wiskerke Posted July 11, 2013 Share Posted July 11, 2013 Paulette, a pair of rubber work gloves usually do the trick. My 86 yr old mother now opens her jars herself again ;-) Otoh we have a saying here that roughly translates to tight is tight. Which is not a bad thing for a tripod. So maybe wait until after Alaska. And only if you want another tripod or another head. I'm not sure if I would use my longest lens as my crowbar or wrench ;-) There are a lot of gizmo's for opening jammed jam jars and jammed oil filters (none of which worked as well for my mother as the work gloves). As always you can improvise your own McGyver tool: the trick is leverage. My approach would be: a stick or 2 sticks with cord attached at the end. Preferably cotton. Wet the cords and wrap them in opposite directions around the ball and the central column until the sticks are on either side. Now put your knee in the center and pull the sticks towards you. If they slip, add the rubber bands that have been mentioned previously, or the famous rubber dental dam we all have in our bag to remove a jammed filter. If you have a carbon fiber tripod, be careful not to use a vice or pliers: carbon tube is very strong in a lot of ways, but it can be crushed like a toilet paper core. wim edit: OK just tried it with a Gitzo column and a Manfrotto head, that had just the symptoms yours had. At first try, I managed to brake the 5mm cord, so there's quite some force going on there. (1 pole was a broom stick and the other a thinner 70 cm leftover piece.) On the second try I doubled the lines and it worked. Seen from the top: the cord goes clockwise around the column and counter clockwise around the head. Knots for the cord to the pole were with a simple pole hitch (- what else). edit 2: everything Phillippe said! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYCat Posted July 11, 2013 Share Posted July 11, 2013 I'm sure you will meet plenty of lumberjacks or king crab fishermen with strong hands willing to help a damsel in distress You have a G R E A T time in Alaska and say hello from me to the bears and moose (mooses (?) ...... or is it mice?). I envy you Cheers, Philippe I'm in the midst of packing up my gear now. So many odds and ends! The 90 year old woman I will spend time with in Homer feeds sandhill cranes and they will be in the yard every day. So beautiful! Then off for a lodge that has grizzly bears. I'm very lucky!! Paulette Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYCat Posted July 11, 2013 Share Posted July 11, 2013 Paulette, a pair of rubber work gloves usually do the trick. My 86 yr old mother now opens her jars herself again ;-) Otoh we have a saying here that roughly translates to tight is tight. Which is not a bad thing for a tripod. So maybe wait until after Alaska. And only if you want another tripod or another head. I'm not sure if I would use my longest lens as my crowbar or wrench ;-) There are a lot of gizmo's for opening jammed jam jars and jammed oil filters (none of which worked as well for my mother as the work gloves). As always you can improvise your own McGyver tool: the trick is leverage. My approach would be: a stick or 2 sticks with cord attached at the end. Preferably cotton. Wet the cords and wrap them in opposite directions around the ball and the central column until the sticks are on either side. Now put your knee in the center and pull the sticks towards you. If they slip, add the rubber bands that have been mentioned previously, or the famous rubber dental dam we all have in our bag to remove a jammed filter. If you have a carbon fiber tripod, be careful not to use a vice or pliers: carbon tube is very strong in a lot of ways, but it can be crushed like a toilet paper core. wim Thanks for the tip. I have a nifty jar opener that I can't use on the ball head unfortunately. My hands seem to be plenty strong enough to put things on too tightly but not strong enough to unscrew them. Paulette Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiskerke Posted July 11, 2013 Share Posted July 11, 2013 a pair of rubber work gloves usually do the trick. My 86 yr old mother now opens her jars herself again ;-) wim Okay, it's perhaps a tad off topic. But here's a great tip for grandma's having difficulties opening jars in the middle of the desert where there are no rubber gloves to be found. Turn the jar upside down. Tap it, as if a midwife would tap a newborn baby's bottom to make it cry (still dunno why they do that ) Turn it again (or the contents will end on the floor ) And voilà, it opens with a minimum of force. I guess it has something to do with the pressure inside. Cheers, Philippe Philippe, my mother probably taught me that ;-) wim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiskerke Posted July 11, 2013 Share Posted July 11, 2013 "McGyver of Alamy" “Experience is merely the name men gave to their mistakes.” - Oscar Wilde (When Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was my age he had been dead for 13 years.) from 1965: 0:52 - 1:15 wim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 7dayshop have a cheap head at 10.99 http://www.7dayshop.com/7dayshop-tripods-professional-quality-ball-socket-tripod-head-in-magnesium?backUrl=L2NhdGFsb2dzZWFyY2gvcmVzdWx0Lz9xPWJhbGwrc29ja2V0 which I have been using for a while with an A350 and 55-200. Used to be half the price but still OK. I don't use it often though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jez Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 I have used a Markins M10 ballhead for several years with no problems, and it is easily able to support up to a 500mm f/4.5 lens with no problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYCat Posted July 27, 2013 Share Posted July 27, 2013 I'm sure you will meet plenty of lumberjacks or king crab fishermen with strong hands willing to help a damsel in distress You have a G R E A T time in Alaska and say hello from me to the bears and moose (mooses (?) ...... or is it mice?). I envy you Cheers, Philippe Just got back from Alaska and it was wonderful. We had San Diego weather for two weeks. Of course, that presented its own problems with too much bright sun. In Alaska that is most unexpected. The guides at my lodge got the ballhead off my tripod so the strong Alaskan was the solution to that problem. I was too busy to spend much time looking at my images. That was a problem, actually, but hard to turn down the opportunity to spend more time with the Brown Bears. They are very habituated to the presence of people and would come quite close. So I really don't know what I got in the way of images but I do these trips more for the experiences than anything else. I will re-live it in my photos. Paulette Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SFL Posted July 28, 2013 Author Share Posted July 28, 2013 Just got back from Alaska and it was wonderful. We had San Diego weather for two weeks. Of course, that presented its own problems with too much bright sun. In Alaska that is most unexpected. The guides at my lodge got the ballhead off my tripod so the strong Alaskan was the solution to that problem. I was too busy to spend much time looking at my images. That was a problem, actually, but hard to turn down the opportunity to spend more time with the Brown Bears. They are very habituated to the presence of people and would come quite close. So I really don't know what I got in the way of images but I do these trips more for the experiences than anything else. I will re-live it in my photos.Paulette I am glad that you got your ballhead off the tripod.Sung Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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