Geared Head recommendations.

James Thomas 75

James Thomas 75

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Hello everyone.
I've been using a Manfrotto 322RC2 Ball head for the last 5 years or so,but it seems to have gotten a little seized and tight recently.

As a replacement,I've been looking at the something along the lines of the Manfrotto 410 Junior Geared Head; with a budget of around £200 (ish) and wondered if anyone had any other recommendations to consider in that price range...

The heaviest combination it's like to be holding; will be a gripped 5D3,with a 70-200 II.

Many thanks in advance for any advice.
 
I have the 410, I can't really recommend it. I suppose it's accurate enough but the controls and the whole thing are just too sticky and stiff to operate. IMO it's a horrible thing to operate especially on a cold day.
 
woof woof said:
I have the 410, I can't really recommend it. I suppose it's accurate enough but the controls and the whole thing are just too sticky and stiff to operate. IMO it's a horrible thing to operate especially on a cold day.
Click to expand...

Yours may need a service Alan, the grease they use to lubricate can harden over time. I took mine apart and re-assembled, easy enough to do.

James, it's a great head, especially for landscape work. A couple of my landscape buddies have one too, and we all love it :)
 
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I suppose it depends on what you are going to use it for.
The 410 I find is very good but as Woof Woof says it is not the easiest to use, I use mine exclusively with a TS-E lens where I want the accuracy and speed of operation does not enter the equation.
For general use I use a ballhead which I used quite happily with a 5D Mk2 and a 100-400 and now a Fuji XT-1 with a 100-400, it does not have the solidity and adjustment of the 410 but its a lot easier to use in most circumstances
 
woof woof said:
I have the 410, I can't really recommend it. I suppose it's accurate enough but the controls and the whole thing are just too sticky and stiff to operate. IMO it's a horrible thing to operate especially on a cold day.
Click to expand...

davekiddle said:
Yours may need a service Alan, the grease they use to lubricate can harden over time. I took mine apart and re-assembled, easy enough to do.

James, it's a great head, especially for landscape work. A couple of my landscape buddies have one too, and we all love it :)
Click to expand...

troutfisher said:
I suppose it depends on what you are going to use it for.
The 410 I find is very good but as Woof Woof says it is not the easiest to use, I use mine exclusively with a TS-E lens where I want the accuracy and speed of operation does not enter the equation.
For general use I use a ballhead which I used quite happily with a 5D Mk2 and a 100-400 and now a Fuji XT-1 with a 100-400, it does not have the solidity and adjustment of the 410 but its a lot easier to use in most circumstances
Click to expand...

Thanks for all the replies guys. Much appreciated.
My current tripod setup is mostly used for landscape stuff; and whenever I'm using my macro lens for still life stuff,as well.
So it's unlikely the speed of operation is likely to be an issue...
 
davekiddle said:
Yours may need a service Alan, the grease they use to lubricate can harden over time. I took mine apart and re-assembled, easy enough to do.

James, it's a great head, especially for landscape work. A couple of my landscape buddies have one too, and we all love it :)
Click to expand...
It's been sticky since day one.

It's the only geared head I've tried but I just thought there must be better ones out there. Maybe not.
 
woof woof said:
It's been sticky since day one.

It's the only geared head I've tried but I just thought there must be better ones out there. Maybe not.
Click to expand...

Given the popularity of the Manfrotto 410, surprisingly there isn't anything else available at similar money. Manfrotto themselves offer the new XPRO Geared 3-way which is cheaper and lighter, but it's a very wobbly plastic thing.

There are better geared heads about, notably from Arca-Swiss but they're in the £1k region. Some clones of those about too, and a couple more alternatives from other high-end brands, but also not cheap.
 
I haven't taken mine apart to see what's causing the problems but it has crossed my mind that doing it better should be possible for the money. Maybe not. That's the internals and then there's the user controls and operation, I just suspect that it's possible to do better but I like things that operate like a Swiss watch, with precision and little effort and I can't say that the 410 matches my expectations from a user experience point of view. It is accurate enough though.
 
I hope not too late, Calumet is having 20% of selected manfrotto stuff today only ... or so their website says.
 
HoppyUK said:
Given the popularity of the Manfrotto 410, surprisingly there isn't anything else available at similar money. Manfrotto themselves offer the new XPRO Geared 3-way which is cheaper and lighter, but it's a very wobbly plastic thing.

There are better geared heads about, notably from Arca-Swiss but they're in the £1k region. Some clones of those about too, and a couple more alternatives from other high-end brands, but also not cheap.
Click to expand...

I spoke to a chap from Benro at a photography shown in Carmarthen a couple of weeks ago. I asked hi hey they didn't offer a geared head as the 410 is so popular but doesn't have an arca Swiss clamp.

He told me that it's been discussed and quite possibly in the pipeline, although he couldn't give me any indication of time frames he said himself and a few others are pushing hard to get on in their range.
 
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