The Arca-Swiss B1 Monoball head
by Ed Alban

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OPENING THE BOX

Hearing of the fix, I finally gave in to worldly desires and started looking.  Although the B1 was available locally in the previous years, it was no longer offered by stores in the Vancouver area.  The local dealer mentioned a story about the Canadian distributor having a fall-out of sorts with Arca-Swiss years ago.

The Arca Swiss B1 Monoball head

It is so rare around these parts, that when I came calling, a few store clerks in a local photography store chain never even heard of Arca-Swiss!  There was a display model of the B1 at Lens & Shutter store on W. Broadway, but it had no quick-release clamp and no panning base.  On and off, it was also out of stock in major online dealers, including B&H.  Robert White in U.K. seemed to be the only store that carried it.  Fortunately, it also had the least expensive price, at least temporarily beating B&H in New York by US$50!  And here I thought, B&H prices could not be beat.  As a side note, the people at Robert White were a pleasant bunch to do business with.  They were prompt with their replies to all of my queries and the transaction completed smoothly.

I picked up the small black box at the FedEx office.  It was so unassuming that a person would never think one of the best engineered pieces of photographic machinery lay within.  As I parted the box lids with expectant and nervous glee, the first thing that greeted me was the dark grey soft foam.  Underneath, I made out a glimpse of dark metal.

The metal was the famous Arca-Swiss clamp.  Pulling on it, the B1 was free and at last in my eager hands.  Twelve years of dreaming didn’t seem that long now.  My first thought was: Holy Cow, this thing is small.  I mean really small.  I’ve seen the display model at the store months ago and seeing it there again in my hands, I was amazed at its modest size.  There’s nothing to it, almost, and yet they claim this head can handle 90 lbs!

It was time to inspect that famous ball, or what I can see of it.  The ball looked sturdy.  It seemed to be a solid piece of milled aluminum, or whatever material they used. The next thing I noticed was its cleanliness.  It was spotless.  Made me wonder what would happen if some grit fell on the ball.  Would it get through the gap and ruin the head action?  Well, there’ll be time enough to find that out, I supposed.  In the back of my mind, I was thinking I soon better get that Zing pouch a pro recommended to me.  A medium-sized Zing lens pouch, which is made of neoprene, is all the protection his B1 needs.  Just to keep out the dust and guard it against minor bumps, he said.

The smooth black matte finish on the B1 was a labor of love, a work of art.  Each metal piece matched its adjoining part seamlessly.  There was no give, no gap, no play anywhere I could see.  Arca-Swiss claims that the B1’s are manufactured with tolerances less than 1/100 mm.  Truly a masterpiece of manufacturing and engineering.

The Internet is awash with glowing descriptions on how smooth the ballhead action is on the B1 and so after admiring it for what seemed like forever, I could not wait any longer.  I gave that clamp an excited push.  What a movement.  Right out of the box, it felt very well damped; it was oily smooth.  There was no dry feeling, and in fact, it felt like the internal ball was floating in very heavy oil.  The clamp stopped with confidence as well.  The reports on the Internet and those early magazine articles I read were dead-on accurate in their description."