I have been birding with binoculars for years, and just recently purchased my first spotting scope (Vortex Viper, 65 mm, just under 4 lbs) with a built-in Arca-swiss style plate. I have an older Velbon tripod, with a PH-157Q head. Although I am quite new to using a scope for bird-watching, I quite like the single control - I can pan/tilt, lock both pan and tilt, and adjust the friction of the pan/tilt, all with the single handle (i.e. I can use my other hand to focus...)
Given how useful this single-control feature seems to be for birding, I naively assumed that this was a common feature for tripod heads. Until I tried to find a replacement... Suggestions? I have been reading through many other posts here, and while there are lots of suggestions for using different heads/etc, I have not managed to find any comments about a head with a single/central locking mechanism on the handle (I did find a few threads related to the now-discontinued Gitzo 1720, but even with the Gitzo 1720 I think that the single/central lock was not on the handle).
Am I missing something about other tripod heads in terms of either how they function (i.e. maybe lots of them have single/central locks, and I am just missing it?) or am I missing something about how other birders use spotting scopes (i.e. why would you want to have one hand on the handle for panning/tilting, a second hand on the lock, and your third hand on the focus...
. Do most birders really like independent pan lock and tilt lock? )
(BTW - the prime reason I am trying to find a replacement head is that the one I have head is quite old and it has a bit of "play" in it, which is obvious not ideal. My reason(s) for not wanting to replace it with another Velbon PH-157Q is because the Velbon is not Arca-Swiss compatible. And while I could attach the Velbon plate to my scope, a single 1/4-20 screw is not very stable/reliable, and it is very easy to accidentally loosen the scope on that the screw - i.e. this has now happened a few times).
Given how useful this single-control feature seems to be for birding, I naively assumed that this was a common feature for tripod heads. Until I tried to find a replacement... Suggestions? I have been reading through many other posts here, and while there are lots of suggestions for using different heads/etc, I have not managed to find any comments about a head with a single/central locking mechanism on the handle (I did find a few threads related to the now-discontinued Gitzo 1720, but even with the Gitzo 1720 I think that the single/central lock was not on the handle).
Am I missing something about other tripod heads in terms of either how they function (i.e. maybe lots of them have single/central locks, and I am just missing it?) or am I missing something about how other birders use spotting scopes (i.e. why would you want to have one hand on the handle for panning/tilting, a second hand on the lock, and your third hand on the focus...
. Do most birders really like independent pan lock and tilt lock? )(BTW - the prime reason I am trying to find a replacement head is that the one I have head is quite old and it has a bit of "play" in it, which is obvious not ideal. My reason(s) for not wanting to replace it with another Velbon PH-157Q is because the Velbon is not Arca-Swiss compatible. And while I could attach the Velbon plate to my scope, a single 1/4-20 screw is not very stable/reliable, and it is very easy to accidentally loosen the scope on that the screw - i.e. this has now happened a few times).
