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Message: <blockquote data-quote="SteveClifton" data-source="post: 1751413" data-attributes="member: 48420">If absolute light weight is vital to you then it's not a bad head, especially if you don't want to use other camera gear mounted on different plates, but to be honest I much prefer the Manfrotto 128LP, which I have now returned to using 90% of the time.I still have the Giottos mounted on a spare centre column for when I want to really cut the weight, but mostly I can cope with the extra few hundred grams of the 128 in exchange for its benefits (see below about these). To re-iterate what I've said before, I was initially interested in the Giottos head as it is advertised to be Arca-Swiss compatible, which I thought would be useful for anyone also using a camera/lens with this type of plate (most 'professional' camera systems use Arca-style plates nowadays, and the benefits of the sliding design allows increased movement for balancing your gear-especially important if your gear is front or back-heavy on such a small head). Therefore I also bought one of these adapters to mount on my 128LP head, so that I had full compatability when I want to use the more sturdy head:<a href="http://www.red-door.co.uk/pages/productpages/giottos-tripods/MH658.html" target="_blank">http://www.red-door.co.uk/pages/productpages/giottos-tripods/MH658.html</a> I also have a Giottos ball head that I wanted to convert to the Arca system, mainly for camera use, but occasionally also with a travel scope (ED50). However, trying to achieve this system compatability has become my major bug-bear with the Giottos Q/R system. This is because the Giottos system is not strictly interchangeable with other Arca-type plates. They have the same width base and probably fit into the clamps of other manufacturers such as Kirk or Arca-Swiss, but Giottos' own clamps don't open wide enough to allow plates to drop in from above, so you can only slide them in from either end, which is both a bit fiddly, and increases the  risk of missing the groove and dropping your gear! Theoretically, plates from other makers can be acceped by the  Giottos clamp, but if the safety end-stop screws are fitted this is not possible. Furthermore, Giottos' own safety catch design prevents most other plates from sliding fully into their clamp, even with the safety screws removed (because their safety catch comprises of a raised stud set into the clamp base). To sum up, this has become a right royal pain in the backside, hence why I stopped using it. If you only ever used Giottos' own plates you would likely never have a problem, but as I said, if you want full interchangeability with other Arca plates/clamps you will have problems as I have done.A couple of possible solutions are to either:change the Q/R clamp for one from another maker, which looks possible by removing the allan bolt that holds the supplied Q/R assembly in place (but think of the extra cost!)orhave an engineering workshop mill a groove along the length of your other camera plates (more cost = not very likely!)As I said, if you only want to use the head for pure birding, and don't intend to use other camera gear with different plates, then the head is fine, but if you want to use it as I have done, you could run into problems.As I see it the benefits of the Giottos head are as follows:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">quite stable, but not as stable as a Manfrotto 128 (my benchmark head)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">pans quite nicely (but again, not as smoothly as the 128)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">light weight (but only if you really need to lose every unnecessary gram possible)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">seems quite well made, but I'm not sure about its long-term durability</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">good q/r system, but only if you don't intend to mix & match. I think Giottos have missed a trick here!</li> </ul>Personally I think I'll keep using the 128LP most of the time, but keep the Giottos for when I next climb a mountain.All the best,SteveBTW if anyone from Giottos is reading this, they could easily remedy these 'issues' by re-designing the Q/R clamp so the jaws open wider (2-3mm would be enough) and lose their own safety catch in favour of the end-stop screws used by other companies. That would ensure true Arca-compatability IMO.</blockquote>

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