Better tripod head or better tripod with new combined head?

ethan · 10 May 2017 at 11:41

Much to my annoyance and quite by accident I joined a bunch of Twitchers on the moors in the Highlands to photograph some rare Gull only to find the head on my tripod would not keep perfectly still using the XT2 with battery grip combined with the 100-400 and 1.4 convertor.

Current tripod is "Three Legged Thing" Punk, or something like that. I noticed Wex have a deal with a Manfrotto 190 combined with three way head, with a maximum load of 4000 grams. I was wondering whether it was worth a shot? The combined weight of the XT2, grip,lens & adapter is 2.245 kg

Edit: Just rang and spoke to them and they said it would be fine, so I'll give it a go. They'll do a 30 day return.

zeam · 10 May 2017 at 15:52

watch your fingers in the dam clips, I've lost count of the blood blisters I've suffered with mine. Otherwise good and sturdy

D.P. · 10 May 2017 at 16:22

Try to get a ball head or even better a gimbal if possible.

Ignore the weight ratings of tripods, there is no real standard. What most companies list is the weight at which the tripod/head wont phsycially break, not the weight that the tripod keeps stable and the head doens't flop about. What is more important than weight is the the effective focal length of the lens, 400mm on a crop sensor you are at 600mm so smallest vibrations will be magnified so you will likely want a tripod and head suitable for long lenses.

ethan · 10 May 2017 at 18:05

I'll look in to getting a Gimble for future use. Maybe try a cheap one like this to begin with: https://youtu.be/vmvcui3m_a4

In the meantime I think I will look towards using the Manfrotto for convenience or as a spare if it performs adequately. Thanks for the advice.

regarding the Three legged Thing, I caught the fleshy bit between my thumb and finger a number of times. I drew blood on one occasion in front of a group of people watching me photograph a cascading stream over and through some rocks. Also bare handling that tripod in Winter is a definate no, no as it starts to stick to flesh at minus 10 and above

timbo2410 · 12 May 2017 at 15:34

I have a Manfrotto 057 with a CB Gimbal .. I thought it was great but found vibration at shutter release. I bought a feisol 3372 with a Wimberley mk2 and the difference is night and day. I use the Nikon d500 with the sigma 150-500 sport and 1.4 tele or the Nikon 300 f2.8 and 2x tele .. I swapped the CB gimbal to the feisol to see if it was causing the vibration but it was the manfrotto tripod. It seems rock solid but no ... I would also go for a gimbal instead of a ballhead ... the wimberley has the bonus of having something to grip on to as well .. it was so good I bought a second to go on my monopod .. the weight limit on the feisol and the wimberley are HUGE as well :-)

Zaf · 15 May 2017 at 18:16

Out of curiosity Ethan did you try handheld?

ethan · 16 May 2017 at 00:03

Zaf said:
Out of curiosity Ethan did you try handheld?

Yeah Zaf. Tripod was that bad You couldn't tell the difference between the two at that distance. I'd focus the lens on the bird and then all of a sudden the lens would slowly glide to the right or upwards. I think it was the ball-head. It couldn't handle the 100-400 with 1.4 adapter in extremely windy conditions. I'm going to get a Gimble for the manfrotto 190XP I just bought.