Arca Swiss d4 Geared Tripod Head with Quick Set Classic Device (Plate Not Included)

I shoot like 2-3 properties a day and throw my tripod in the back of my car. This thing has been rock solid in all of the time I’ve had it since 2021. It still operates as I very first got it. Highly recommend. Very precise! Very fast.

So, she isn’t cheap, and I am not a professional photographer, but this head is amazing, stiff action when it arrived and took a minute to dial my brain into the controls, as soon as I figured her out she started to loosen up and now- BUTTER, or SILKY… smooth at any rate, if you are curious about this ARCA SWISS head you probably need it, and that NEED justifies the price, it’s not a manfrotto or benro so there’s a reason why it’s pricey the build quality totally reflects pricing, I haven’t put it away since I quickly received it, every time I walk by it it makes me smile and wonder why I waited so long, if you are using a ball head to do the job this should be doing for you put $20 in a jar every time your ball head disappoints you and soon enough you will have the money to buy the D4, or save yourself the frustration and just buy once cry once, how much money do you have perched on a head that just barely works? (Compare the weight ratings for the manfrotto and benro to these specs…)

Expensive, but better than the alternatives

The head was received (head is of course excellent), but was obviously an open box item (not advertised as such) not appropriately sealed/wrapped. Minus 2 stars for the seller - bad form!

It is an incredible precise head! Loosen the tear drop knob and panning knob and it acts like a ball head tighten those back up and use the round onobs to do very precise fine adjustments. It is the best of ball and geared head usability all rolled up into one. It is expensive but in this case you really do get what you pay for and this is perfection!

This item is very well made, and performs exactly as expected, providing a very stable platform for holding my various camera/lens configurations which way up to around 10lbs. Leveling the camera is wonderfully simply and quick...much easier to accomplish than with a traditional ball head, which can be "fiddly". This is just the opposite. And it is very useful that there are two adjustments for rotating around the vertical axis ("pan" roation), one at the lowest point, for initial adjustment, and one at the top, for adjustments after the camera has been leveled; since the upper rotation happens in the leveled plane, the camera stays level throughout the rotation. The only negative is that it is difficult to just look at any of these larger adjustment knobs and easily predict how turning them will influence the tilt of the camera (left or right vs forward or back). You have to essentially memorize which knob does what, or look very carefully to figure it out. This is fine for periods when you are using the head every day. But if you take a break it can take a while before you get it right reliably again. Maybe it's just me... This seems to be one of the main weaknesses of this head's design vs. the Arca Swiss C1 Cube, whose knob placement and operation seem much more intuitive. I got this D4 unit instead of the C1 primarily because it seemed to do everything I needed for $500 less, and I am not disappointed. Still, if money is no object at all then I do suggest you look further at the C1 (which I only know of through online video reviews).

I guess you get what you pay for... this tripod head is a joy to use! Very smooth operation, very sturdy, and easy to use.

I will say without any hesitation that this gear head revived my interest in photography again. My fiber carbon tripod and ballheads (both travel and heavy tripods) are from the high end brand. I am a hobbyist and have been into all genres of photography except for astronomy and wildlife for the obvious reasons of timing and location, which I find an inconvenience. Recently, in the past two years, I had a dwindling interest in photography inspite of having invested time and money over the years as a hobbyist. Being a gear enthusiast, I decided to try out the Arca Swiss D4 GP with classic knob. WOW, I suddenly realized why my interest in photography waned. All the struggle with uneven landscape, tripod leveling and fighting with the tiny drift of the ballhead were the reasons UNKNOWN TO ME, why I lost interest in photography. Looking back, it became a chore fighting with my gear to get the composition that I wanted instead of enjoying the act. Now with this gear head, all those issues are gone. Using this gear head, I get the precise composition that I want with no fear of camera drift. The other day I shot into the early hours of the morning, just shooting products without realizing how much time I had spent shooting. These days when I go to the editing software on my computer, I hardly crop my images, this is no exaggeration. The images in camera are exactly as I want the composition. They say top notch equipments are expensive but they are expensive for a reason, they make your experience smoother, easier, faster and satisfying. This has been my experience with this gear head. I have relegated my ballheads to the museum. I was so impressed with the D4 gear head, that I also bought the C1 cube to use indoors while the D4, I use for outdoor shooting because it is relatively more dust proof than the C1 cube. If you can afford one, I recommend that you get the D4 because it allows you to position your camera faster like a ballhead, then you can then slowly fine tune and lock in your composition as precisely as you want it without the concerns of a camera drift. As a digression, I wished I had gone this way a long time ago just like I did with lenses. I started with Canon and Nikon cheaper L and G zoom lenses then transitioned to only Canon fast L lenses. Please don't get me wrong , Nikon fast G Lenses are excellent but I chose Canon because of the wider array of lenses. . It is good to learn from the experience of others and save yourself much pain and money. But like they say, experience is the best teacher, otherwise you will always second guess your decision based on others' experience.. If you can save a dime a day, it maybe worth your while. The used item market is another option.