All Greek to me (1 Viewer)

I need help picking a good tripod and head. I have a CP 4500 and a Meade ETX-90. My currect tripod is a pain to say the least.

I want something that will offer fluid motion and stability and overkill is fine as long as the end result is what I desire. Weight is not a concern. I'm mainly a backyard digiscoper and move around very little.

I'm not familiar at all with different tripod offerings. With my tripod I have to completely loosen the collar knob to get any kind of smooth movement, otherwise I end up overshooting my horizontal alignment when Im trying to line up a subject ..... its a constant, left, right, back left, right and then the subject is gone. Are there heads that offer smooth movement and still hold their mark with no, or minimal knob or locking adjustments? My budget is in the $200 - $300 range.

A Manfrotto 501 is the obvious choice (marketed in the US as "Bogen", I believe), but there are certainly others. It should fit within your price range comfortably. They are heavy, but if this doesn't concern you, then a 501 would make a sensible starting place.

I'm in the same boat. New to the site and interested in help with picking a good tripod and head.

I have heard good things about the Manfrotto(Bogen) 501, but that's just the head right? What about legs? What do you folks recommend for an 80mm scope weighing around 5 pounds?

Thanks,
Jeff

Hi Jeff,

On behalf of Admin and the Moderators, welcome to Bird Forum :t:

I have the Manfrotto 055 tripod with the 128Nat head. The tripod itself is excellent being very stable. The head is pretty good too, though from what I have seen and heard the 501 head looks better if you are interested in digiscoping.