Manfrotto ball head - too small?

[miniman]

I have a Manfrotto 190 tripod (and very nice it is too) and a Canon 350D body. I bought a Manfrotto 482 mini ball head to go with the tripod but it won't allow me to mount the camera on the tripod in portrait format, only landscape. The base of the camera just bumps in to the circular metal disc at the top of the tripod centre column. I tried fixing the head to the bottom of the column, but it's clearly not designed to work that way and wobbles about.

Have I just bought a head that's not man(frotto) enough for the job? If so, any recommendations for what to replace it with?

[RobDickinson]

I assume (like me) you have a 190 without the horizontal center arm attachment.

I have a MF ball head, old one no longer sold equivelant to something like (oh godz MF website is teh suck) somethign like the 490's I think, with QR, works fine portrait.

[Ledaig]

I use a 486RC2 on a monopod and that works fine for portrait shots and is great for panning etc, but a better buy would be the 322RC2 - I've got this on the tripod and it's much more controlable for static pic positioning.

[Famous Graham]

Got the plate the right way around?

Sucking eggs I know but I was convinced my Manfrotto was no good for a 300D with battery pack + 400 L. Until I realised I'd put the tripod collar on the lens on back to front

[miniman]

Famous Graham said:

Got the plate the right way around?

Sucking eggs I know but I was convinced my Manfrotto was no good for a 300D with battery pack + 400 L. Until I realised I'd put the tripod collar on the lens on back to front

This is attaching directly to the base of the camera rather than to the lens.

The ball grip head mentioned above looks quite good, though.

[Famous Graham]

No, I mean is the plate that you screw into the camera the right way around.

[miniman]

Famous Graham said:

No, I mean is the plate that you screw into the camera the right way around.

Its one of these:

[Gemm]

I guess the head is too small for 190? I think it's meant to be used for tabletop tripod, clamps etc.

Edited by Gemm on Tuesday 18th September 11:03

[miniman]

Gemm said:

I guess the head is too small for 190? I think it's meant to be used for tabletop tripod, clamps etc.

Yeah, also I think a smaller camera (e.g. a compact digital) would be ok with it on the 190. I bought it on price grounds never a good idea...

[Gemm]

miniman said:

I bought it on price grounds never a good idea...

Yeah, I think we've all done that.

[F308 MAN]

i once relied on the recommended load tables as per the manfrotto web site.
big mistake !
i would suggest always going one or two sizes bigger/stronger when calculating.

don't like ball heads, personally .... they just don't inspire me with confidence.

d

[Famous Graham]

miniman said:

Famous Graham said:

No, I mean is the plate that you screw into the camera the right way around.

Its one of these:

Aaah ok.

[Zod]

The head on my 190 is the smallest geared one, but it is much bigger than that.

[miniman]

Is this



going to cope with potentially a 70-200 f/2.8 IS USM?

[Ledaig]

miniman said:

Is this



going to cope with potentially a 70-200 f/2.8 IS USM?

It should be fine, images below show it supporting a D200 + Grip + Sigma 50-500 + Big bag of rice (just for you)

The tension is adjustable using the wheel on the grip, you don't need that much to support the camera and lens combo. I did need to increase it to hold the portrait position WITH the bag of rice, but without the rice it was fine as it was.

The top two pic's use the lens collar, but I have included the bottom one to show that it holds just as well on the camera base. I didn't include the bag of rice on the last pic' as it adds a hell of a lot of weight to be supported by the lens mount on the camera.

One thing to be aware of it that it will only go into portrait mode in one direction as shown, it does have some travel the other way, but not to full portrait. In use this is unlikely to cause an issue (IMO).







Hope this helps

[miniman]

I think that sums it up pretty neatly

Cheers!

[tertius]

Personally I don't understand that 322 head - surely the grip is on the wrong side? The camera shutter release is on the RH side of the camera and so is the pistol grip on the 322 ... don't know about you guys but I only have one right hand ...

I have the 222 vertical pistol grip so I can hold the grip in my left hand, pan and tilt and use the shutter release with my right hand ...

[ae111sr]

The 322 is adjustable to be used right handed, left handed or vertically like the 222. I very nearly bought one but went for the Kirk BH-3 instead - more expensive but superb quality and engineering.

[tertius]

ae111sr said:

The 322 is adjustable to be used right handed, left handed or vertically like the 222. I very nearly bought one but went for the Kirk BH-3 instead - more expensive but superb quality and engineering.

Aha! That makes more sense.