Best Tripod head

hillwalkinggirl

hillwalkinggirl

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I'm thinking of getting the Manfrotto 190XPROB, but can't decide whether the 486RC2 ball head or the 804RC2 Pan and tilt would be the best.

I have a Manfrotto micro 482 ball head which I use on my monopod. Would this be OK to put on the tripod legs to support my Nikon D40X and 55-200 lens or do I need to buy the larger one?

I think that the ball head would be easier to use and lighter but I'm not sure whether it would be suitable to pan for panoramic photos as there seems to be no way to hold the head steady.

Can anyone advise please.:thinking:
 
I haven't used all of those, but I have the 190MF4 tripod and use it with an 322RC2 ball head and use it for landscape in the main.

You will only really know by trying them in a shop. One thing to bear in mind, you are more likely to upgrade your camera equipment than your tripod so perhaps don't buy the head for your current 'lighter' equipment. If you ever upgrade your camera to say a D200 and buy a heavier lens, the micro ball head probably won't be sturdy enough.

Edit - apologies, just re-read your post and realised you already have the micro head for the monopod, might suffice for now as I haven't used one of those.
 
got myself a 190XPROB and 804RC2 last weekend,and i think it's the dogs..used it on wednesday to take some night time shots down swansea marina,and compared to my jessops one..wow,perfect for landscapes etc........

not used any of the others,but i'm thinking of a monopod and 234RC2 head for sports ...
 
stan the man said:
got myself a 190XPROB and 804RC2 last weekend,and i think it's the dogs..used it on wednesday to take some night time shots down swansea marina,and compared to my jessops one..wow,perfect for landscapes etc........

not used any of the others,but i'm thinking of a monopod and 234RC2 head for sports ...
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190XPROB and 804RC2 is the kit I'm thinking of getting now, or may go for the 486RC2 ball head. Where did you get yours from? The cheapest I have found is morrisphoto for £134.95. Has anyone had experience of them? Is their service good.

I have just ordered myself a Leki Sierra Fotosystem monopod to take up the mountain and looking forward to it arriving. The Manfrotto tripod will stay nearer to home and car.
 
hillwalkinggirl said:
190XPROB and 804RC2 is the kit I'm thinking of getting now, or may go for the 486RC2 ball head. Where did you get yours from? The cheapest I have found is morrisphoto for £134.95. Has anyone had experience of them? Is their service good.

I have just ordered myself a Leki Sierra Fotosystem monopod to take up the mountain and looking forward to it arriving. The Manfrotto tripod will stay nearer to home and car.
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i got mine from swansea cameras for £135.they were happy to price match morris photo,who were the cheapest i found on the web,plus i could see in the flesh what i was getting for my hard earned.unfortunately,i've not purchased anything from morris photo as yet,so can't comment.

i'll take a look at the leki monopod and see if it's a contender to the manfrotto :thumbs:
 
I went through teh tripod/head buying dilemmas at the end of last year, so I'm no expert but I discovered a lot about the subject.

Firstly, do you realise the manfrotto website gives max load for the heads:
http://www.manfrotto.com/Jahia/site/manfrotto/cache/off/pid/1799?categoryKey=BRAND:MN:MAIN:AB:SUB1:AF:SUB3:AA&idx=83&livid=80|81
the 482 is rated at 2.00 kg max load.

but if you trawl through all the tripod/head threads there was some comment that the smaller ball heads tend to end up with sag after they have been locked off, hence the popularity of the big heavy duty 322RC2 which is built like a brick outhouse (5kg max load), but it weighs in at a significantly hefty 0.75kg. I got one, great to use but heavy.

I went for the 190XB with the straight arm instead of the fancy floppy arm. A few things to note:
- the best stability is when you dont use the bottom section of the legs, or at least dont extend them all the way (backing all the leg sections in a couple of inches makes it significantly more rigid), and dont extend the centre pole. So check you're happy working with it at that size, not just fully extended.
- the feet on mine were plain rubber push on caps as standard. There are spike/rubber feet available seperately that are superb for use on soft ground or thick carpets. They really help with stability. The rubber feet portion screws in to reveal the spike, so screw the rubber feet out and its fine again for use on smooth indoor floors or tarmac/paving.
- mine did not come with any sort of carrying strap or bag.

would I buy it again? yes with the same budget, but if more money was available I'd probably go for a carbon fibre tripod as the 190 isnt the heaviest lump but it does get noticeable.

the other important point is that there is a manfrotto best price guide on www.camerapricebuster.co.uk
 
I think they were from Bristol Cameras, £17-00, plus £5-00 P&P but I was ordering bits from a number of places because nobody had everything I wanted and so I was grouping stuff together to get the best deal including P&P charges (quite significant sometimes, some places do free postage over certain order values, worth checking)

do a web search on 190SPK2N
(best to check on the manfrotto website that its the current & correct part code to suit your tripod)
 
stan the man said:
i got mine from swansea cameras for £135.they were happy to price match morris photo,who were the cheapest i found on the web,plus i could see in the flesh what i was getting for my hard earned.unfortunately,i've not purchased anything from morris photo as yet,so can't comment.

i'll take a look at the leki monopod and see if it's a contender to the manfrotto :thumbs:
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:thankyou:Hi Stan,
I looked at the Manfrotto monopods but decided that there wasn't much difference from the Velbon one which I had at present. That is OK but I wouldn't like to use it when up the mountain as my main purpose for my walking poles is that they must function reliably to support me when coming down steep slopes, I therefore decided to get the Leki Sierra Fotosense (not very easy to find though as Leki are discontinuing it). I think choice therefore depends on whether you will also be using it as a walking pole or not. I shall use monopod with 482 head as that will support up to 2kg and my camera and lens with 18-200 on board will only weigh 1.082kg.

On consideration I think I will most probably go for the 190XBPRO and 804RC2 as I think this will be better for panning.

Thank you for your help. I would like to see some of your pics of Swansea Marina if you fancy uploading some of them.
 
I'm in the same situation at the minute and I was tempted by the 190XB + 804RC2 but my housemate borrowed an 804 from uni the other day and it's huge! I can see it being a pain in the rear carting it around with other equipment.

Panzer
 
I'm about to take the plunge and get a 055XProB with the 322RC2 head.

I do mainly Macro and Landscape work. I would love a carbon fibre set of legs, but can't afford it.

The other head I've considered is the 808RC4, anyone have experience of both of these?
 
:thumbs:Hi Wookie and Stan the Man Thanks for your advice. I checked the manfrotto site and 482 will support my camera and 55-200 lens, so I will use that for my monopod and as an alternative lighter weight head for my tripod, and I have just taken the plunge and ordered 190XBPRO and the 804RC2 pan head. I have also ordered a Nikon Speedlite SB600 all from Digital Depot. I am eagerly awaiting them, but they will not have them in until the end of next week.
 
hillwalkinggirl said:
:thankyou:Hi Stan,
I looked at the Manfrotto monopods but decided that there wasn't much difference from the Velbon one which I had at present. That is OK but I wouldn't like to use it when up the mountain as my main purpose for my walking poles is that they must function reliably to support me when coming down steep slopes, I therefore decided to get the Leki Sierra Fotosense (not very easy to find though as Leki are discontinuing it). I think choice therefore depends on whether you will also be using it as a walking pole or not. I shall use monopod with 482 head as that will support up to 2kg and my camera and lens with 18-200 on board will only weigh 1.082kg.

On consideration I think I will most probably go for the 190XBPRO and 804RC2 as I think this will be better for panning.

Thank you for your help. I would like to see some of your pics of Swansea Marina if you fancy uploading some of them.
Click to expand...

a good choice going for the 190xprob and 804rc2 :thumbs:.the pics i took down swansea marina aren't that good(my fault,not the equipment),and are viewable here...

http://www.tipf.org.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=4386

i hope there's not a problem posting a link to somewhere else,if so..i'll remove it...

found the leki sierra photosense,and it looks good,although i won't need it to help me climb everest so may still go for the manfrotto...:thumbs:
 
stan the man said:
a good choice going for the 190xprob and 804rc2 :thumbs:.the pics i took down swansea marina aren't that good(my fault,not the equipment),and are viewable here...

http://www.tipf.org.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=4386

i hope there's not a problem posting a link to somewhere else,if so..i'll remove it...

found the leki sierra photosense,and it looks good,although i won't need it to help me climb everest so may still go for the manfrotto...:thumbs:
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Don't be so modest Stan - they look good to me. We have cycled over that bridge many times with the granchildren. Nice photos:thumbs:
 
Can I be cheeky, and bump this. Wondering if anyone has any feedback on the two heads mentioned here?

I'm about to take the plunge and get a 055XProB with the 322RC2 head.

I do mainly Macro and Landscape work. I would love a carbon fibre set of legs, but can't afford it.

The other head I've considered is the 808RC4, anyone have experience of both of these?
Click to expand...

Thanks! Didn't think it was worth creating a new thread for the same sort of question. I take it there is also nothing carbon that would match the 055xprob in the same price range? i'm guessing it would be 200+ for the lengs alone
 
I have the 190MF4 tripod and use it with an 322RC2 ball head and use it for landscape in the main.
Click to expand...

As per my post earlier, I have the above kit and am happy to walk around all day with backpack including extensive camera kit and the MF4 / 322RC2 combination. The head is quite heavy, but very sturdy and has a sprit level built in. If you specialise or want lots of panoramic shots, ball head is not the best, but has great versatility for everything else.
The only downside I have found with it now and again is when needing to flip from landscape to portrait, the ball head does not go far enough around unless you raise the tripod centre arm slightly to give a little more room from the shoulder of the tripod. Most people will tell you that you want to keep the centre arm as low as possible to keep everything as still as possible when taking the shot.

Having never used any other head, it's hard for me to compare with others.
 
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