Manfrotto Geared Head

[FaithfulPastor]

Manfrotto makes the 400, 405 & 410 geared heads. Will one of them help me eliminate this problem?

I have a 3 way head on my tripod. I get the camera central focus element on the eye of my subject and tighten everything down. I let go, and the weight of the camera and lens shift and I'm no longer focused on the eye, so I start all over again, which often really bothers the subject of the photo.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!

So I've been told to use a gear head. (By the guy who sold me the previous ball head, so his credibility is already in question).

HELP!!

Faithfully yours,
Faithful Pastor

[FaithfulPastor]

Ooops. Forgot to click on the instant email notifier!

Hope to hear from you guys soon!!

[FaithfulPastor]

Bump.

Anyone?

[mtngal]

I had a pan/tilt head that I hated for just that reason. I ended up buying a ball head that was fairly expensive but heavy duty enough to hold whatever camera/lens combination I have steady. While my camera is relatively light, I have lots of fast, heavy lenses. The idea of a geared head makes me cringe - more bother than I would want.

Another thing that you should look at is how the camera is attached to the tripod. I had trouble with a plate that was flat and it was just about impossible for me to tighten it enough to keep the camera from rotating. I solved that problem by getting a Really Right Stuff QR plate and an L-bracket that is designed specifically for my camera I can put it at any angle and it won't droop.

[interested_observer]

I started out with a very cheap pan and tilt tripod that I learned a lot from using. Upgrading my tripod I needed a head and went with a ball head assembly also. However, I needed to pan in the horizontal after leveling (panoramic), and I also wanted to pan in the vertical after also leveling (gimbal).

The solution for me was Acratech's GP ball head. It weighs 1 pound and will support up to 25 pounds. A somewhat radically different design - I find that it works very well for me and how I use it. The downside - I needed to save my lunch money for an extended period of time, to afford it.

• http://acratech.net/

[rienz]

Originally Posted by FaithfulPastor

Manfrotto makes the 400, 405 & 410 geared heads. Will one of them help me eliminate this problem?

I have a 3 way head on my tripod. I get the camera central focus element on the eye of my subject and tighten everything down. I let go, and the weight of the camera and lens shift and I'm no longer focused on the eye, so I start all over again, which often really bothers the subject of the photo.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!

So I've been told to use a gear head. (By the guy who sold me the previous ball head, so his credibility is already in question).

HELP!!

Faithfully yours,
Faithful Pastor

I think I understand the misery ... I had the same problem with my earlier pan & tilt tripod ... I've never used geared heads but I currently use Manfrotto 322 RC2 grip ball head and it is rock steady for my needs ... no lens shift, no misery ... it can hold 5kg, I don't know if that meets your needs.