Precision Gear Tripod Head

[analoggrotto]

I have a basic Manfrotto tripod head with friction adjustments. Its generally fine. But now I'm finding myself wanting more precision adjustments for deep sky shooting in the future. The Manfrotto geared heads appear to be widely used but seem to have a lot of reliability problems.

I'll be mounting a 5D4 + 2.0x TC + 300mm F2.8L (original)

Any recommendations?

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I did use my 410 geared head for comet Neowise (I don't have a tracking one). I had my EOS R, 100-400L + 1.4X TC and adapter. It was miserable to use with so much play. I've toyed with getting a tracking head, Brian at TDP mentioned one that works but is being pushed to its limits with a similar weight setup. If I had the ability to take long exposures, I would have realized that I was cutting off the tail of the comet with my setup. A 2 sec exposure let me adjust the image enough to bring out a sensor filling image, but I missed half of the tail.

The reason I do not buy one of the low cost astro trackers is that I have no clue as to what I really need in addition to the package.

Canon EOS R5 Catches Comet NEOWISE

Picture Name: Canon EOS R5 Catches Comet NEOWISE, Camera: Canon EOS R5, Lens: Canon EF 200mm f/2L IS USM Lens

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