For my birthday, Heather bought me a much overdue upgrade to the Ball-Head that came with my Manfrotto Tripod. I’ve had the MT190CXPRO4 Tripod for a very long time. It came with a version of their Magnesium Ball Head in the 054 series. It was a great tripod head but over the years, I’ve had a yearning for more control, very specific settings and when I set a tripod, I want it to remain in place without any movement.
Since I bought the Canon 5D, I’ve been in need of a tripod with built in levels in the head itself. My tripod has a single bubble level but the head has a 3-way level for further tuning which is great when it’s completely dark outside and I’m trying to make sure my camera is straight. The 5D has built in level view on the LCD but the tripod makes this much easier. On top of that, the new head supports much more weight without any ‘falling over’ syndrome so I can attach a 70-200MM Canon L lens and the tripod can hold the weight and stay in place.
Why did I wait so long to upgrade my tripod head? Well, the 190CXPro4 was around $500 when I bought it but appears to cost $429.88 now on Amazon. Initially, the ball head was quite affordable as I got it from a friend. It was time for an upgrade and these 3-way adjustable heads are in a great price range. I was going to buy the X-Pro Head but heather offered to get it for my Birthday. It’s $139 and shipped within a few days.
First hour impressions. This head is built like a rock! It adds quite a bit of weight to my very light carbon fiber tripod. There’s a lot of metal up top now. The levels are accurate and very easy to see in low-light. The adjustments of the 2 levers are fantastic and two of the levers have a friction setting to make movement very easy or quite challenging and then, once you find your angle, you lock it down and my camera that weighs over 6 pounds with lens, sits still without issue.
I’ll post more on this head as I use it more with much larger lenses over time. I wish it were a bit lighter but the strength and controls are fantastic!
You can read more about the head on Manfrotto’s website. Manufacturer overview:
The X-PRO 3-Way Head is Manfrotto’s most compact, precise and reliable 3-way photographic head. The compact closed size that makes the X-PRO so easy to pack and carry is down to its retractable levers that can be extended when needed. With the levers retracted and folded for transport, the space occupied by the head is only 13cm x 13.5cm x 13.5cm (5.1” x 5.3” x 5.3”). Friction controls on the X-PRO 3-Way Head’s tilt and portrait axes help balance the weight of camera equipment so that fine framing adjustments can be made with the locking knobs open, only locking everything down once everything’s ready. And with 3 leveling bubbles on the head, composition can be levelled precisely in-camera, reducing post production work. Sturdily built with a rugged aluminium body for reliability and durability, the X-PRO supports up to 8 kg (17.6 lbs), but weighs only 1 kg (2.2 lbs). The X-PRO 3-Way Head is made in Italy by Manfrotto.
For reference, here’s a photo of the tripod with my previous ball head
