pistol grip

[Javelin]

revisited my local Camera shop.

They just brought in Pentax to sell and wanted top ask them about geting the eyepiece magnifier. this diidn;t haveone but said they could bring one in and i'd have to call back during the week for a price. while I was there I noticed they were clearing out som manfrotto stuff and I picked up a pistol grip for my tripod. this thing seems really well built and I got a verygood proice on it. i'm wondering if anyone else uses one of these and what they think.

it's a manfrotto model 222 joystick head.. it seems very well built and the camera is solid on it. the reason I wanted it was the pan/tilt head was a little stiff and hard to adjust for fine tuning.
http://www.manfrotto.com/Jahia/site/manfrotto/pid/2311

[Dr. Harout]

I remember quite well, it was back in 1989 when I was buying a Slik tripod... I didn't choose the one with the pistol grip, instead the classical one. I was told then it was an innovation from Slik. Maybe.

[Javelin]

yes I used a slick88 for years. what a great light low cost tripod. it was fully equipped to and I remember well the grip ball control it was just expensive enough to be more than the tripod so I never got one. I always had a problem with the idea of it being able to move in any direction instead of 1 direction at a time with the tilt/pan.. my feelings have somewhat changed though because I usually set my horizons through the VF rather that feedback from the tripod. the only thing I would miss is the panorama scale I have on the manfroto tilt pan./

the slick 88 has spikes. went flat. had mounts for flash and whatever on the legs. came with a sandbag (this was great. I could out a good sized rock in it and it immediately made the tripod more solid) reversible post.. it was great. my manfroto I had to buy spikes separate. it'll go flat too but theres no hook for a sandbag I suppose I'd have to buy an adapter for it... ifI ever start dragging it though the woods maybe I'll try and find something for it.

When I bought this manfrotto I was actually shopping for a slick. there in only one distributor/importer for Slick in Canada and he refused to get me one of the Slicck88's then renamed to the U212DX and now discontinued. My feeling is that the US212 was so well featured out that it was going to impact the sales of the more expensive tripods they also imported

[Javelin]

I used this today to take some pictures of defects on a machine and I must say this is the way to go. especially if you have to change and adjust the position a lot. it's just as solid as my tilt /pan head and theres a lot less playing around to get the angle you want.

[Dr. Harout]

Did I congratulate you on your new toy? I checked with the link you posted it looks a great one.

[KevinBarrett]

Pistol grips are pretty new to me...how do you use them/what are they used for?

[Javelin]

It's really just a diferent type of ball head for a tripod. but instead of having to release a knob to loosen the ball you activate a lever on a handle and just position the camera where you want it.

In the picture you can see the dovetail plate on top where the camera is attached. the whole thing is mounted on a tripod on the other end. the hand lever part is what makes it go loose. the thing I like is I can hold the handle which the camera is attached to with one hand to position it. the regular ball head you have to hold the camera while loosening the ball and theres a chance of the tripod moving on you so if you hold the tripod and loosen the screw you haven't really got control of the camera. On this you just twist rotate or bend the camera into the right position and let go of the lever and the camera is solidly set in position. This one also has a tension adjustment for the tension against the ball. When I used it this morning for exampe I had to take small detail shots from around a big machine in pretty dim natural light, I always use a tripod for these shot and with my tilt/pan head I'd plop the tripod down then spend a minute of 2 twisting handles and turning the camera on more than one axis.. then the thng would move slightly when you tighten it back up. ot the weird angle would make me need to readjust another axis after moving one ect.. this is just plop it dow twist it to where you want and it just stays there for your shot.