TRIPOD HEAD

taffyboy

taffyboy

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55
Name
David
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AM THINKING OF A PISTOL GRIP TYPE HEAD, AS I SUFFER FROM ARTHRITIS IN MY HANDS. AT PRESENT I HAVE A 3 WAY HEAD AND FIND IT DIFFICULT TO USE.
CAN ANYONE RECOMEND ONE FOR A CAMLINK PRO TRIPOD AND TO HOLD A
D7000. BIGGEST LENS AT PRESENT IS THE NIKON 55-300 VR.
 
I think you're going to have to try a few David. Those Manfrotto joystick jobbies need quite a strong squeeze and can be hard to adjust for fine positioning. Their main advantage is speed.

Not knowing anything about your personal difficulties, and bearing in mind that this particular aspect of ergonomics doesn't get much talked about, you need to try a few. In theory, a 3-way head should be better for you as all the movements and locks are individual and with big handles it's less likely you'll lose grip and the camera smash against the legs (possible with a ball head). Maybe look for one with chunky/grippy handles to give you an easier twist?
 
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THANK YOU FOR YOUR QUICK REPLY. I TAKE ON BOARD WHAT YOU SAY. MY HANDLES AT PRESENT ARE SMALL AND THIN. THE ONLY LOCAL SHOP IS JESSOPS AND THEY WERE NOT MUCH HELP, WITH FEW TO TRY. WILL HAVE TO KEEP LOOKING. CHEERS DAVE.
 
Apologies, edited!
 
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David,

First off - could you please not type everything in upper case. It makes it much more difficult to read and, in internet-world, it is considered rude (a bit like shouting at people).

I, too suffer with arthiritis and there's no way I could use one of those 'joystick' type heads for more than 10 minutes. As Richard said, big knobs are much easier to use.
 
DON'T SHOUT , I was told off for this.

Where in Devon are you, I'm in Tavvy.
 
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Being an old pensioner, not used to these rules. Thought writing in capitals would be easier to read!!!. I live in Plymouth. Sorry for the SHOUTING.
 
taffyboy said:
Thought writing in capitals would be easier to read!!!.
Click to expand...
Actually, it isn't. When things are written in lower case, you can use the bits above/below the general run of text to be able to read the word without having to actually read the word. It's something like 5-10% quicker to read when in lowercase than in capitals. See: http://www.microsoft.com/typography/ctfonts/wordrecognition.aspx

That's todays useless fact out of the way :)

As to your question - I have no idea - sorry :shrug:
 
Maybe a geared head such as a Manfrotto 410 would help. The knobs are easy to turn and the geared reduction helps. This type of head is slow to move, so is no use for sports or birds in flight, but it is really accurate and precise to use. They are expensive new, but I managed to find a used one for £95 last year.
 
I posted the link above to provide info, the Manfrotto site is a very expensive place to buy from, as suggested WEX or Amazon are much cheaper. I have used both the 405 and 410 heads and unless you use a very heavy camera (i.e. > 5 kg) there is no real difference between their functionality, certainly not enough to justify the extra cost of the 405. I have sucessfully used the 410 with a very heavy load (>10 kg) without problem.
 
I've also got a 410 geared head and it's no easier for arthritic hands. The repetitive knob-turning soon becomes very painful. The easiest head, once set up, is a gimbal head but they tend to be big and expensive. Otherwise a ball head with a decent-sized locking knob is e best.

But they tend to be expensive. Velbon do a pan-tilt head with a handle release that I found OK with smaller lenses.
 
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Hi David,

Sorry to hear that you are an arthritis sufferer - I know it can be very painful.

I have a friend who is a fellow sufferer that sold a Manfrotto pistol head because he couldn't use it. In order to make the head stable and prevent creep due to the weight of body and lens it was necessary to tighten the grip tensioner quite a bit. This resulted in the trigger being very hard to squeeze in order to adjust his view and when it did release the balance was all wrong - the heavy body and lens is above your hand - causing the camera to tip forwards. Very painful for him. Indeed on bad days he was unable to stop the forward tilt and ended up picking both tripod and camera out of the dirt more than once.

His solution was to buy a 3-way head and have "T" pieces made to fit the ends of the adjustment grips. These screwed on to threads cut onto the ends of the grip bars. He finds this very easy to use with minimal pain.

Just a suggestion :shrug:
 
Bristolian said:
Hi David,

Sorry to hear that you are an arthritis sufferer - I know it can be very painful.

I have a friend who is a fellow sufferer that sold a Manfrotto pistol head because he couldn't use it. In order to make the head stable and prevent creep due to the weight of body and lens it was necessary to tighten the grip tensioner quite a bit. This resulted in the trigger being very hard to squeeze in order to adjust his view and when it did release the balance was all wrong - the heavy body and lens is above your hand - causing the camera to tip forwards. Very painful for him. Indeed on bad days he was unable to stop the forward tilt and ended up picking both tripod and camera out of the dirt more than once.

His solution was to buy a 3-way head and have "T" pieces made to fit the ends of the adjustment grips. These screwed on to threads cut onto the ends of the grip bars. He finds this very easy to use with minimal pain.

Just a suggestion :shrug:
Click to expand...

And a very good suggestion too. Bit of DIY from a friendly neighbour might well sort out the OP's existing head :thumbs:

On many pan-tilt handles I imagine you could just drill straight through and insert a short wooden dowel to give as much leverage as you wanted.
 
Im in Tavistock, if passing you could call in sometime and check out various setups/mounts/heads
 
Thanks all for your replies. I like the idea of modifying the pan and tilt (no real extra cost!!) Will try that avenue first. Regards to you all. Dave.
 
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