In case you have $1500 burning a hole in your pocket.

[Jim Chinn]

I found a link to this product article on Luminous Landscape:

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/accessories/arca-cube.shtml

 

[eclarke]

I have a cube and it is one of the very best photo equipment purchases I have ever made..Evan Clarke

 

[Charles Webb]

From reading the article this device looks and sounds wonderful, it will do things I have never dreamed of doing. I am also sure the minimal cost after being depreciated over the next ten years will make it appear very affordable.

However since my $85.00 Sears Roebuck Marvel View Camera has little or no need for any thing other than my 1945 Burke and James tri pod, and a supply of unexposed film. I am a bit slow to get my order off to Arca. My old B&J does not require nearly so many hi-tec refinements so I most likely will wait a week or two and look for A Cube on ebay.

Charlie......................

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

It makes the LevelHead (which is a really nice thing--a smooth, well machined levelling head with an A-S style clamp that goes on top of another head) look like a bargain at $500.

 

[KenM]

There were a couple of times when Evan and I were in Arizona last fall that I was tempted to push him over a cliff and snatch the cube I think he was on to me tho - he never turned his back on me.

That said, it was a nifty piece of equipment, which I think would be better suited for critical architecture/table-top work. I don't really see the need for something that accurate in the landscape.

 

[Frank Petronio]

It looks like just the thing for photographing at the beach or the sand dunes.

 

[MattCarey]

Looks like something one might see in an optics lab. Probably started out that way. I bet there are things like that in cabinets and drawers of some of the labs in my building. The cost wouldn't be that much, in that case. Consider that we have a $5,000,000 Leica that can do 100,000 lines/mm....

Matt

 

[bobfowler]

It looks like just the thing for photographing at the beach or the sand dunes.

Thanks Frank, I really needed to clean out my nostrils with diet coke...

 

[david b]

ridiculous.

 

[Changeling1]

The really shocking part of the Cube review (besides the high price) is where the writer finds the head defective and cannot return it to B&H!

The reviewer writes,
"As a final aside, I also received a surprise from the retailer I purchased the head from, B&H Photo Video in New York. When I called them for a return authorization to get the defective head replaced, they informed me that this particular item was non-returnable! B&H claims they had a note by the item saying it was non-returnable and in fact on a secondary page describing the head they do, but it is not very prominent and I missed it when I placed my original order. Moreover, there was no warning anywhere during the checkout process that the item was not returnable. At any rate, when I pay $1,500 for something, I expect it work as promised and at the very least replaced if it is defective."

The poor guy had to have the brand new head machined at his own expense in order for the Cube to function properly! I would never spend that kind of money on a tripod head that may or may not be properly manufactured. That just plain $ucks.

 

[Petzi]

The really shocking part of the Cube review (besides the high price) is where the writer finds the head defective and cannot return it to B&H!

I would assume that Arca would have replaced the head. The reviewer makes no mention that he attempted to resolve the situation with Arca.

On the other hand, when a dealer declines any responsibility for an imported product he delivered (is that legal in the USA?), there is no point in using that dealer. You would be better off mail ordering your gear from abroad.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Still camera tripod heads don't begin to approach what high-end cine heads cost--

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...986&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation

 

[celluloidpropaganda]

One more reason I'll never buy anything but film from B&H. If that.

 

[Struan Gray]

Matt, I actually looked into building a Cube lookalike from stock optics components. There are a number of problems.

1) lab goiniometers don't have enough angular movement.

2) not much lab gear can handle the torques of a monorail with a 450 mm lens. That which can is big and heavy.

3) once you add up two gioniometers, two panning bases, a quick release clamp and a tilting base to let you point straight down the Arca starts to look cheap, even if you use the cheaper E.European optics suppliers.

I think Arca have done a great job of making a great tool at a reasonable price (for what it is). Here's hoping they see this post and give me one

 

[eclarke]

If I had bought this cube several years ago it would have saved me all the money I have spent on mediocre Bogen and Gitzo heads. I have quite a bit of nice camera gear and have spent a fair amount of time on sand dunes, sandstorms don't seem to help ANY photo equipment. There is a possibility of operator error by the reviewer..Evan Clarke

 

[Frank Petronio]

Arca has famously lousy customer service and poor communication, especially with it's American customers. That said, they make really nice stuff. The Arca cameras I've had are pretty much the best all around cameras I've ever owned. The workmanship and design is as close to perfection as I've found so far...

B&H is probably protecting themselves from looky-seers who would order a Cube to play with it then return it. I'm sure if he worked his way through to a B&H manager he could have explained why the head wasn't working properly, but it was probably a better use of his time to modify it locally.

Then again, a lot of non-New Yorkers have a hard time dealing with New York Jewish camera dealers, which is racist and wrong headed. But I've heard it from a lot of Midwesterners who see my NY address and make some snide comment about NYers. B&H's customer service isn't as smooth and friendly as a Bangalore-based call center, but they are direct and they do listen if you explain yourself.

 

[eclarke]

I love New York and go there a lot. New Yorkers are friendly, outgoing and helpful to strangers..unless you are on the sandwich line, at the window and trying to decide what to order 8^))..Evan Clarke