>>2642866Sirui's PS monopods with stands are great.
If you don't need the stand (I personally figured I do want it very much, but YMMV), one of the best offers I know of would be a Dic&Mic Tripod, which can be used in monopod configuration as well.
> Do I want/need a ballhead for it? Is the extra weight worth the articulation?On the three legged Sirui, yea, you want a tilt or ball head (and a pretty decent one - Sirui's own KX heads or the tilt head thing should work).
Yea, there are lighter or cheaper options, but I prefer things that are really nice to operate.
On a monopod that you're constantly holding with your hand you don't *really* need a ball / tilt head, but perhaps you might want a arca swiss clamp on the monopod and a L-mount bracket for your camera. But as I said, this setup did not really work for me (I tried manfrotto, sirui, dic&mic in this configuration, always needing to hold it is just a problem).
> Carbon or aluminium?> Budgetting around $100, maybe $150 for something fancy.Too low for anything fancy. It's just enough for not crap. Like, a dic&mic alu + better ball head, dic&mic carbon with the somewhat heavy and basic dic&mic head, sirui monopod with the foot but no head, sirui travel tripod + kx head in monopod configuration which won't have the foot.
Fancy starts at about $300-600...
