Hi, I have a Manfrotto 352RC, a Manfrotto 168, a Manfrotto 029, a Manfrotto 222, a Leitz ballhead and the fixed head on a Tiltall. Of these the best and most useful for my purposes are the Leitz and the 352RC in that order.
I only shoot 35mm, so I don't know how good or bad these are for larger formats, but I've used the 352RC for shooting wildlife in South Africa with an LX, winder and A 400mm lens with T6-2X converter, and the results were excellent. It's not really a question of 'is it good, is it strong'. You need to define the uses you propose (sorry if you've done that, I missed the start of the thread). I used it most to support the lens, while still being able to track animals. When I've needed to tighten it, eg for long exposures or for static subjects, the 352RC, the Leitz and the Tiltall have been the best in the sense that there is least shift in position and alteration of framing, which is what happens with the 029 pan/tilt head. The 222 is the grip ballhead, which was hopeless because you can't track - it tightens up when you release the grip, so you need 3 hands to make everything work; it's also taller than necessary for stability. The 168 is just complete crap. It's meant to be for larger, heavier cameras, but the controls require some kind of superhuman coordination, and it still shifts when you tighten up. All in all, the more experience I have of other tripod heads the more I like the 352RC. But better than the 352 RC is the Leitz head, which you can buy separately from their table-top tripod. But best of all is a large, heavy beanbag. --- Bob (the man with 6 heads) mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Thursday, February 07, 2002, 6:43:30 PM, you wrote: > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Albano Garcia > Subject: Manfrotto 352RC- Bogen 3262QR ballhead opinions? >> Hi, gang. >> Somebody used this ballhead? >> It's good? Strong enough? > I had one of those for a while. It was not an especially > satisfactory product. The metal castings had an annoying habit > of welding themselves together, which was a problem that proved > unsolvable. > The QR plate is not large enough for medium format (at least not > mine, it might be OK for a Seagull or a Mamiya TLR). > I found it to be unsmooth with weight on the head. Anything over > a 35mm camera and a short telephoto lens was enough weight to > make the adjustment unsmooth. This problem was not solvable > either. > William Robb - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
