Photokina 2010: KPS Research & Design's "geared" ball head w/ Arca Swiss plate alternative

Korean company KPS Design and engineer, Pierce Kung, demonstrate a pro ball head which I believe is still at the prototype stage of development that features micrometric geared adjustment. Traditionally, the most compelling options for photographers requiring geared camera articulation were the top end Manfrotto geared head which is incredibly heavy or the Arca Swiss C1 Cube which is very expensive. At the proposed 500euros or $750, this puts the head at about one quarter the cost of the C1 Cube and at less tha half the weight of the Manfrotto head for about the same price. The plate design is also interesting and is the first plate system that shows significant merits over Arca Swiss' dove tail plate design. It is very smooth and even lower profile that custom Arca Swiss plates and there are several different custom machined plates already available.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• KPS Design
• tripod head
• geared head
• C1 Cube
• Arca Swiss
• pro ball head

[LeoInterHyenaem]

But this represents a very different category than the [ridiculously] expensive, high-precision Cube. This must be compared to the Z- and V- series Arca Swiss offerings and similar equipment. I think the Arca Swiss - any AS head - will prove [much] more reliable, as will the RSS, etc. And that, at up to one-third of the "price" of this one. I am missing something?..

[Klyment]

@LeoInterHyenaem I think that it may not be clear in this video but the tripod head featured here isn't merely a ball head but a ball head with geared movements though the designer and his interpreter seem not to like calling it geared. By having micrometric adjustability, this puts this head in a similar category to the C1 and the Manfrotto 400 geared head. There are smaller Manfrotto heads but all add considerable "bounce" where as this head is very solid even with 4x5 camera mounted.

[chieldeno]

This is an amazing piece of engineering!

I wonder how it works internally and would love to try one of these some day... but is it yet at the market? I couldn't find anything about this prototype at the KPS Design website.

Personally I think I will prefer a geared ball head like this over the bulky Manfrotto 410, 405 & 400 and the expensive Arca Swiss geared head.

[LeoInterHyenaem]

@Klyment Thanks, mate, you for the clarification. best regards…