I was poking around and had almost rationalized dropping $120 on the Benro HD3A. It’s a pan-tilt which takes arca-swiss plates, rated at 26lbs/12kg. In the process the Induro PHQ3 came up in my search. I’ve had really good luck with Benro/Induro (same company) in that their gear is a great value for the money.
https://indurogear.com/phq3-5-way-panhead/ The PHQ3 has a few advantages over the HD3A. First of all, it’s rated at 32lbs/16kg, a third more than the HD3A. It also has several levels on it, not a big deal, but it can be handy. The other advantage is that in addition to being able to rotate where it mounts to the tripod, there is also another rotation plate where it mounts to the camera, so whether or not the tripod is level, once you get the camera level, you can make level panoramas. This could save me a lot of time because trying to level the tripod by adjusting the legs is a consistent pain in my tuchas. The downside of the PHQ3 is that rather than listing for $125 it lists for $280, but Samy’s had an “open box” special on sale for $180. Having missed out on several things I’ve wanted over the years by making the financially prudent choice in the moment, I decided that camera stability was more important than financial stability. -- Larry Colen [email protected] -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
