Nikon P1000 Need Suggestions for a Tripod Head: Howdy from Texas. I have a Nikon CoolPix P1000 and a Canon 6D mkII with Tamron 150-600mm, and I truly enjoy taking pix of the moon...

JRosen

Howdy from Texas. I have a Nikon CoolPix P1000 and a Canon 6D mkII with Tamron 150-600mm, and I truly enjoy taking pix of the moon, Saturn, etc... however, as the earth is rocketing through the solar system at 17,500 mph its really difficult to capture shots on a ball head, or even a 3 way pan and tilt head. I need a 3 way gear head--I think.

I'm looking at the Manfrotto XPro 3-way geared head ($155.00) or the Manfrotto 410 3 Way geared head ($255.00).

I'm open to ideas, suggestions, and comments please.

TIA

ahudina Loc: Browns Point, WA

JRosen wrote:

Howdy from Texas. I have a Nikon CoolPix P1000 an... (show quote)

I have the manfrotto 405 and find it to be precise and stable using a gripped d 850 and Nikkor 200 - 500. Check the weight of what you plan to mount and the load capacity of the head. Best of luck.

JRosen

Yeah I looked at the 405... nice geared head... very nice! But way overkill. I think I'm leaning to the 405's little brother, the 410.

Thanks for the quick reply.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

JRosen wrote:

Howdy from Texas. I have a Nikon CoolPix P1000 an... (show quote)

I'm sure a ball head would be doing just fine! It works for most other people!

JRosen

The problem is that the skies move so quickly, and when you're at full zoom, the slightest nudge, or any kind of movement can take what your shooting and its completely out of frame. Whereas if the mount had gear tracking, like these do, then turning the knob for incremental control would be so nice. Its really difficult to keep objects framed at 3000mm if the mount allows the camera to move.

Thanks for the input.

mharvey

For anything other than the moon or short focal-length star fields, you need a "tracking" device. It mounts on a tripod and actually moves at The rate of The Earth's rotation. With the better ones, you can get almost perfect tracking up to several MINUTES. You can look them up on any number of sites that carry astronomical products. ASTRONOMICS, HIGH POINT SCIENTIFIC, CAMERA CONCEPTS, OCEANSIDE PHOTO AND TELESCOPE, even ADORAMA are examples.

JRosen

Thanks Mharvey! I'll check into those as well.

rfmaude41 Loc: Lancaster, Texas (DFW area)

JRosen wrote:

Howdy from Texas. I have a Nikon CoolPix P1000 an... (show quote)

Actually not 17,500 mph, much, must quicker:

At what speed does the Earth move around the Sun? (Beginner) Short version: Earth's average orbital speed is about 30 kilometers per second. In other units, that's about 19 miles per second, or 67,000 miles per hour, or 110,000 kilometers per hour (110 million meters per hour).

JRosen

Hi rfmaude41. Thanks for your response.

Okay then, the earth rotates (spins) @ 17,500mph, and one complete rotation equals one day on earth. I wasn't trying to get into a scientific discussion, just the fact that we're moving quickly through space, and nothing stays in the same spot, but moves slowly through the skies, so photographing celestial items at high zoom, 2000mm to 3000mm on a ball head or a pan & tilt head is very difficult.

I did just order the Manfrotto 410 3-way geared head from Amazon... they have it for $183.00. I hope to be posting great images of our solar-system buddies very soon.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

JRosen wrote:

Howdy from Texas. I have a Nikon CoolPix P1000 an... (show quote)

You want an “equatorial mount” head for your tripod.

There is an Astronomical section on UHH. I suggest you post this question there.
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/s-109-1.html

Innershield1

Put that heavy lens on a wimberly, forget the ball head for that combo

mharvey

My common sense tells me to just stay out of this...but I just HATE to see ANYONE waste their time and money.
I’ve been a serious amateur astronomer for over 40 years. (Qualifier): Last month I did the “first-light” star test on the new 32” f/3 telescope that was just installed at Lowell Observatory (it’s now the largest aperture scope AT Lowell). Anyway...I have a P1000 and, although I have dedicated DSLR equipment for Astro...I’ve played around with the 1000. You can get excellent Lunar images with the camera in a fixed tripod (and even hand-held!). That’s it! I have taken a couple of shots of Jupiter that do show the N and S equatorial belts but they are very rough and no other real detail is visible. At 3000mm the image moves too fast for the appropriate exposure...and you simply cannot “hand-track” it. Neither a ball head nor a Wimberly head is going to change that.
To capture any decent Astro images, including the major planets (other than the moon) with the P1000 you MUST have a tracking mount of some kind.
End of sermon! 😇

JRosen

MHarvey, you go on preaching! I'm not offended at all, I'm a realist. I am just tired of getting the focus on a 3-way head, and touch the camera to zoom in or out and I've lost the frame! I need something that will station the camera so I can't nudge it with my slight movements. That's why I thought about the geared 3-way.

But you go on preaching brother... I give you thanks for your honesty, brevity, and clarity.

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

JRosen wrote:

MHarvey, you go on preaching! I'm not offended at all, I'm a realist. I am just tired of getting the focus on a 3-way head, and touch the camera to zoom in or out and I've lost the frame! I need something that will station the camera so I can't nudge it with my slight movements. That's why I thought about the geared 3-way.

But you go on preaching brother... I give you thanks for your honesty, brevity, and clarity.

Hopefully you have a good return policy on that geared head, there’s a good chance you’ll need it.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

JRosen wrote:

MHarvey, you go on preaching! I'm not offended at all, I'm a realist. I am just tired of getting the focus on a 3-way head, and touch the camera to zoom in or out and I've lost the frame! I need something that will station the camera so I can't nudge it with my slight movements. That's why I thought about the geared 3-way.

But you go on preaching brother... I give you thanks for your honesty, brevity, and clarity.

I was trying to say the same thing but MHarvey said it better.

For Astrophography, ultimately you are going to want to track the object and take a time exposure. You need a special mount for that.

Even if you don't take a time exposure, you will want a tracking head. Then you do your zooming in/out while you are setting up. A geared head will keep tracking while you do that. An equatorial mount will allow you to track manually if you like but a geared head is better.

A regular photography tripod head, pan or ball head, will simply not work.

You also want a solid tripod. Not a flimsy $25 one. Again I refer you to the Astrophotography section here. They will have some good suggestions.