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i picked up what i think is a decent tripod (manfrotto 190xprol) but im not to keen on the head that came with it(804rc2) .its is a bit of a pain to adjust with the 3 separate knobs .is there something better that doesnt cost as much as a lens ? i mostly shoot wildlife with my 100-400 lens .i have seen a few posts that recomend gimbal hears bt i cant afford one right now.
Not sure what your budget is, but I have the Opteka GH1 gimbal head and it's on Amazon for $150. I've been very happy with it so far. It works quite smoothly and I've found I prefer it over a ball head.
If you're set on a ballhead, this Oben (reviewed here by Bryan) is excellent. I have this one as well. One knob to control everything.
I could be wrong, but my understanding is that gimbals are more for heavier equipment where you will be shooting from a tripod thus you want nice fluid motion. My take would be that a good midsized ballhead. I have a Markins Q3T that is great. In my research I had come down to the Markins or Really Right Stuff BH-30 or BH-40. I had also heard good things about Photoclam and, more recently, Oben.
Since I am already posting old tables I put together, here was my table comparing ballheads. Here is the original thread. I learned a lot over the course of the thread.
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I would agree for static shots a good ball head will handle the 100-400 lens but if you are trying to capture moving subjects a gimbal will be much easier. There are some nice ones that are affordable. The smaller Mongoose gimbal is nice for that size lens. I use the Wimberly...it is great but maybe too big for just the 100-400. It handles the big super tele lenses with ease.
A couple of alternate solutions. The Sirui gimbal head is both lighter and less expensive than the Wimberley. The adjustments for friction are not as precise feeling as the Wimberley but unless comparing side by side not everyone will notice the small difference.
My last ball head acquisition was from a German manufacturer. It has the main knob for the ball, a rotating lock for the base, and a third one that allows adjusting the friction for travelling in a vertical plane only! I have found it handily supports a 300 f2.8 in this mode. It is still a ballhead so letting go of the camera and lens is NOT recommended but for size and weight it is a decent alternative to a gimbal head for occasional use or when packing light. Will try to remember to look up the make and model after work tonight as I just can't remember that right now.
The make on that head is FLM. Model is Centre Ball 48 FT. It is not a small head but easily holds anything I put on it including the odd use of a Cambo 4x5.