I have started to
become quite familiar with some of the equipment that Sirui have to offer. I
now look forward to playing with the various pieces of support gear that TheSunShine Company are kind enough to loan me for testing. Before even starting this review, I
have to point out that my opinion of Sirui is that they manage to produce
attractively priced, competent, professional equipment. At least for the South
African, the concept of attractively priced is probably the most important
feature of new equipment. The point though, is that the Sirui heads can
withstand most of the abuse that we hurl at the European and American equipment
that costs up to four times as much. Testament to my respect for the company is
that I own and use some Sirui products.
So, I was excited to
receive the relatively heavy package containing the Sirui K40x ball head. Unlike
other pieces of equipment that I have reviewed in the past, I happen to have
kept my hands on this unit for a relatively decent period of time. A year to be
exact. The K40x has been my de facto ball head literally since the
beginning of 2015 (I am finally writing this up in April 2016). Although it
wasn’t a match made in heaven to start with, I grew to thoroughly respect this
tough ball head.
Build Quality
Sirui make some very
impressive durable products as I have found. The K40x is a solid lump of metal
that feels pretty much indestructible. The anodised finish doesn’t scuff too
badly either. The body of the ball head is a machined aluminium alloy. From what
I can make out the ball is similarly constructed. Overall the finish feels really professional
and durable.
The fit for all the
moving parts is tight without any undesirable movement. Even supposedly finicky
pieces like the safety stop on the quick release clamp are durable and tough.
There are no exposed screws, springs or levers, meaning that the ball head has
been designed with durability and toughness in mind, I think. This of course
means that the head isn’t exactly light; weighing in at a relatively hefty
700grams. However, Sirui claim that it can handle up to 35kg! That’s a lot of
weight to be shifting about. Personally, wanting to move anything of that
weight about on a ball head is probably mad - you should really be using a
geared or fluid head for that - but the point is that the K40x is capable of
handling weights beyond what one would consider maximum weights for even a
pro-level ball head.
Ultimately the actual
build and feel of the K40x inspires confidence. It looks and feels like it can
withstand a serious amount of abuse. As I mentioned at the beginning of the
review, I have had the ball head as my primary head for a full year. This has
included a workshop on the Wild Coast, a 2-week workshop and tour in Namibia,
Innumerable jolting trips through Zululand for one of my clients, countless
hours of use in the studio shooting catalogue images and several other landscape
shoots around the Drakensberg and Durban areas. Considering how I use my
equipment, the head looks in excellent condition. Not bad. I’d say it passed my
abuse test with flying colours.
Features
As with the rest of
the Sirui ball heads, the K40x has an Arca-Swiss compatible quick release mount.
The mount is a simple clamp, but has their innovative locking pin that stops
the camera from sliding off the clamp
accidentally. It’s simple and fail-proof which I really appreciate. The clamp
tightens with a rubber-covered knob. As with some other Sirui kit that I have
used it is possible to over-tighten this knob, making it difficult to unlock.
You get used to it really quickly though, so know when to stop tightening.
The clamp has a total
of three spirit levels recessed into its anodised aluminium surface. On the top
plate is a round bubble level; while on the side is a horizontal and vertical
level. It makes leveling the head’s clamp very easy if you need to. 
There are only two
control knobs on the body of the ball head itself. These are a rubber coated
main friction control and a ridged surface metal pan knob at the base of the
body. Panning movements are marked with 5 degree increments. I found the
increment marks weren’t exactly precise since the actual line markings are done
away with at times and replaced by numerals. This doesn’t make exact
positioning that easy. However, very few photographers need that level of
accuracy, and if they do would probably buy a panoramic or geared head in any
case.
The ball itself is a
nicely finished black ball with a 54mm diameter. That’s a decent sized ball,
meaning that smooth movement and locking ability should be obtained. The ball
is large enough that Sirui have actually made the head with an odd tapering
design to accommodate its size yet keep the diameter of the pan base also at
63mm (5mm slimmer than the widest point on the body).
Controls
This is a really
simple ball head essentially. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out how
to use it. There is a single large locking knob for the main ball and a small
metal pan knob for the panning base. Both move fluidly and with ease. Not much to write about really.
The difference comes
in with the main control knob. It offers the ability to adjust the friction of
the ball when you loosen it. This in turn affects the amount of rotation
required to lock the knob. It took some experimentation for me to get it right,
but the beauty of the system is that once in place you can just forget about
the friction control.
To get the friction
adjusted for your particular style of photography, you need to tighten the main
control knob in a clock-wise direction for about a half turn. You don’t have to
be precise. The idea is just to get the ball lightly gripped by the head. Next,
loosen the friction control screw head by rotating it counter-clockwise with
your fingernail or a screwdriver (it’s actually easy enough to use the pressure
from your thumb). Now, while moving the ball about with your one hand, slowly
rotate the main control knob until you get the minimum level of drag that you
want (the idea is not to lock the ball, but rather to set it’s looseness). Once
you have this, rotate the small screw head clockwise until it is locked. You
can then move the blue numbered band (Sirui refers to this as the Calibration
Ring) to zero. Zero now indicates full unlock. Turning the control knob
clockwise will lock the ball head in place.
Handling
It was not love at
first use for the first unit that I used. I pretty much exclusively used the
first unit that The Sunshine Company sent me for about a month and a half. This
included a recce trip to the Wild Coast.
Unfortunately, using the ball head was a bit of a chore as it turned out,
since there was what I believed to be a fault in the pan movement of the main
ball that caused the pan to get progressively tighter as you tried to pan the
head on the ball. In frustration I called Sunshineco and they sent me a second
unit. It was like using a completely different ball head after I received the second unit.
Eventually I concluded
that this must be inherent in the design and decided (incorrectly) it was
possibly to act as a fluid dampener for doing pans. Then the ball head started
to lock up completely whenever I tried to pan the main ball. Still, I got used
to it. Finally, on finishing the original review of the ball head (it wasn’t
exactly positive based on the pan lockup) I phoned Willem at Sunshine and
chatted to him about my frustrations. Subsequent to the delivery of the second
unit, the chaps at Sunshineco had actually been in contact with Sirui around
this very problem. When I encountered it the first time, I was the only person
who had been affected. By the time I eventually wound up my first version of
the review several other photographers had also pointed out this inconsistency
in handling.
It turns out there is
a very simple answer, simple enough that I had to rewrite the entire review.
Basically, because of the design of the ball, if very fine dust gets to the
very bottom of the ball in it’s casing, it causes friction to increase. The
solution is simply to drop the ball into the vertical orientation slot and
rotate it while holding a dry cloth to the ball. This wipes away the dust and
suddenly you have silky smooth movements again.
After I discovered
that the friction could be solved, my entire attitude to the K40x changed. I
don’t want to give it back anymore! I want to keep it, and am not looking
forward to shooting without it. Here’s why:
Even with the
friction oddity that I didn’t realise was simply a cleaning issue, the K40x is
one of the most stable ballheads I have used. The large ball makes moving heavy
equipment very easy. The friction control locks positively and even allows some
fine compositional adjustment. But, by far and away, the deal breaker for me is
the fact that there is almost zero sag after I have locked down the ball. I say
‘ almost zero’ as I don’t have a way to scientifically test it, but in studio
and in the field I could see no sag or change between my composition as I set
it and after I had locked the ball and let go of the camera. That’s practically
unheard of in a ballhead and only a very select few manage to get this right.
As part of my more
mundane day job, I was responsible for shooting the entire Gelmar Handle
catalogue. For this I needed absolute accuracy in the ballhead that I used. Not
once was there sag between composition and shooting. The same applies for when
one is shooting long exposure photography. Any sag or movement during the
exposure will result in a loss of sharpness and detail in the final image.
Again, I had no problems here at all.
Conclusion
The K40x isn’t the
kind of head that you get excited about. You get excited about the G20kx
because it’s so small. You get excited about the Acratech ball heads because of
their design. You can get excited about the Gitzo off-centre ball heads because
of the different angles you can position the camera. You can get excited about
the KPS T5 geared ball head because of its unique gearing ability. The Sirui
K40x is not an exciting ball head. It’s a rock solid dependable ball head. It’s
designed to be a workhorse, without frills and the picky diet that a racehorse
requires. It’s not the most exciting ball head I have ever used, nor reviewed.
BUT, I would be more than happy to use it as a daily ball head.
The strange dampening
is something I worked through, to the point that I would recommend the ball head
even before I discovered the simple fix to correcting it. The large ball made
positioning easy. The 35kg load limit meant that it held equipment in place
with aplomb. I never felt like I was trying or working hard to lock the ball,
which incidentally the control of which I thought was superb. The head doesn’t
feel too heavy for my carbon fibre legs, yet easily handles heavy loads. The
clamp has a good positive locking force and there is absolutely no play in the
head except horizontal panning when the pan control is used, which is one of
the smoothest I’ve used incidentally.
Fine tuning
compositions was relatively easy (some ball heads are notorious for being too
sloppy for fine compositional work). So what it boils down to is that the K40x
is a stirling workhorse. Boring to some photographers, but a piece of equipment
you can depend on. I’d recommend it based on that. I consider the Really Right
Stuff BH-55 ball head the gold standard of ball heads. The K-40x is up there with
the RRS, but at a significantly lower price. This makes it extremely attractive
to photographers who have to work to a budget.
I started off
struggling with the K40x. Got over the early hump with the panning of the main
ball and came to accept the Sirui. Then, I started to depend on the Sirui
ball head. Now, I don’t want to send the ball head back to Sunshineco. I would be
more than happy to work with the K40x as my primary tripod head, it’s that
good.
Technical Details
|
Material
|
Aluminum Alloy
|
|
Plate type
|
Quick Release - with 1/4" screw +
vhs pin
|
|
Pan
|
360°
|
|
Side Tilt
|
0°/90°
|
|
Front/Back Tilt
|
-180°/+180°
|
|
Pan Locking
|
Yes
|
|
Weigh
|
0.7 kg/1.54 lbs
|
|
Ball diameter
|
54mm/2.13in
|
|
Head Height
|
125 mm/4.92 in
|
|
Maximum Load
|
35 kg/77 lbs
|
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