manfrotto 410 junior geared head, thoughts?

[Frederick Avery]

well, i now have my camera tz45 IIa shen hao, my lense, rodenstock 180mm 5.6 sironar n. ive got my polariod 550 back, which im starting out with the test shots and learning with (i seem to have packed it with fuji instant fairly well, but not well enough as i have light flares in the corners, but i get the jist having read some forum posts, and a set of red bellows (purely for the style aspect) are on their way. im getting there.

i got on facebook, and you may find this idea interesting - make a photo album, treat it as your 'shop', put photos of your items, and prices and description in the comments box. paste the link to your friends profiles and let them have a look through. in two days i have made around 200 quid from things i would have just junked or given away, people keep asking me where i got my shop app from, its quite funny. anyway, so now i mananged to a) pay the tax the customs stung me for on the lense and polaroid 550, and b) have enough for a tripod head. the tripod will have to wait, but im thinking a wooden berlebach.

so, i have seen a lot mentioned on the manfrotto 410 junior geared head.

it looks extremely useful, well designed and solid. i love the look of it, and it seems to certainly be the best designed if you dont like the adjustment rods popping out all over or are scared silly by ball heads that may well swing your camera into the tripod if youre not paying attention. i also hear however, that people have problems with the damn thing going loose on the gears. it seems people know it well enough to say that you need to open the covers, turn the gears round and start on a new unused section of the plastic gears to get a good movement back when adjusting.

this worries me. especially for the price and my general lack of disposable cash.

anyone whos got one - how long are we talking before they wear loose? are we talking a few months of light use? or seriously sustained adjusting from power users with nothing better to do than stand taking photos and frantically changing angles between each one?

can anyone tell me, if the case is that they do wear out far too soon and arent worth their weight in cardboard, what are the alternatives? really well designed geared heads or similar at a similar price range, that people KNOW will last a good while and be a pleasure to use?

there, i meant to say 'anyone think manfrotto 410's are any good, but its never that easy:)

frederick.

[Trevor Crone]

Hi Frederick, I use a 410 for my cameras up to 4x5, have even used it for my 8x10 but much prefer the 405 for this larger, heavier format.

I've had my 410 for a number of years and it has never let me down, retained its smooth operation on all axis until recently when one axis is starting showing signs of stiffness. If this continues I'm sure something like WD40 will put it right. It really is a cracking little head which is well designed and so easy to operate. I just love its compact design.

Like all things that are relatively mass-produced variants in products is bound to occur. But with a dealers warranty this will hopefully cover any short full in a product.

[timparkin]

well, i now have my camera tz45 IIa shen hao, my lense, rodenstock 180mm 5.6 sironar n. ive got my polariod 550 back, which im starting out with the test shots and learning with (i seem to have packed it with fuji instant fairly well, but not well enough as i have light flares in the corners, but i get the jist having read some forum posts, and a set of red bellows (purely for the style aspect) are on their way. im getting there.

i got on facebook, and you may find this idea interesting - make a photo album, treat it as your 'shop', put photos of your items, and prices and description in the comments box. paste the link to your friends profiles and let them have a look through. in two days i have made around 200 quid from things i would have just junked or given away, people keep asking me where i got my shop app from, its quite funny. anyway, so now i mananged to a) pay the tax the customs stung me for on the lense and polaroid 550, and b) have enough for a tripod head. the tripod will have to wait, but im thinking a wooden berlebach.

so, i have seen a lot mentioned on the manfrotto 410 junior geared head.

it looks extremely useful, well designed and solid. i love the look of it, and it seems to certainly be the best designed if you dont like the adjustment rods popping out all over or are scared silly by ball heads that may well swing your camera into the tripod if youre not paying attention. i also hear however, that people have problems with the damn thing going loose on the gears. it seems people know it well enough to say that you need to open the covers, turn the gears round and start on a new unused section of the plastic gears to get a good movement back when adjusting.

this worries me. especially for the price and my general lack of disposable cash.

anyone whos got one - how long are we talking before they wear loose? are we talking a few months of light use? or seriously sustained adjusting from power users with nothing better to do than stand taking photos and frantically changing angles between each one?

can anyone tell me, if the case is that they do wear out far too soon and arent worth their weight in cardboard, what are the alternatives? really well designed geared heads or similar at a similar price range, that people KNOW will last a good while and be a pleasure to use?

there, i meant to say 'anyone think manfrotto 410's are any good, but its never that easy:)

frederick.

Hi Frederick,

From what I've seen, you'll more than likely get a couple of years of serviceable life out of it if that helps. You won't find a geared head alternative at a price below £500. I know people who seem to have owned one for more than this. Joe has gone through about five from what I hear but I think that is to be expected. If one lasts for a year at JC levels of use then you should be OK

Tim

[Frederick Avery]

ha ha ha thats what i thought, power users reviewing things is not always a good bench mark. a bit like linford christie reviewing trainers.

i had been looking (an amazing piece of design) at the arca swiss cube. but its way out of my price range, and then i saw the induro phq3 and 5. i bet 5 will be astronomical. but the 3 looks pretty interesteing.

i shall have to see..... but i def need one soon thats for sure:)

[Ed Moss]

Happy with mine so far but I do keep reading how quickly they fail. Suppose it depends on how much you use it?
Or like my mother in law did last week, carry my tripod for me and put it head down, in the sand

[numnutz]

I recently purchased a used Manfrotto 400 geared head and have just had a chance to mount on my tripod and test it out with my 10 x 8 Deardorff. The head is rather heavy, now my tripod (Berlebach 3042) and head combination is a shade under 7Kg.

I will be needing a powered cart to trek the thing around . All the gears are adjustable. I thought I would check that they were greased and adjusted correctly and found every thing is fully accessible and adjustable by using the Allen keys provided.

Personally I have never used a geared head in the past so have nothing to compare it with, but I do like the way I can turn a handle and get position almost immediately without having to constantly loosening and tightening a pan tilt head or ball head.

Hope this proves useful

nn

Oh bu**er this really belongs to this thread viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2090 Mods please move if appropriate

[Frederick Avery]

yeah thats very useful, i was looking at a 405 and 400 also.

i do like the cube ones, but not in this lifestyle.

and the mother who put it in the sand needs taking aside and asking whether next time she would like her shoes to meet the same fate:)

[Frederick Avery]

got the 410 junior geared head.

for anyone who is thinkinmg about this tripod head - go for it, theres nothing ju7nior about it. i was expecting small and not too strong. its solid, well made and large. heavy too. perfect for a 4 x 5

frederick

[Neil Smith]

I have a 410 head on a Berlebach and it works perfectly, I picked it up secondhand so I don't know what use its had, but so far so good. I have had the head about a year and given it light use so far and it is working like a dream, I have a leveling column on the Berlebach so I only need slight adjustments from the head which cuts down the gear movements, which I think will help on the wear and tear front.


Neil