Manfrotto 701RC2 (1 Viewer)

Been using a photographic 3 way head with my scope - very frustrating.
The 701 is a delight - smooth fingertip control and I can put the DSLR on, slide the adjustment plate and take photos.

Great value for money with a few reservations...
QR plate only fits one way.
I see problems with very out of balance scopes - there's not enough adjustment in the sliding plate to cope - I don't have that as I use a very light scope and my camera lens has a tripod collar for balance.

Chris ,if you paint the front of the qr plate [tipex willdo] problem solved.

Chris Oates said:

Been using a photographic 3 way head with my scope - very frustrating.
The 701 is a delight - smooth fingertip control and I can put the DSLR on, slide the adjustment plate and take photos.

Great value for money with a few reservations...
QR plate only fits one way.
I see problems with very out of balance scopes - there's not enough adjustment in the sliding plate to cope - I don't have that as I use a very light scope and my camera lens has a tripod collar for balance.

Click to expand...

Mine arrived today along with it's 190V tripod - and I'm impressed too. Much smoother than the old photo tripod & head I was using. I have an old Opticron HR80 which is quite heavy but with the plate at the end of it's forward travel everything balances well.
I ordered mine from Morris Photo in Oxford - good customer service.
Looking forward to going out tomorrow.

Chris Oates said:

Been using a photographic 3 way head with my scope - very frustrating.
The 701 is a delight - smooth fingertip control and I can put the DSLR on, slide the adjustment plate and take photos.

Great value for money with a few reservations...
QR plate only fits one way.
I see problems with very out of balance scopes - there's not enough adjustment in the sliding plate to cope - I don't have that as I use a very light scope and my camera lens has a tripod collar for balance.

Click to expand...

A New Year's present to myself of a 701 head with a Velbron Sherpa Pro CF630 carbon fibre tripod. A good combination in my opinion. Chose the 701 in preference to the 501 because of nearly twice the weight of the latter.So far I have been most impressed. I am waiting impatiently for the arrival of my Sigma 170-500mm DG lens.

An interesting comment in the Velbron operating manual.'If the weight of camera is far more than twice as heavy as tripod avoid using the tripod. Stability won't be enough and camera shake may occur and, the tripod may fail'.

Unfortunately the manual doesn't define 'far more', nor does it say whether the weight of the head is added to the weight of the camera, or to the weight of the tripod, or is ignored. I will be sending an e-mail to Velbron to clarify this.

baillieswells said:

Unfortunately the manual doesn't define 'far more'.

Click to expand...

I use a Sherpa/701RC2 with a D70 & Sigma 170-500 and then hang the rest of my possessions off the stone bag hook - no ill effects.

I also, use the Velbon CF631EL with a Leica APO77 on a 701RC2 head and that works perfectly for me great combo.