I must finally give in. It's clear even to me that my trusty Manfrotto 190XPROB tripod with the 486RC2 ballhead simply cannot support a 645Z + 90mm lens -- total weight 5.7 lbs / 2.59 kg. I'm trying to do macro shots and the damned thing has to be torqued well above the target framing then allowed to slip down into final position. Grrr.
It may be that I could just upgrade the ballhead, but I find that the quick release plates don't grab as securely as they should. Ie, there's slippage and the camera shifts in the mount. So ... What tripod + ballhead + qr plate is recommended by the collective wisdom of the PDML? It should fold down to around 2 feet so I can strap it onto my camera roller case. It should securely hold at least 6 lbs of camera bits. I really like the way the 190XPROB lets me mount the camera close to the ground -- within 6 inches or so by flipping the center post horizontally and spreading the legs out wide -- but I could sacrifice that I suppose. Preferably one that I can buy new, retail, in North America. :) Thanks! -- -bmw -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.

