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Accessories Reviews

Markins Q20 ballhead review

Marsel van Oosten (Marsel)


Keywords: markins, ballhead, non_nikon

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A little bit of history: the M20

Seven years ago I wrote my first review on the Markins M10 ballhead. Shortly after that I upgraded to the M20, and I have been using it ever since. It is still in perfect working condition, and my guess is that it will easily outlive me. From the moment I turned pro a couple of years ago, the M20 has been used and abused almost daily in various ballheadhostile locations all over the planet.

q20pic1

The Markins M20 on a Gitzo GT3530LSV

Each year in february I lead a photo workshop in Japan, where we photograph in sometimes seriously cold conditions, often with snow, and this is a recipe for disaster with many ballheads. Low temperatures can cause the ball to 'stick', turning it into a completely useless metal ornament on top of your tripod. Snow and sleet can make things even worse, but the M20 has never let me down.

q20pic2

No matter how cold it was, the M20 always performed perfectly. This image of sleeping whooper swans was shot on Hokkaido, Japan, in mid winter. The M20 kept moving smoothly, my fingers did not.

 

q20pic3

Bryce Canyon, USA. I know, it looks nice and sunny, and I'm smiling. Half an hour later I was in my car trying to thaw my painful, near frost-bitten fingers. The M20 was a lot tougher.

Earlier this year I spent over three months in the Sahara of Northern Africa; Algeria, Chad, Libya and Egypt, and later Namibia. The circumstances there were the exact opposite of those in Japan, and possibly even worse. It may come as no surprise that there is some sand in the Sahara, and photographers don't like to get it on or in their gear because we know it will cause trouble. But what can you do when there is sand everywhere, there is more dust than oxygen in the air, and when sand storms are a daily routine? With the M20 the answer is simple: you do nothing. Never did I try to protect the head from sand or dust, and it never stopped working. The tolerance in the moving parts is so small and precise, that dust and sand simply cannot get into it. Even after falling in the sand on numerous occasions, or staying outside during a sandstorm, it needed no special attention before using it again. Needless to say that I consider this one of the best investments that I have ever made. So why did I want to get the new Q20? I simply needed a second ballhead to be able to work with different setups.

 

The Q20

Back in 2004, my Markins ballhead was still quite exotic. Most photographers used the well-known leading brands at the time, and most of them had never heard of Markins nor seen any of their ballheads. A lot has changed since. Serious photographers all over the world now use Markins ballheads, and I regularly see them on my workshops. When I saw the first Q20, my initial response was that it hadn't changed much - which to me made perfect sense. Why change something that has already proven to be the best in its class? On closer inspection though, I noticed some interesting design changes.

 

q20pic4

The Markins Q20 on a Gitzo GT3530LSV tripod

The main knob

First, there is the knob. On my M20 the knob is made of metal with very little relief. In normal conditions this works fine, but when you're photographing with gloves on, the metal knob doesn't offer enough grip and it is difficult to unscrew and open the clamp. The new design features a slightly larger knob that has a rubber part with ribs, offering way more grip - a serious improvement in terms of handling. But also without gloves the new knob offers more grip, it doesn't get as cold, and is much easier to open and close.

 

The clamp

At first, the clamp on the Q20 seemed larger to me than the one on the M20, but on closer inspection they're the same size. The design has changed a little bit, making it look larger, but it isn't. The clamp now also features a spirit level.

I'm not using this new feature for three reasons. First, most of my cameras have built-in spirit levels. Second, when I'm not using those, I use a small hot shoe mounted spirit level. And third, I don't really get the placement of the spirit level - it's right on top of the clamp, where the camera is going to be. That means that you first have to level the clamp, and then mount the camera. This makes very little sense to me, because I like to be able to move the camera around to fine tune my composition so I need to be able to check the spirit level constantly, and I would have to remove the camera from the head in order to do that. It doesn't bother me that it's there though, so I just ignore the little green eye.

The clamp is of the dovetail style - in my opinion the most stable connection. Markins offers a large variety of camera plates that will fit the Q20, just make sure you pick the right one for your specific camera body. Personally, I prefer to work with L-brackets. They're much larger and heavier than regular plates, but they are rock solid and never ever move one bit, they're much faster when you want to switch from horizontal to vertical and vice versa, they're better for the stability of the whole setup (you don't have to flip the head, the camera remains right on top of the center of gravity), and they offer great protection for the camera. I got mine from Kirk, but you can get them from Really Right Stuff as well.

q20pic5

The L-Bracket for the D3 series. I have two of them, made by Kirk. Much better than regular plates

Another change I noticed right away, is that the numbers around the base of the head now have little indents. I don't think it will make much of a difference, but it does look slightly better.

 

Left-handed or right handed versions

When I put the M20 and Q20 next to each other, I noticed something very interesting - they're a mirror image. I can vaguely remember that you could order the M20 for right handed operation and for left handed, and apparently I have chosen the left handed version. The Q20's got everything the other way around. It's funny that I hadn't really noticed this straight away in the field, and to be honest I don't really care; I can fasten a knob with my left hand and my right hand.

q20pic6

The Q20 (left) and the M20 (right): mirrored versions

 

q20pic7

The Q20 with rubber grip and spirit level (left) and the M20 (right)

 

Numbers

But there's more - important changes that you can't see:

  • Stronger: the Q20 now offers 250 kgf-cm/217 lbf-in of torque 
  • Higher load capacity: Measured to be 50kg/110 lbs for a load offset of 5cm/1.97in from the center of gravity 
  • Lighter: the Q20 weighs only 555 g/1.22 lbs 
  • More efficient: The load capacity to weight ratio is 90:1 


That means the Q20 is no Jaws 2, Terminator 2 or Aliens 2 - it is actually better than version 1.0

(2 Votes )
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Originally written on January 16, 2012

Last updated on January 6, 2021

Marsel van Oosten Marsel van Oosten (Marsel)

Awarded for his masterful accomplishments in Nature Photography Awarded for his excellent white papers and product reviews for the Resources

Amsterdam, Netherlands
Basic, 4970 posts

5 comments

Zita Kemeny (zkemeny) on May 7, 2013

Very good videos, thanks.

User on June 20, 2012

As the reviewer notes, there are rating differences between the Q20 and the M20. However, the physical differences identified between the reviewer's 2004 version of the M20 and the current Q20 were introduced on the M20. I purchased my M20 in 2008, it's clamp has a spirit level, it's knob incorporates a ribbed rubber grip and it's base has little indents. But why nitpick the details - this head is all it claims to be - very well made - reliable - an outstanding performer. I use it on a Gitzo Series 3 carbon fibre tripod, fitted with the Gitzo levelling base. My cameras are equipped with RRS L brackets. This combination offers excellent support and is so easy to use, I actually use it.

User on March 24, 2012

Just got my Q20 last week and started astrophotography with it. This little piece of engineering beauty performs exactly as claimed: no drift, lightweight, solid, and smooth. The review says it all. Added to a Gitzo series 3 tripod and you have a rock solid system of support.

Michael Pottiger (audimackid) on January 23, 2012

Thanks for the review. I purchased the M20 based on the review I read on Nikonians. While I have not "tortured" my M20 to the extent that you have, it has always performed flawlessly and I am very happy with my decision.

Edmund Antoon (Condor315) on January 22, 2012

Having read a number of reviews, the review here was the most informative. I purchased it with confidence. I've tried all the other brands in stores (less Really Right Stuff) and found them all to be gritty. I pared it with the Feisol CT-3772 tripod (this is a sleeper) made really well and a Really Right Stuff L-Bracket. Put them to the test the other day as I photographed a water fall in a blizzard while me and the tripod were in the stream. All performed flawlessly

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