bull drink water Loc: pontiac mi.

i tried one of my monopod, was not happy, it sets in my equip. box now.

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

For SPEED and moderate expense - Manfrotto 222 joystick with a 234rc on top. Make sure you use the tripod mount on the lens. The best you can do is mount it so it is balanced @ 400mm position - IMHO.

Dave Johnson Loc: Grand Rapids, Michigan

I agree with many here in saying that a gimbal would be a good idea.

rusty nails Loc: Palm Coast FL.

Thanks again everyone for all the information,, nothing beats experience everyone has,,, great place to find information...

Chet Loc: Louisville, KY

Acratech is hard to beat.

GC likes NIKON Loc: East Greenwich, Rhode Island

Air shows will be scarce this year. Our big air show in Rhode Island at Quonset is cancelled entirely because of the budget cuts !!!! I was told unless it is for essential defense there is NO money for it. This includes our "Leapfest" also which is an international parachute competition held in RI !!!

Dolphin001

I think you'll be better of with a Gimbal head. I have a Milano tripod (available only in Canada but there are other versions of the same thing around) which comes with a ball head and seems to be adequate for a 60D with a100-400 lens. However, after reading comments by other UUH birders I thought about getting a Gimbal Head.

I missed out on the Adorama Flashpoint Gimbal Head so I ordered a Beike BK-45 Professional Gimbal Head from Linkdelight - it was shipped from Hong Kong and arrived a week later. It seems they have a price drop. Here is their link:

http://www.linkdelight.com/PK003-Gimbal-Tripod-Head-BK-45-Camera-Ball-Head-for-Tele-Lens.html

EBay and other e-retailers are advertising it from $99.00 to $107.00. Here is a link to DPreview - you'll have a scroll down a bit. It is a near knock-off of one of the Wimberley Gimbals but sells for 1/5th the price.

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3355081

It seems to be a mirror image of the Opteka branded Gimbal Head, which it seems (to me at least) is branded by other companies. It allegedly supports up to 8 Kg (17.6 lbs) and my photographic equipment is well below that. Canon 60D plus a 100-400mm lens is the heaviest I have in my arsenal at the moment and it works fine with that combination. All told, shipping included, it came to $103.00 on my CC.

The Only oddity is that the spirit level, and "toy" compass are both affixed to the vertical pivot points which makes no sense at all. But as gimbal head, it does everything it is supposed to do very well.

Vladimir200 Loc: Beaumont, Ca.

A lot of the recommendations on this post seem reasonable. I don't know anything about gimbals. See attached Youtube on the Induro BHL 3 http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=induro+bhl3&oq=induro+bhl&gs_l=youtube.1.0.0l4.2662.6593.0.9231.10.10.0.0.0.0.82.619.10.10.0...0.0...1ac.1.11.youtube.Apd7AU9Wz3M

The reviewer stated that it favorably compares to the RRS ball heads. Rick Sammon also did a youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RzdwwpqRME

Lots of good ones out there and some bad. Good luck.

rusty nails Loc: Palm Coast FL.

I did a lot of research and there are so many good tripods and heads,,,, I settled on a Induro BHD2 tripod and Ballhead with with Arca-Swiss style quick release plate system. Thanks to everyone for the input and information.

RichardSM Loc: Back in Texas

Yes a Vanguard SBH-300 Ball Head It will hold up to 70Lbs and it operates as smooth or as better than most of the more expensive one's which in my opinion are way over priced anyway go look at what Vanguard product.

http://www.vanguardworld.com/index.php/en/pv/products/photo-video/detail-1-4-23-146.html

vinnya Loc: connecticut

Have a big choice to choose from, myself I just got a photo clam ball head a month ago, so far it has been working out great have to see how it holds up