I just got back from Shropshire in the UK where I took about 4000 captures.
I was using a Manfrotto tripod that I bought about 3 years ago and it was not the greatest. It was not always as sturdy at I wanted and was not totally user friendly. I do a lot of hand held but decided to do a lot of slower shutter captures on this trip, late in the day.
I am happy to invest in good carbon fibre tripod with a good head attachment.
Anyone have a gotta get recommendation for me.
many thanks

Kirk, Acratech and Really Right Stuff all make excellent ball heads.

You can't go wrong with a gitzo cf tripod. I really like feisol (www.feisol.com).

Gitzo CF tripods are excellent and the new series are much more user-friendly.As for ballheads, my vote goes to Really Right Stuff although Kirk, Acratech, Markin and some others also have equivalent products. FYI, I experienced some issues on a couple of Arca-Swiss B1 ballheads.

I would go for a RRS ballhead and Gitzo CF legs combo.

Okay thanks for this

After twenty years of using a succession of mediocre tripods, I did exactly this last year. It's not cheap -- the combo I purchased cost over $1300 -- but I've been very happy with it.

Which combo did you get?

After trying a variety of combinations (waaaay to many in fact), and having some stability problems, travel problems, etc etc I recently went with a new setup which I am VERY happy with. It's not cheap, but I think it will last many years.

Legs: GITZO GT3540LS
Head: BH-55 from Really Right Stuff

Leveling plate: Manfrotto 338. This is the micro adjust one, only put it on when doing landscape pano's etc. I am considering getting the Gitzo leveler for the tripod at somepoint.

I went this combination for rigidity, but also for travel by plane. The legs compact nice and short, but the whole setup is very solid even with a 500mm Lens.

Sitting on top of the ballhead I also use a Manfrotto 300N Pano Base, and a combination of a RRS slide and clamps as a Nodal point/levelling/rotation setup for doing Panoramics.


Regards

Mark.

Gitzo 3531LSV, RRS BH-55 with the lever quick release. I already owned RRS L-plates for my cameras, and quick release plates for my long lenses. (That saved me some money on this purchase.)

The tripod comes with a video bowl adapter, but I just removed that and installed the included flat plate. There is no center column; the tripod is tall enough for me without it.

I used Manfrotto a real heavy one for years, but this spring I went & got Gitzo GT3530 to go with my one yr old Really Right Stuff's BH55 ballhead - absolutely fantastic. My wife was a little miffed as I spent so much money (before our vacation) when I had a good working tripod, but during the trip she mentioned a few times that she is glad I got Gitzo as it is really great tripod.
Both are fantastic quality & I also use RRS L bracket & RRS "Ultimate-Pro Omni-Pivot"- multi row pano head.

Gitzo 2540LVL + Markins M10 ballhead + L-bracket on the camera
It depends on your camera and needs.

I ordered this from the Right Stuff on their recommendations for my gear and particular needs.
Gitxo cf6x Mountaineer 2 tripod
BH - 40 LR mid sized ballhead with LR
L plate for the D3

Thanks to all for their recommendations

I just went through exactly the same process.

When buying Gitzo tripods consider which version you need mountaineer is good and fast to set up, explorer is harder to set up but more flexible - both are good, it depends on what you need.

I chose to dump the ball head and go with a three way geared head (Manfrotto 405) - rational being that it is easier and faster for making fine adjustments. It may be more practicable to go for a 410 due to the weight saving, but I prefer the bigger knobs on the 405.

The combination of the Gitzo and the 405 geared head is producing noticeably clearer pictures with less vibration/blur compared with my previous aluminium tripod and ball head setup (Manfrotto 055pro+486RC2).

NB On the Really Right Stuff ballheads, I did enquire how much it would cost to ship to the UK. Personally, I didn't find the company very helpful and the cost of shipping to the UK makes the prohibitively expensive. They lost a USD1,000 order as a result.

Hi,

I have a Velbon Sherpa 630 CF tripod. It's quite OK. I have both an Acratech Ultimate Ballhead and an RRS BH40. In principle I guess that I would prefer the Acratech but I don't have a lever type QR on the Acratech. The level type QR is a great advantage.

I use this combo with lenses up to 400/4.5 + 2x extender and it works at least for me. I do consider buying a Gitzo, but the Velbon is quite OK.

Best regards
Erik

I'm sure you'll be satisfied with your choice.

be sure to exercise the LR 40 and make sure you are satisfied
mine has some stick-slip which is periodically resolved with some dry lubricant, even then it tend to creep a bit on lockup which is annoying for macro

okay thanks, but I am spending all this dough to avoid that kind of thing, so I will be in the phone to them if I experience same for sure.
Thanks for the heads up

I had that creep in BH55 RRS ballhead. All I did was to get the RRS plate for my biggest lens (400 zoom) & mounted thru' tripod collar. That solved it.