where's my head at?

[Woody]

Hi All,

I bought the Swarovski tripod a while ago after being told that it is a Manfrotto with a Swaro badge.

The head has Manfrotto stamped into it so it is, indeed, a manfrotto head and pod but my question is;

Does anybody know what head I've got here? Is it a 443 or 501 or what?

Woody

[robinm]

Hi Woody. I assume your receipt from the company you bought it from in uninformative. It could be several things - can you describe it or put a picture up.

[Ragna]

woody i think the Swarivski tripod is suppied with a Manfrotto Rc128 head it would not have been supplied with a 501.A501 head ratails at £125and is heavey.

[robinm]

woody i think the Swarivski tripod is suppied with a Manfrotto Rc128 head it would not have been supplied with a 501.A501 head ratails at £125and is heavey.
Hi Woody. I think this is probably right. I have just had a look at my 128rc head and can find no identification marks on it.

[Woody]

Thanks chaps.

If it is a 128rc is that a good thing (for digiscoping) or should I be asking Santa for something else?
(I'm not overly worried about the weight)

It seems OK to me although it suffers from a fair amount of 'drop' and the two locking screws are a bit of a p.i.t.a.
What's so special about a '501'?

Woody

[robinm]

Hi Woody. I have no problem with my 128rc for digiscoping, including locking the head when necessary. When I bought my 443 it came with a lightweight 200 head and I had exactly the problems you describe and the locking mechanism was c**p. I have no experience of the 500 so can't comment.

[pete schofield]

Hi Woody
I can't comment on what head you have or if it is any good for digiscoping, but if you have to tighten the pan and tilt knobs right up to keep the head steady when taking a photo then you might like to look at the 501 head.

With this head although heavier than others you can pan and tilt to get on the bird let go of the arm/scope and the head will stay where you left it ready to take your photo. This is what I have found with my set up, which is:

Manfrotto 190 legs
501 head
Leica apo 77 scope, coolpix 995, LCE adaptor, battery pack attached to underside front of scope with velcro, eagleeye sight, nikon remote, eagleeye sun shade.

All the above is quite hefty but the 501 head copes well.

Hope this is if use, also see my thread 501 head for digiscoping

Pete

[Woody]

Thanks Pete,

I think I'll try to find a 501 somewhere and have a look at it.

When I tried the tripod in the store it didn't seem to suffer from 'drop' but now I'm using it for real it seems to be a slight problem. Maybe I'm loosening the screws too far to begin with because once the head is locked it's fine and pretty much stable.

Woody

[Woody]

Just read the 501 thread. It seems to be farly universally admired despite the weight so I'll definately be looking into it for the future.

Thanks for the help all :-)

Woody

[Ragna]

Woody if going for the 501 try Vic Ogdens cameras at London Bridge as i saw an advert for the 501 at £105 it was a few weeks back but worth a phone call.