photos below shows the same manual method of shaping
the wood to create the ball head. The only thing I haven't
done is to seal or stain the wood, or paint it. Unless
you think it will get wet, you won't really have to do
that.
If
you should decide to put any kind of finish on yours,
I recommend leaving at least a one-and-a-half inch to
two inch radius area on top (around the stud) clear of
any paint or finish. This is the area that will rub on
the bottom of your lens tripod foot , clamp or head when
you screw on the Flying Saucer Ball Head. The paint or
finish here would probably get rubbed off anyway. Just
leave the wood natural and unfinished in that area.
![](images/beanbags/ShapeBowlHead-1-TN.jpg) |
![](images/beanbags/ShapeBowlHead-2-TN.jpg) |
![](images/beanbags/ShapeBowlHead-3-TN.jpg) |
![](images/beanbags/ShapeBowlHead-4-TN.jpg) |
![](images/beanbags/ShapeBowlHead-5-TN.jpg) |
(1)
Draw a circle on the bottom
2.75-inches diameter as a guide
and saw off sections at an angle |
(2)
This provides a start
to the bowl shape |
(3)
Using a wood rasp, begin
removing the "corners"
and rounding the bottom |
(4)
Soon you should have a
smoother bowl shape |
(5)
This is close, but the bottom is
too flat. Keep working until it
looks like image #7 below. |
![](images/beanbags/ShapeBowlHead-6-TN.jpg) |
![](images/beanbags/ShapeBowlHead-8-TN.jpg) |
(6)
A large metal file can
help smooth and shape |
(7)
This is the desired shape
you're working toward |
I
made a second one for use with a small arca-swiss clamp.
Here's a short
video showing how smoothly these work with a bean
bag.
![](images/groundpod/groundpod-n-lens-TN.jpg) |
The
Flying Saucer Ball
Head with ground pod |
Besides
using it on bean bags, I also use this with a ground pod
I designed for it. This saves me the expense of another
gimbal mount. I could have just set a bean bag in an old
frying pan and used the ball head on top of it, but that
would have been unnecessarily heavy. A lightweight plywood
cradle holds the ball head for those great low angle bird
photos. Check out the ground
pod project article. |
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