YuShan
Well-known member
Hello fellow birders!
I have decided to finally buy myself a nice spottingscope and I'm exploring the different options. I'm already pretty much sold on the Swarovski ATS-80 HD + 25-50x eyepiece so no questions there. However, I'm not sure yet about tripod and head.
Regarding the tripod, options I'm looking at are Manfrotto 190CXPRO3 (1.29kg) and Manfrotto 055CXPRO3 (1.65kg) but of course there other options as well.
Obviously there is a trade-off here between weight and stability, but I am a guy who likes to walk around a lot so weight is important. Would a 190Cx Carbon be stable enough for such a scope or is it too light? (in that case perhaps I should go for 055 or something else more stable). I know that without a stable tripod there is no point buying a good spotting scope. Btw, I do intend to digiscope as well using a small compact camera (no DSLR).
I'm really interested to hear from people who have used these setups in practice and if they think it is too light/ unstable or just right.
Regarding the head, I'm looking at Manfrotto 128rc or perhaps 701HDV. What would be a better choice?
Any other suggestions are also very welcome since I've just started looking into this and there may be other/ better options available. Please keep in mind that for tripod+head I'm aiming at somewhere in the £400-ish range, which I hope will be adequate to buy something decent (if not I would also like to hear!).
Edit: perhaps the Swarovski CT 101?
Cheers!
I have decided to finally buy myself a nice spottingscope and I'm exploring the different options. I'm already pretty much sold on the Swarovski ATS-80 HD + 25-50x eyepiece so no questions there. However, I'm not sure yet about tripod and head.
Regarding the tripod, options I'm looking at are Manfrotto 190CXPRO3 (1.29kg) and Manfrotto 055CXPRO3 (1.65kg) but of course there other options as well.
Obviously there is a trade-off here between weight and stability, but I am a guy who likes to walk around a lot so weight is important. Would a 190Cx Carbon be stable enough for such a scope or is it too light? (in that case perhaps I should go for 055 or something else more stable). I know that without a stable tripod there is no point buying a good spotting scope. Btw, I do intend to digiscope as well using a small compact camera (no DSLR).
I'm really interested to hear from people who have used these setups in practice and if they think it is too light/ unstable or just right.
Regarding the head, I'm looking at Manfrotto 128rc or perhaps 701HDV. What would be a better choice?
Any other suggestions are also very welcome since I've just started looking into this and there may be other/ better options available. Please keep in mind that for tripod+head I'm aiming at somewhere in the £400-ish range, which I hope will be adequate to buy something decent (if not I would also like to hear!).
Edit: perhaps the Swarovski CT 101?
Cheers!
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