[les3547]

Can anyone make some recommendations that would work without breaking the bank? I also have a K-20, so I need to make sure it will hold the body as well.

I have a Vanguard tripod, and monopod as well, love them (both carbon fiber); I bought a Vanguard ABH-120L head for it, which is the least strongest of a fairly expensive line (I paid $215). It claims to hold 20 lbs. but it holds 8 pounds so effortlessly I can imagine it holds more. I love the tensioner on it (the big knob), which has two parts, one for setting the range of tension, the other for fine adjustment. You can tension your camera so it can be moved with some effort, yet stay where you move it. It also swivels, and has a scaled base for panoramic movement, and a little bubble level built in. Oh, and it is beautiful . . . sometimes I just stare at it mesmerized

The largest head of in this line, the 340L holds 40 lbs.! It sells for $299 at Amazon.



Vanguard ? Photo-Video - Tripods, Camera Bags, Cases, Optics, Binoculars

[Digitalis]

bear in mind @ 300mm on an APS-C DSLR a lens is going to be the equivalent of a 450mm lens on full frame, and most ballheads have a phenomenon known as lens droop,all ballheads do it to some extent and I have had so many issues with lens droop, Especially with my birding and macro work I got a Manfrotto 405 Geared tripod head, and now I have absolute precision of camera movement and no lens droop. However the 405 is a big tripod head, and it needs a decent pair of legs to support it, and the camera you are using.

My review of this tripod head can be found Here

Manfrotto 405 with K10D w/Grip Sigma 100-300mm f/4 APO EX DG and Pentax AF540FGZ

[DogLover]

I have a Vanguard tripod, and monopod as well, love them (both carbon fiber); I bought a Vanguard ABH-120L head for it, which is the least strongest of a fairly expensive line (I paid $215). It claims to hold 20 lbs. but it holds 8 pounds so effortlessly I can imagine it holds more. I love the tensioner on it (the big knob), which has two parts, one for setting the range of tension, the other for fine adjustment. You can tension your camera so it can be moved with some effort, yet stay where you move it. It also swivels, and has a scaled base for panoramic movement, and a little bubble level built in. Oh, and it is beautiful . . . sometimes I just stare at it mesmerized

The largest head of in this line, the 340L holds 40 lbs.! It sells for $299 at Amazon.



Vanguard ? Photo-Video - Tripods, Camera Bags, Cases, Optics, Binoculars

I also recently bought one of these. I have the 230L model and agree that it's pretty impressive. What makes these a little better at resisting lens droop is that they have an elliptical ball, which increases the resistance as the camera "leans over". These new Vanguards may be the cheapest heads available with this elliptical ball, though I'm not positive about that. I'm thoroughly pleased with the smoothness and overall operation of the head. The only caveat I would add would be that if you use more than 1 brand of arca plates, you are probably better off getting one of the knob models (K), rather than a lever model (L).

[stl09]

bear in mind @ 300mm on an APS-C DSLR a lens is going to be the equivalent of a 450mm lens on full frame, and most ballheads have a phenomenon known as lens droop,all ballheads do it to some extent and I have had so many issues with lens droop, Especially with my birding and macro work I got a Manfrotto 405 Geared tripod head, and now I have absolute precision of camera movement and no lens droop. However the 405 is a big tripod head, and it needs a decent pair of legs to support it, and the camera you are using.

My review of this tripod head can be found Here

Manfrotto 405 with K10D w/Grip Sigma 100-300mm f/4 APO EX DG and Pentax AF540FGZ

Thanks Digitalis,

Read thru your review and as of 2 days ago I found a very well cared for 3275 or now the new model is 410. Your right these are heavy heads but boy are they precise. The camera store put a massive 300mm f2.8 along with a full frame canon with a grip attached. They mounted it on my Vanguard legs and it was stable and very accurate. Best part no droop.....

[Digitalis]

the drooping phenomenon is what stopped me from using ball heads for all of my super-telephoto & macro work. Gimbal heads are very good, but they are very specific in purpose. You certainly wouldn't use one for general photography. I have a tripod with a gimbal head permanently attached,one of the benefits of owning multiple tripods. My general purpose tripod has the 405 geared head on it. I consider composition more important than speed. My ball-head of choice is the RRS B55 and as an expensive (and handsome) head I only use it for lenses 200mm and shorter on Full frame. The reason for this is because it does suffer from(some) droop, it isn't anywhere near as bad as the non-hydrostatic ball heads from manfrotto, but the drooping habit is still there. Not to mention using a ball head with a 300mm f/2.8 can become unwieldy and awkward when precise adjustments in framing are required .So I prefer to cut the frustrations out of my life and use a geared head for a majority of my work.

I won't dispute the fact that ball heads are much quicker, and provide more flexibility. Like most things it's just a decision between speed and precision - it's not really feasible to have both.