I have an old, heavy but sturdy tripod which serves for many purposes. However, my main projects in future are going to be recording as much as possible of the natural history of two nature reserves near me, an ancient meadow and a natural woodland. A large part of my pictures, such as flowers and fungi, will need to be taken from near ground level. I will also be taking multiple images and stacking them, hence I need a tripod which will enable me to get low down, mainly with a wide angle or the 60 mm macro, not very heavy lenses, on the 80D. I don't want to splash out too much e.g. on carbon fibre (I won't be walking very long distances) and it seems that the Manfrotto MT055XPRO3 or MT190XPRO3 (aluminium models) both have a street price of about £139, which is reasonable from a "name" manufacturer. The main difference seems to be that the 190 is smaller and lighter, otherwise they seem to pretty similar, both allowing the centre column to be fitted in the horizontal position.
As I will need to be very precise with positioning and orientation of the camera, I am also wondering if it would be worth getting the Manfrotto 410 geared head. I have a decent ball head, but I find it tricky to get things very precise, and I suspect this will be even worse with the camera near ground level. I'll be using Liveview, either on the articulated screen or, more likely, controlled from a tablet. However, the geared head is pretty weighty and I'm wondering if this might be too much for the tripod to support with the centre column in the horizontal position. I'll also be collecting up various small objects to be photographed at home on a desktop studio setup, for which I should think the geared head would again be useful.
All opinions welcome.
As I will need to be very precise with positioning and orientation of the camera, I am also wondering if it would be worth getting the Manfrotto 410 geared head. I have a decent ball head, but I find it tricky to get things very precise, and I suspect this will be even worse with the camera near ground level. I'll be using Liveview, either on the articulated screen or, more likely, controlled from a tablet. However, the geared head is pretty weighty and I'm wondering if this might be too much for the tripod to support with the centre column in the horizontal position. I'll also be collecting up various small objects to be photographed at home on a desktop studio setup, for which I should think the geared head would again be useful.
All opinions welcome.
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