Pan Tilt head choice For A850- Any Comments ?

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Clarke
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Pan Tilt head choice For A850- Any Comments ?

Unread post by Clarke »

I am thinking of getting a Manfrotto 808RC4 head and a sturdy seeming tripod ( Induro AT 313) when I buy the A850 and ,initially, 70mm f2.8 lens(Sigma,a macro lens). Future lenses will likely be normal and wide primes before long prime or zoom is purchased and I do not imagine I will ever want to buy a lens longer than 300mm. In leaning towards the choice of the 808RC4 (and the large tripod) as opposed to the smaller/lighter 804RC2 head, I am heeding the advice of John Shaw,author of books on close- up and nature photography, which might be counsel of perfection. I am also hoping that the 808 will be better/ more pleasant to use ,than the 804, rather than simply over-large/unwieldy. (The saleswoman thought that the 808RC4 is more suitable for MF and LF camera bodies ). I would value comments.
Thanks,
Clarke
David Kilpatrick
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Re: Pan Tilt head choice For A850- Any Comments ?

Unread post by David Kilpatrick »

You will end up using your camera off the tripod a lot with the 70mm, unless you just plan to have it as a general purpose lens. The large tripod head alone can make access to macro subjects difficult, and the tripod must have a fully reversible or lateral mountable column to get the camera close enough to the ground. For macro, I use a large Giottos ball and socket head and before that used an Arca Swiss. I do not have the correct type of tripod right now - the perfect model for macro and landscape work is still the medium or large Benbo. It's not the world's most convenient tripod to handle, but it is solid, and you can get your camera into absolutely any position from 1" above ground to above head height, on any terrain, in water, in mud - whatever.

David
Clarke
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Re: Pan Tilt head choice For A850- Any Comments ?

Unread post by Clarke »

Thanks very much for the comments and suggestions, David.

Clarke
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WaltKnapp
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Re: Pan Tilt head choice For A850- Any Comments ?

Unread post by WaltKnapp »

David Kilpatrick wrote:You will end up using your camera off the tripod a lot with the 70mm, unless you just plan to have it as a general purpose lens. The large tripod head alone can make access to macro subjects difficult, and the tripod must have a fully reversible or lateral mountable column to get the camera close enough to the ground. For macro, I use a large Giottos ball and socket head and before that used an Arca Swiss. I do not have the correct type of tripod right now - the perfect model for macro and landscape work is still the medium or large Benbo. It's not the world's most convenient tripod to handle, but it is solid, and you can get your camera into absolutely any position from 1" above ground to above head height, on any terrain, in water, in mud - whatever.

David
I prefer the Uniloc to the Benbo and have the Uniloc System 16 Major. Yes it takes getting used to a little, but for rough field work it's extremely useful. Good for macro, but not a good tripod for long lenses as it tends to vibrate more with them than a standard design tripod will. Mine is a older one and quite heavy. I'd be interested in the same design in carbon fiber perhaps.

I don't do a lot of macro off tripods but kind of prefer a geared head for that for the precise control. Most of my macro is living moving subjects and done with flash.

Probably worth noting that with everyone converting to shooting video with DSLRs that ball heads don't work well with video but pan heads do. And in anticipation one should probably investigate heads for video as well as the stills that some of us will still do ;-)

Walt
Clarke
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Re: Pan Tilt head choice For A850- Any Comments ?

Unread post by Clarke »

Thank you Walt for your thoughts and sharing your experiences. It seems that any one sort of tripod /head combination is a compromise for general application (especially if one wants to be able to carry it long distances). I am open to the possibility of owning several ( in the future). Interesting thought re video.
I did decide to buy the Manfrotto 808RC4 head and Induro AT313 legs. Just got them yesterday so no photography yet with this combo. But , in the shop, I liked the way they handled and the ease of use of the legs.
Cheers,
Clarke
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