jack kintner Blaine kintner at nas.com

I'm a free-lance photo-journalist, more journalist than photo, but just
found something you all may like to check out. It's called a "grip action
ball head" and is a bogen product, now called Manfrotto some places.

Basically, it's a pistol-grip which sits atop a tri-pod; when squeezed it's
moveable and when released stops where ever you have it pointed. Much
faster than a regular tri-pod with a wand.

The best thing about the system is, as you may know, a separate plate which
is first secured to your camera or spotting scope's threaded mounting
receptacle and is then securely clicked into place on top of the
mount. It's better because it can be taken off very quickly but is much
more secure because of the way it tightens with its own integral key
instead of a thumb wheel permanently mounted on the tri-pod head (which
means you'll sometimes twist the camera or scope itself to tighten it).

It's really nice if you share your scope with other people, or find
yourself losing shots because you have trouble finding the target.