Manfrotto, Really Right Stuff, Gitzo, or even Novoflex, are considered to be professional brands for tripods and the associated accessories, such as tripod heads. That doesn’t mean you can’t buy a tripod head from a manufacturer like Hähnel, which isn’t considered to be a pro-level vendor in this market, and still enjoy excellent quality and performance. I tried out Hähnel’s BH-40, an aluminium alloy ball head that fits standard tripod sockets on dSLRs.
The Hähnel BH-40 ball head is a relatively small head. When I compare it to my Novoflex Classic Ball 5, it’s almost half as big (and heavy). I found out that such doesn’t necessarily mean it’s inferior.
Hähnel’s description of the BH-40 suggests the ball head has a fluid motion. It comes with a dovetail sliding plate and a two-stage locking system. It fits tripod legs with 3/8″ thread attachment, and has a load capacity of max. 5kg.
In contrast, the Novoflex can load 12kg, but it sure lacks the fluid motion the BH-40 promises to have. It also came without a quick release plate.
I tried Hähnel’s BH-40 with two cameras: one dSLR and a video camera. Five kilos is about just enough to securely hold a Sony Alpha 900 with a Zeiss 24-70mm zoom lens, a couple of filters, a flash and Pocket Wizard. The ball head did what I expected from it. I couldn’t really find disadvantages, except perhaps the quick release plate: I prefer Arca-style plates and Hähnel’s wasn’t compatible.
For the rest it has everything you need:
- a sturdy rubberized knob to secure the quick release plate,
- an extra push-to-release locking pin that prevents the plate from sliding off the head,
- a knob that releases the head in order to allow for panning,
- a large rubber knob to release/fix the ball itself for free positioning,
- a 90 degrees orientation groove for vertical shooting.
I could simply recommend the BH-40 for use with a dSLR, especially for mounting on a monopod (provided you don’t have a Custom Brackets Steadypod), if it weren’t for my experiences with the video camera.
I’m sure everybody will agree with me that to pan smoothly with a video camera you need a special head that delivers fluid motion. Much to my surprise — I was so surprised, I tried it half a dozen times with different settings: without Ninja mounted on top, with Ninja mounted on top, etc. — Hähnel’s BH-40 delivers the smooth, fluid panning motion you need. The panning system extends the full 360 degrees and offers just enough counterforce to let you smoothly rotate a camera and whatever is mounted, even without an extended handle as seen on video heads.
This doesn’t mean I’m telling you the BH-40 has the same performance as a Manfrotto Pro Video 509HD head. It simply means I was astonished to find the BH-40 to pan so smoothly. Compared to my professional Novoflex Classic Ball 5′s panning system, the BH-40 runs on hydraulics. Another way of putting it: the Novoflex when panning, feels like metal-on-metal. The BH-40 feels like there is a fine layer of grease or oil between the metal parts (which I am pretty sure there isn’t).
In short: when you need only 5kg of load capacity, and your main video shooting is with a prosumer or up to the high-end consumer camera, you might consider the BH-40 as a tripod head. Not only is it very light weight, but its panning capabilities are simply stunning for such a compact ball head.
