Look at Gimbals as an alternative

[JR1]

I am known for my us of Gimbals, I have Manfrotto b/s heads and Manfrotto Pan tilts but rarely use them, to me nothing and I mean nothing beats a Gimbal for nature or for me sports photography.

On all four of my tripods I use gimbals, because they offer stability and panning and tilting unsurpassed by any other head when shooting fast moving action like power boat raking, also when you "learn to use them" you can up/down and let/right with just the two fingers and thumb of the left hand and shoot with the right, the camera stays where you leave it when you let go and it is instantly available when you start again.

When I looked into getting one, I checked out many and took six months researching them before buying, the cheap Indian/Chinese steel imports were immediately ruled out as they are rust traps when shooting in rain or salt air, and need stripping and re building before initial use to get rid of unwanted grease. (and yes I have tried every gimbal I looked at) If you are looking to get a new head think carefully, don't always believe that more £ means better either.

I tried Benro, Wimberley, Indian and Chinese as well as the unusual Manfrotto lens "bracket", When all was don I chose a "Lensmaster RH2", I am NOT associated with this company.

All Gimbals have the same main thing in common, to work smoothly remain rigid and provide good firm support. Some do this better than others, but unless you need a Ferrari or a "status" symbol a Ford or Renault is perfect.

Wimberley was too expensive for what they offer, ok well made, so are Benro and others.

Lensmaster however are "hand made" from start to finish, and British, produced by an engineer in this country who is also a photographer. I recently ordered a new one (I have as I said four now), the first three were finished in gloss black the ne ones are a truly professional textured matt black, the quality parts as I said are hand made, and it shows, right down to the signed for box it arrives in.

If you are seeking a new head for your tripod, check out gimbals, you will never look back. Here is a photo of my two main ones the NEW RH1 and the RH2