The Markins Ballheads
by J. Ramón Palacios

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MARKINS IN THE FIELD

I finally had a hold of my first Markins at Moab, Utah, at the 2nd Nikonians Photo Adventure. BJ Nichols, our guide and organizer for the trip, had invited Mr. BI Mah, designer and manufacturer of the Markins ball head, to join us. It was a privilege to meet him, a true renaissance man. An added pleasant surprise was that he brought with him several ballheads to sell and delivered in person a new M10 instead of the discontinued M1-PQI I asked and paid for. He looked happy of finally making direct contact with Nikonians and so were we, so we spent a good portion of the trip together and learned to admire him also as a photographer. We were most fortunate to repeat the experience at the 3rd Nikonians Photo Adventure in September, 2003 where we sealed our agreement to make available the Markins products to Nikonians.

Nikonian Byung-Ik Mah with his Coolpix, by Bob Tomerlin (drjimbob), at the closing dinner of the 3rd Annual Nikonians Photo Adventure Tour into Manitoba Canada, celebrating our agreement for Nikonians to become Markins marketing arm in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Finding the correct tension adjustment for the camera with lens was easy and fast. Never felt the need to readjust it.

The anodizing is very well done and hard, making it very tough to scratches.

The Markins ball head was subjected to dusty desert wind with mineral ore, both in Utah and Arizona, and could not notice a change in its performance. The finish seems to be excellent, at so small tolerances, that the Arizona desert dust did not get into the ball. Most impressive since I had to clean the contacts on body and lenses to make the auto focus function work. It stopped while using the 80-400mm VR lens on a F5 body, missing what looked like a great shot of our guide into Monument Valley, Wind-Talker Tom Philips. 

It may be advisable to get RRS or Kirk Arca-style customized plates for big bodies with big lenses, but not indispensable unless they are the really big guns, like the 400mm, 500mm and 600mm Nikkors.

Even big bodies when with smaller lenses, with a lip (flange) plate like the Markins PG-33, will not twist even when in odd positions, but well tightened with a screwdriver; a coin will not do. The latest plates now have a screw for an Allen wrench, making it easier to attach. The PG-33 and the newer PG-34N work very well on the D100, D70, D80 and F6 bodies. That small PG-33 plate also worked well on my 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-S, although a PL60 lens plate does even better. The PG-50 works for the F5 body, the F100 with MB-15, the D100 with MB-100 and the F6 with MB-40. By being wider, it provides added friction.	...