Tripod and head question - manfrotto 327rc2.

[Cobalt Blue]

Hi.. (again :o ),

Since I'm just full of questions i thought I might as well throw this out there too.

I'm just about to buy a Manfrotto 190xprob tripod and a 327rc2 head. I think I understand how it all works but I just want to know about taking panoramic shots. Does the fact that the head is a joystick affect the ability to do pano's? Not sure if I'm making any sense but can it be locked so that I can't inadvertently push it forward or backwards while moving across the horizon?
Gosh I hope that made sense - it does in my head.

Thanks
Teressa

[davsv1]

Hi Terassa, I find shooting panos no problem hand held so a joy stick will be ok, the main thing to consider with panos is to ensure enough overlap between shots, shoot landscapes in portrait orientation and shoot 2 shots too many rather than 1 shot not enough. I'm sure the purest will disagree somewhere and a dedicated pano head is probably best to get the max size i.e least waste from a shot but it is not essential.
Re tripod heads in general, there is no one perfect head, joy sticks, balls, geared, gimbals all have their strengths and weaknesses.
Hope that helps a little.
dav

[Bennymiata]

I have one of these heads and it isn't really good for panos at all.
As soon as you squeeze the trigger, the head will be all over the place so keeping it level while you are revolving the camera will be near impossible.

You need a head with a seperate lock for rotation, like a good ball head.

I don't use my RC head anymore. When I bought it, I thought it was a grea tidea, but afte rusing it for a while, I find it a real pain to use as it's so difficult to change position and keep level.

However, if the tripod has a revolving column, you can use this for the rotaion instead of the head.

[Cobalt Blue]

Thankyou both for replying.

Bennymiata - that's exactly what i was worried about. I think I'll look around some more and hopefully try some out.

Does anybody have any recommendations? What's your favourite head and why?

T

[Bennymiata]

Good tripods and heads cost $$$$$$$$!
Cheap tripods are, well, cheap.

I went through buying 4 different tripods and heads before i realised I was wasting my money and finally got myself a good carbon tripod and a good head.

For good heads look at Acratech, Markins, Arca Swiss and a few others I can't remember right now, but I'm sure others will pipe in with their favourites.

I use an Acratech GP ballhead, made in the USA and I find it very good.
It is rock solid with heavy cameras and big lenses, yet is very light weight and is warranted for life.
It has a huge range of movement,, and can be configured to be a levelling head also, which is great for panos.
You can also buy them in OZ, from www.photovideo.com.au for the same price as they sell for in the US (around $400).

[flashc]

Hi...

I have a Manfrotto 322rc2 head.

I just looked at the 327rc2 and it seems to be an upgrade of my head, but I'm not too sure.

It's mounted on a 055xPRO B. This tripod doesn't have wind down spikes like my ancient Velbon VGB 3 tripod does. I'd like to see better rotation when the head is extended, but otherwise it is fine for me.
I find that the camera mount plate has some play on the head when clipped in. This means macro shots are susceptible to vibration. I'd like to know if it happens to others with the same combination.