Upgrade Ball & Socket Head

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taxboy

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I'm currently using an old Manfrotto 168 B&S head but finding it more & more clunky. To gain any improvement what sort of price would I be looking at please

TIA

Andrew
 
Redsnapper or Benro - both good - £50 gets you a great one.

Money no object? Want to be the envy of everyone who knows photography? Want the best engineered, best made? Then you'll be needing the Really Right Stuff stuff.....
 
danbroad said:
Redsnapper or Benro - both good - £50 gets you a great one.

Money no object? Want to be the envy of everyone who knows photography? Want the best engineered, best made? Then you'll be needing the Really Right Stuff stuff.....
Click to expand...

Thanks for that - had a quick search was put off the Benro by a negative review http://www.tomwebsterphoto.com/Essays/Benro/benroks2.htm

I forgot to say that my longest lens is a 400mm 5.6 with occasional 1.4 converter use. Will the redsnapper take that easily enough & any idea how smooth the panning action is ? max budget up to £100
 
I have a Benro KS-0 that's well built, reliable, holds my 300/4 and D80 with grip easily, and has never been any trouble. I'd have bought a Redsnapper, but they didn't exist when I bought the Benro.

Plus - and I may be wrong here, I'd appreciate clarification on this from Redsnapper - the two look incredibly similar, to the point where I wonder if they may be one and the same.. I know Redsnapper don't build, they import and rebrand - so it's possible they import from Benro? Don't believe all you read - my own Benro head is excellent, and I'd buy another. Maybe it's not an Arca or RRS, but then it didn't cost £350 either. I used it yesterday - and I'll be using it tomorrow.

If you're based near Cheshire, you're welcome to meet up and see the tripod head for yourself... but remember, a 50 mile round trip just cost you about 1/3rd the price of this head...
 
taxboy said:
I forgot to say that my longest lens is a 400mm 5.6 with occasional 1.4 converter use. Will the redsnapper take that easily enough & any idea how smooth the panning action is ? max budget up to £100
Click to expand...
Action is very smooth. Handles a 120-300 f2.8 + 1.4x converter no problem at all. Very well engineered - no reason to doubt their claims of able to handle 10kg.... :)
 
taxboy said:
Thanks for that - had a quick search was put off the Benro by a negative review http://www.tomwebsterphoto.com/Essays/Benro/benroks2.htm

I forgot to say that my longest lens is a 400mm 5.6 with occasional 1.4 converter use. Will the redsnapper take that easily enough & any idea how smooth the panning action is ? max budget up to £100
Click to expand...

I have used a 600 F4 on a redsnapper head, handled it well enough.
 
I've got a Benro B-3 head and while I can't comment on the older models, such as the KS-2 mentioned in the negative review, the quality of the B-3 is outstanding. It's absolutely solid and holds my 50-500 Bigma without any issue. I've not taken the thing apart to see what the quality of the workmanship is but for the money I paid for it, I'm very happy. So far, anyway!
 
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