How are the RC bogen heads? Anything else on a budget?
 

I am trying to get a hold of a decent tripod sticks and heads. There seems to be so many people out there that love or hate bogen/libec/velbon. I am not sure where to go. I have a cheap $100.00 Optec tripod that could easily be a coat-rack for how good it is. I want something better, fluid head drag would be great but something that won't break the bank either - $250.00 is goign to be too much for me.

Thanks in advance.

I think the Bogen/Manfrotto 501 head is a reasonable choice if you're on a tight budget. I still have one with the 3221WN legs which I bought 5 years ago. I mostly use a Miller tripod now which is much more expensive, but still pull out the Manfrotto when I want something lightweight to hike around with.

If you are shooting at relatively close range then the 501 works very well. But when you zoom all the way in to full telephoto you will quickly be frustrated by jerky motion when you start a pan or tilt.

You can get packages with the 501 for as little as $219 at B&H. The 3001 tripod looks like it might be a little lightweight, but might still be better than what you currently have:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ughType=search

Or you could get the 3221 legs with the 3126 micro fluid head for the same price:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ughType=search

Or with the 700RC2 head for a few bucks more:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ughType=search

Is that what you had in mind when you said "RC bogen heads"? I'm not real clear on what either of these less expensive heads are, but I did buy a cheap bogen video head before I got the 501. Frankly, it was terrible. Impossible to make smoot moves. I ended up giving it away to a friend.

If at all possible, visit a store where you can actually play around with different tripods and heads. It's really hard to know exactly what you're getting by looking at pictures and specs on the web...

I have also been reading about the Velbon DV-7000 tripod and how people are somewhat raving about such an inexpensive mix being such a good deal - any opinions on that?

Thanks for the quick reply.