mouseworks

Met someone at the Coyote Grill and had food and conversation (tortilla chicken soup and the house salad for both of us, along with lots of chips) and then went over to browse through T.J. Maxx where we found nothing really compelling to buy at the moment.

Yesterday, I bought myself an Acratech GV2 ballhead (as tripod heads go, not the most expensive ballhead and with quick release plates available for less than some of the other top of the line ball heads).

This one is light enough for hiking and is now mounted on my ancient Manfrotto 3001 legs. I've been shooting the full moon, over exposed the ones last night and will try again if the weather permits. The other expensive top of the line ballheads don't show up in my local camera store, so I'd have to buy them unfondled which spoils the fun.

The store even has a Hasselblad plate which apparently goes over/under the Hasselblad proprietary quick release plate built in to the camera body. Not sure this makes sense unless I want to just use one tripod for all cameras.

I'll need to keep the old Manfrotto plates for the quick release head that's on my monopod, or get a different clamp for that which will take the new Arca Swiss compatible plates (most of the high end quick release heads will accept each other's plates and Arca-style plates seem to be the standard). I can buy the different clamp for about 2/3rd of what the monopod cost. Or I can buy a high end monopod head for about $250. I suspect I'll keep the plates for the head that's on the monopod.