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

Ooops. Forgot to click on the instant email notifier!

Hope to hear from you guys soon!!

Bump.

Anyone?

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.

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/

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.