tripod head

[j_r5]

I am looking into buying a new tripod (i have a cheap vivitar one

now). I would like to get a nice tripod with a decent head for a

reasonable amount of money. i am currently looking into the bogen

3001 or 3011N legs but do not know what to get for a head. I will be

shooting mostly 35mm with lenses no heavier than a 135-400mm zoom and

a 300mm prime with a teleconverter. (6 lbs MAX)

 

I was looking at a bogen 3030 pan tilt head...but thought i would see

what everybody has to recommend.

 

I will be shooting some studio work, but mostly nature shots

(landscapes, wildlife, and night time-exposures)

 

Any input would be helpfull and greatly appreciated. Thank you!

 

-jR

[frank uhlig]

Just type "head" into the search engine here, and we would not have to repeat all our wisdon for you.

[klix]

Tripod - Gitzo 410, 1325, 1348, 1548

 

Tripod head - If you want a ballhead, then Arca Swiss, Kirk, Acratech; or if you plan to get longer lenses, get a Wimberley gimbal head.

[link]

I use the 3030 head and find that it's nice and stable, easy enough for me to use, and

is very reasonable in price.

 

I don't shoot wildlife, and if I did I think I would want something like a fluid head to

pan and tilt with fast moving game. The 3030 is really for stuff that isn't on the run.

 

I use the 3221 legs and they are a little bit beefier than the 3001 I think. While my

longest lens is 135mm, I don't think I'd want to go to a lighter tripod unless I was

hiking to remote locations.

 

the 3221 with 3030 head is about $200 and often comes in a kit. The "wilderness"

version of the leg set has metal spikes as well as rubber feet which I find useful out

doors sometimes.

 

Enjoy your new tripod!

[cbender]

I have a 3001D tripod with a Manfrotto 484CR2 ball head. The head is perfect for my 35mm and my YashicaMat 124G. I definately recommend getting a head with the quick release option. It is a real time saver for nature shots.

[Matthew Currie]

My wife has a 3030 head and likes it a lot. It's very nice for landscapes and the like, it's sturdy, and if you've never used a 3-way head before you'll love how easy it is to get the horizon level. It seemed to lack smoothness at first but it breaks in pretty quickly. The quick release setup is very nice. It snaps in "no-hands," and there's a safety lock so you can't accidentally unlatch it. If you do a lot of vertical shots, you can get an "architectural" QR pad with an extra angled brace to keep the camera from loosening on the screw. As noted by others, it isn't very handy for moving targets, though.

[escu]

Than you need two tripods with two heads!

 

1) Studio: stable but not too rigid legs, with geared column, and a 3-way head.

 

2) Land and especially Wildlife: rigid and not too stable legs, with geared column too, and a ballhead.

 

Stability means strong like a table (for the studio), and rigid means no vibrations (from the wind). Imagine the studio tripod like a huge passengers jet and the land tripod like a hunting airplane. For tripods it means that:

 

1) You get high stability and low rigidity from large-section squared-profile legs made out of thin material, plus a spreader, plus a dolly, and

 

2) You get low stability and high rigidity from circular-profile small-section legs made out of thick material, with no spreader, and of course no dolly.

 

Of course, there are solutions to get both, stability and rigidity, in the same tripod, but this will make a too heavy unit and besides all, you'll never need stability and rigidity at the same time, so it would also be useless. I'm specking for photography use, not for movies. In a word a stupid thing: sum of weaknesses instead of sum of strengths!

[aaron_c.]

I use a Bogen 3001BD with a Giottos MH-1000 head fitted with a Newtech arca-style clamp and quick release plate. It works great for what I use it for (both studio and outdoor/location photography), and is significantly less expensive than Kirk, Arca-Swiss or Acratech heads, though more expensive than a Manfrotto 3030. The head is very solid, though it perhaps is not quite as smooth as a more expensive head, and it might not lock as positively, it is nonetheless excellent for the cost. It should hold anything up to a 300mm/2.8, I believe.

[david_h._hartman]

"...and a 300mm prime with a teleconverter." --J R

 

Even with a 1.4x converter you�re out to 420mm, that�s in the super-telephoto class. I think you will be quite disappointed in the performance of the light weight tripods you are considering. There is just too much torque and spring in the legs of this kind of tripod. I have a Bogen 3021 and it�s a nice tripod but it�s not up to 400mm in my opinion. It seem a bit scant for a 300mm besides.

[peter_n1664876959]

jR, I bought the head first then went shopping for a tripod. I shopped Arca Swiss, Acratech, Kirk, Linhof and Markins for a camera rig about as heavy as yours. I ended up with a Linhof Profi II, rejecting the other 4 for different reasons with each one. The Linhof is a little more than you need, but you have room for expansion. I love the combined tension/locking knobs, in fact it was the simplicity of use/ergonomics that sold me on the Linhof. I got mine from eBay for $200 but you can also buy them new for $225 from Badger Graphic.

 

After I received the ballhead I took it and my camera to a dealer and mounted the combo on many tripods to test the tripods and find one that gave me an eye-height viewfinder with full pod leg extension. I came away with the sense that the Gitzo G1227MK2 was the best value for money by some distance. Approx $550 for the ballhead/tripod but I expect never to have to buy another.