Really Right Stuff=A+

Last year around this time, I researched for weeks for a ball head for my shooting adventures. My punch list was long, I wanted simplicity, quality, durability, performance, compatibility with my tripod, expandability , service.. quite frankly – excellence. After much research,I settled down on the BH-55 LR w the B2 AS II clamp, manufactured by Really Right Stuff. What swayed my decision was it was an American manufacture and it focused on Camera Support Solutions and their web site is chock full of reasonable advice and current configuration information. I always considered this purchase rock solid……

After shooting a simple Lobster Trap Christmas tree in Maine, I moved my tripod up a few feet to better frame the shot, and when I went to tighten the panning plate, there was no tightening left in the pan lock knob, everything was mechanically frozen..

Normally I would have contacted service and waited for repair, but in two days time I was off for a weeks vacation in Florida.  I called RRS, and spoke to Marcus, he called me back a short while later to tell me a loaner had been found and that he’d ship it overnight.

Well due to Christmas and UPS problems, overnight turned into the package getting to NY one day after I left NY, then RRS expedited the loaner to be sent to my Florida address, only to have UPS botch up the delivery again, and it arrived the day after I left FL.

To make the long story short, the folks at RRS were super helpful, professional and gave me a 100% effort to try and help keep me up and running…

As you can see from the map, the Ballhead repair and loaner, combined, clocked over 14,600 miles of travel time.

And the cause of the problem, the usual, my cockpit error,  ”It is easy to forget that you set the drag and then …….do not over-loosen the Main Lock Knob” Point #5 of user manual…