Cameras - advice, questions, opinions

Re: Tripod heads for birding?

Leroy Laverman — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 16:27:10 GMT

I use the Manfrotto 488 ball head as well. Typically I'm shooting with a 300mm f/4 lens and 1.4 TC attached. With bigger glass the gimble style heads are generally preferred (e.g. wimberly heads etc..). I've never liked the Manfrotto quick release system so I opted to add a Really Righ Stuff (www.reallyrightstuff.com) quick release clamp and matching plates. The plates are designed to fit your specific camera and lens so you need a plate for each lens you have (those with tripod sockets that is). The advantage is that 1) they really lock tight and have saftey catches if the clamp should ever come partially open 2) there is no way the lens/camera can twist on the quick release plate like with the Manfrotto system. Of course the clamps and plates end up costing more than the ball head but ultimately I think it was a good buy.

Re: Tripod heads for birding?

eric — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:52:43 GMT

Yes, this is a good question to get advice on. Instead of waiting, I'm doing an impulse buy after minor web research. The few opinions I saw was the pistol grips are not very useful. After that, the impression was it's up to preferences. I went ahead with a ball head. It'll be here later this week. If it doesn't work out, I can chalk it up as a learning experience.

Spotting scope with an angled viewpiece came today. Didn't realize there was a straight-through viewpiece for the model, which I ~theorectically~ prefer. But again, learning experience.

Anyone else with experiences with spotting scopes and tripods?

Re: Tripod heads for birding?

Norman_24 — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 08:51:49 GMT

You can't go wrong with any on this page... https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=midi+ball+head

I plan on getting the Bogen-Manfrotto 488RC2 Midi Ball Head with RC2 Rapid Connect System (3157N) in the next week or so...

Most of the people at the Canon forum suggest this one...

Tripod heads for birding?

carsonbm — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 04:59:22 GMT

I know there is several types of tripod heads and I have no idea which type to buy, ball heads fluid heads etc. I am not looking for a manufacture, I looking to find out which type of head to use.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Brent