I have never been too into tripod head systems and never known too much about the pivoting system and such, but it looks like I'll learn some, along with the today's announcement of the p0 knobless tripod head, by Arca-Swiss. The company has currently two P system tripod heads, namely the p0 that was developed to be used by photographers who are looking for precision equipment at an affordable price, and the p1, a tripod head with a wider diameter, capable of handling the greatest demands of heavy telephoto lenses, like the Canon EF 1200mm F5.6L, if you can find one.

The p0 tripod head not only features, but is actually built around the patented Monoball (Planetary) P system and keeps ARCA-SWISS secure in its more than 50-year position as the world's leading designer and manufacturer of tripod heads (and that's clearly not marketing bluffing, I tell you). The first thing that a user will notice about the p0 tripod head is the fact that it has absolutely no knobs, and yet it is as stable as any other "knobed" head. One can grasp the tripod head from any angle, to any angle, left or right and block it by simply turning the knurled part of it.

Come to think about it, this is really neat, since it leaves you of the hassle of always unlocking and locking the appropriate knob, that you never find when you rush on securing your camera, so you always lose at least a precious shot. The p0 features three locking elements, which are placed around the big ball like satellite planets, applying a very uniform force around the ball, providing a smooth movement of the camera on any axis. Pricing for this is not actually cheap, but has its target, with a retail price of $307.


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