Got my Benro A2580 tripod for a month, it's surprisingly firm, reliable and robust. This is th best tripod I've ever had. I've given away my Gitzo's and Manfrotto's, even they costed me 3~5X more.
Now I need to replace my ball head too, I have many Gitzo ball head and many Mafrotto, some with quick release, but none of them are dependable when I use medium format, especially when shooting with 350mm or 500mm, or even with only 180mm.
The best ball head is Cullman Magesit 35, which is the same as the Vanguard 300, capable of 66lbs. It is very strong but the problem is in the quick release. The quick release is a slide-in plate type. This causes the problem for some of my lenses, that there is not enough room between the lens and the camera. I tried to to slide-in from fromt to back, back to frot, left to right and right to left, none works. It requires a drop-in and click-in type release plate. I think even Arca Swiss type quick release would not work.
Anyone can suggest a drop-in-click-in type quick release system, that can be adapter to any ball head, and is capable of over 30lbs, 45lbs, or 60lbs?
