hogesinwa Loc: Dalyellup Western Australia

I have a Fancier tripod 244 AT with a BH-02 ballhead on it.

I have a two-way slide to attach my camera to, which allows me to move the camera left-right and forward-back. This is not a precision piece of equipment and shows that you get what you pay for – it was cheap and is. The left-right doesn’t work as soon as you put a camera on it, although the forward/back still does.

I want something to allow me to turn the camera to Portrait view, AND to move the camera forward/back for panoramas (to put the focal point over the turning point).
I see in my magazines lots of ads for tripod heads so I assume you can buy these things and attach them to your tripod.

Trouble is, I cannot, for the life of me, see how it is possible to first remove the existing ball head and second how to install a new head. No screws, no obvious joins. How do you do this? Just take hold and rip the thing out like a shoulder joint? Or is replaceable ball heads only a feature of high-end tripods?
Thanks for reading.

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

Normally you simply unscrew the ball head in order to separate it from the tripod base/legs.
Is Fancier a new brand?

CO

The BH-02 ballhead has the standard 3/8-16 thread in its base. You should be able to unscrew it from the tripod. Check to see if there are grub screws in the tripod's base that would lock the head in place. Manfrotto uses such a system.

Manfrotto tripods have grub screws to lock the head in place. Check if the Fancier tripod has them. I don't know

(Download)

hogesinwa Loc: Dalyellup Western Australia

Ralph - Weifeng is a name associated with Fancier. I do not know, and cannot work out, if Weifeng is the manufacturer and Fancier one of its brands, or Fancier is a division of Weifeng or what. But they seem to go together.

hogesinwa Loc: Dalyellup Western Australia

I could not see anything obvious that would unscrew. There are three minute, and I mean minute, holes that might be some sort of tiny grub screws so I'll see if I can find a tiny tool to undo them. Thanks for that.

Assuming it comes off (and it should now you've pointed out how), what do you think I should put on top to hold my camera in portrait view, and allow for the shift back an inch or two for panoramas? My camera is a 7DmkII and the lens would be normally a Tamron 16-300 so there's a bit of weight in it. I live in a regional city, not a large city, in the SW of Western Australia, so availability of toys is limited, although I will be in Lisbon in two weeks.

rwilson1942 Loc: Houston, TX

They are usually allen head screws accessible from below the platform at the top of the vertical column (where the ball head sits.).
Do searches for L-brackets and nodal rails for solutions to moving camera from horizontal to vertical orientation and adjusting camera location vs rotation.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

Problem solved if you get yourself an "L" bracket like the 3 Legged Thing universal. For Panoramas, you can quickly switch to vertical or horizontal orientation based on your composition. And, unless your image has right angles in the foreground, obsessing over centering over the focal point to remove parallax is overrated. I have been shooting panoramas for 3 years, and stopped worrying about eliminating parallax a long time ago.

hogesinwa Loc: Dalyellup Western Australia

Thanks for the tips. On my way to "sorted" now. I'll see what I can find in Lisbon in the way of camera shops with lots of interesting bits for sale.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Those heads usually have a larger thread size than a 1/4 20. They are sometimes referred to as a European thread. You will have to tighten every movable part on your current ball head. And remember this when trying to get the old ball head off, rightee tightee, lefty loosen. You may really have to apply some pressure to get the old ball head off.

stanperry Loc: Spring Hill, Florida

Why not just by a new tripod with the head that you want? You seem to imply that your current tripod is old. There are lots of tripods out there, representing every price point. Manfrotto Element is decent, comes with several different heads, and cheap.