Is this a good tripod & pan head combination?

I need to upgrade my tripod and have been wanting to get a pan head to shoot panoramics. I am leaning towards the Bogen Manfrotto 3021PRO tripod and the 3047 3 way head with QR they make. Tripod runs $150-$180 and the head is about $80.

Does anyone have either (or both!) that they could comment on? Is there another bargain for good quality I have over looked?

Thanks in advance.

I have the head. I hate it.

The legs are nice.

Can you elaborate on the head? What don't you like about it? I like the bevels, and quick release and seems like a good price.

Well... it's heavy... and cumbersome. And you have three levers which interfere with carrying the tripod. You hit people on the head with them... They get tangled somewhere and...

It's personal as you can see. I can sell it to you no problem. LOL

The 3021BPRO is great (the B is for Black - recommended). I use a 488RC2 ballhead for general purpose work on it. I don't care for any of the 3-way heads, but that's a personal preference thing.

I have the 488RC2 and this, http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …EG&addedTroughT​ype=search, the Bogen 3437 3D Magnesium head....light & no long arms.

John

I have both, the 3047 and the 3021PRO. The tripod is great, the head not so much, for the reasons DocFrankenstein mentioned. But I believe that these points are valid for most standard 3-way heads, so you may be out of luck if these points annoy you. They're simply all big and cumbersome and the handles are a pain.

I also have the Bogen 410 compact gear head. Now *this* is a wonderful 3-way with none of the normal problems of a 3-way, and nothing but benefits. Except that you can't pan freely, which might be a desired thing at times. And the price blows your budget, since this head is $190 alone. This is by far my favorite head for telephoto panos. It's awesome for this.

Personally I can't stand a ball-head for landscape-type photography. I suffered for over a year doing landscapes with a ballhead and hated framing a scene with one.

You will not want a ballhead if you are ever thinking of doing multi-row panos. Once you release the ball you have no control over the tilt, so a second row of pictures may have a different tilt - in fact I can easily say that they *will* have a different tilt. Stitching programs will have a problem with this different tilt, and only the very good programs will handle it at all, and it will be a pain for you to stitch such a photo even then.

You might want to take a look at a fluid-head for panos. I almost bought one but didn't like the lack of angle degree marks. Also, they're almost as big and heavy as a 3-way, but with only 1 handle - but it's a much bigger handle.

The 3047 isn't expensive and will do just fine for you. But don't be surprised if it isn't perfect, and don't be surprised if you replace it in a year. But I would strongly suggest the 3437 that John mentioned, for a very similar price. It has none of the drawbacks of the 3-handled 3-ways. If I had gotten that one I probably never would have gotten the 410 gear head since the 3437 is a keeper.


You could do with a slightly lesser tripod if you want to save a few bucks. The non-pro 3021 doesn't have the re-positionable center column, and you probably won't miss that unless you're thinking of doing macros. The 3001 is also a very good tripod, quite similar but shorter. Again, I have the 3021PRO and I love it, and recommend it wholeheartedly. But if you want to save a few bucks, others will do just fine.

Take a look at this kit, the 3021PRO and the 3437 for $237. The 3021BN version of this kit saves only $8.

what's the difference between a ball head and a 3 way head? I'm actually in the process of picking up a tripod and head combination myself for a 20d and a 100-400mm L lens.

General rule (according to a lot of people): ballhead for sports and wildlife, 3 way for landscape.

Scottes is spot on with that 410 bogen. I've seen the ballhead and it seems it would be a good choice for all-around shooting. Excellent for for macro too.

Sometimes you'd jam a finger in it if you're not careful. I still have a black nail after 70-200 + 2 flashes and rebel landed on it.

Does anyone have a link to a site that shows how the ballhead and 3way are different? I'll be using the camera to shoot motosports.

A ballhead... Imagine you're holding a Christmas ornament in your hand. If you hold your hand loosely the ornament can move freely in just about any direction, until the hanger hook thingee hits your thumb or fingers. That's a lot of free movement. But squeeze your hand and the ornament is stuck in place, and doesn't move.

This is how a ballhead works. Now imagine that the camera would attach to the part of the ornament where you attach the hanger. Again, with the grip loosened the camera can move freely, but the camera plate will hit the edge of the gripping portion of the head so you are somewhat limited in movement. It's also easy to spin, which makes panning easy. You can quickly and easily point the camera in just about any direction.


With a 3-way head you can also turn the camera in almost any direction, but it has 3 locks which will allow movement in 1 direction at a time. So you loosen 1 lock, and you can point the camera up or down. Loosen another and you can tilt the camera left or right. Loosen the 3rd lock and now you can pan the camera. Again, these locks are generally loosened and tightened one at a time. This means that it takes time to swing to the left and raise the camera a little. By the time you do the car or bird or deer will be gone.

A 3-way is preferred for landscapes and such, basically because mountains and tress don't move so you have plenty of time to move the camera to the position you wish.


From these explanations it seems like a ball-head is the best of both worlds, but ball-heads have a very annoying problem in that they usually creep. That is, you loosen the ball, position the camera and tighten the ball - but when you let go the camera will almost always move a little due to the weight of the camera and lens. Its very unusual to be able to balance a camera perfectly over a head, so it will be heavy on one side. When you let go, the ball-head will slip a little, and gravity moves things a little.

This is not always a problem if you're not so finicky about framing. I am finicky, and when I set up a scene in a viewfinder I want it to stay that way! If the front-heavy camera has a tendency to flop forward a degree or two it may destroy all my efforts to perfectly frame the scene. So I don't use a ball-head when doing landscapes or similar.


The general rule is to use a ball-head for action, a 3-way for landscapes. However, a ball-head is more versatile and *can* be used for both, whereas a 3-way would be darned difficult to use when trying to shoot cars at a racetrack, or to track a bird in flight. A ball-head might slip a bit when doing landscapes, but this is greatly lessened with short/light lenses, and you can get used to it. If you find that a ball-head doesn't cut it for both then get a 3-way later.


In a nutshell, CPALIU, you will definitely want a ballhead for motorsports.

But this brings up another thing - tripods aren't a best best at a racetrack! Even with a ball-head there will be times when the tripod is in your way. The 100-400 isn't heavy enough to *require* a tripod, but it's not light either. I'd strongly suggest that you look into a monopod with a tilt/swivel head. Something like this - or even better, get one with a tilt/swivel with a quick-release plate, like this.

A tilt/swivel head basically allows you to point the camera up or down. You tilt the lens by tilting the monopod, and pan by spinning the monopod. For the 100-400 and motorsports this will be a LOT better than a tripod with a ballhead. And it's much lighter and a lot cheaper, too. The quick release plate will let you easily remove the camera from the monopod and use it handheld. For motorsports you'll do this a lot with the 100-400. Usually, probably, until you get tired and use the monopod to give your muscles a break.

Portraits and landscapes, the 3047 is excellent.

Yay for 3047!

Make an offer if anybody's intrested. I have one in toronto

Scottes wrote:
In a nutshell, CPALIU, you will definitely want a ballhead for motorsports.

But this brings up another thing - tripods aren't a best best at a racetrack! Even with a ball-head there will be times when the tripod is in your way. The 100-400 isn't heavy enough to *require* a tripod, but it's not light either. I'd strongly suggest that you look into a monopod with a tilt/swivel head. Something like this - or even better, get one with a tilt/swivel with a quick-release plate, like this.

A tilt/swivel head basically allows you to point the camera up or down. You tilt the lens by tilting the monopod, and pan by spinning the monopod. For the 100-400 and motorsports this will be a LOT better than a tripod with a ballhead. And it's much lighter and a lot cheaper, too. The quick release plate will let you easily remove the camera from the monopod and use it handheld. For motorsports you'll do this a lot with the 100-400. Usually, probably, until you get tired and use the monopod to give your muscles a break.

I've thought about the monopod, but I would also like to be able to mount a camcorder on the tripod which is why I'm looking for a good compromise with the tripod.