• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Manfrotto 700rc vs 500ah (1 Viewer)

Cooter

Member
I need some expert advice and I think I'm in the right spot. Is there a big difference in these two heads? For now I'm looking to mount a Pentax 65 ED All to it, but down the road I see myself stepping up to Kowa TSN884. I don't have any practical experience with tripod heads but I would like one to use with both scopes.
Any and all opinions and suggestions welcome.
 
The 700RC should be sufficient for the Pentax, but might be overwhelmed by the Kowa. The 128RC would probably work for the Kowa, but for only $25 more and 0.2lbs less I would go with the 500AH. Its probably a little overkill for the Pentax, but will be very well matched to the Kowa 884.

BTW, this thread likely belongs in the Tripods subforum.
 
The 700RC2 punches well above its weight and should be enough to take the Kowa 884 with zoom eyepiece quite comfortably. Its maximum 'safe' payload is given as 2.5kg and this particular scope combination weighs in at approx 2kg. The saving in weight over the 500AH is not insignificant at 520g against 900kg, which is good news when carrying scope & tripod. Of course, if you have digiscoping aspirations, the 500AH would definitely be the better option! IMHO, the 128RC2 is a decent head but it is a little 'over engineered' and it's weight discounts it for me.
 
Last edited:
Hi,

don't know if the 700RC2 is strong enough for a Kowa. I would rather leave a large safety margin for extra stability.

One thing you should know about the 700RC2 and 128RC is the fact that they don't use the normal Manfrotto quick release plates and that they can't use a longer plate (even if it was available) to balance the scope. For me that would be a deal breaker.
Thus I would use the 500AH if I was in the market for a new tripod head (which I might be soon since the cheap Velbon 3way head on my tripod has developed problems...)

Joachim
 
I have the 500AH and use it to for my 4 pound scope. I like it a lot because of the quick release plate. It is easy to slide the plate back and forth to find the balance point. Then if I decide to put my camera on my scope to do some digiscoping, it is quick and easy to loosen the screw, move the plate to find the balance point and retighten the screw at the new balance point.
 
I have the 500AH and use it to for my 4 pound scope. I like it a lot because of the quick release plate. It is easy to slide the plate back and forth to find the balance point. Then if I decide to put my camera on my scope to do some digiscoping, it is quick and easy to loosen the screw, move the plate to find the balance point and retighten the screw at the new balance point.

I too have used this head on my little Pentax 65EDII and my heavier Regal 80 F-ED, I've also used it with my Sony A77II with Tamron 150-600 heavy lens and the balance plate made using them all so very easy.
 
I have received and mounted the 500AH under my Pentax 65EDII and all I can say is WOW! This is my first experience with a video head and it is as great as everyone said it would be. Thanks again for the input.
 
Warning! This thread is more than 8 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top