How good is Manfrotto 190CXPRO3 tripod for a beginner

Question

I have Nikon D-90 and i am learning bit by bit about the world of photography.I am planning to purchase a Tripod as i have some money as of now. After doing some R&D i am putting my eyes on Manfrotto 190CXPRO3.

Please provide your inputs about the above mentioned tripod.Also i am not able to decide which Ball head i should go ahead. One Ball head i saw is Manfrotto 322RC2 Joystick Head Short

My Total budget for these items as of now is around 400USD

Answer 1

I own it, and love it. Mine is coupled with an acratech gp-s (which is your entire budget by itself). If you need something a bit more compact, go with the 4 segment. I mount an Olympus e5 and the ec14 w/ 50-200 on it all the time, and it's nice and stable...mostly due to the ball head IMO. If your going to have a big lens on, you might want to look at something other than the joystick.

Answer 2

I have the 190CX3 and am REALLY happy with it. It's really light compared to a lot of other tripods of that size.

If you plan to travel much, note that with head removed it will not fit well inside hard carryon luggage - I bought a medium size Eagle Creek duffle bag. It fits lengthwise in there and has satisfied even airport agents with tape measures on international flights that it is exactly short enough. Inside the duffle bag you can also fit two smallish camera bags (though at that point it's a very heavy bag).

There's no such thing as a tripod a beginner cannot use well.

One other thing of note is IF (very rare, but it can happen if you are too vigorous in pulling on the legs) one of the legs comes out, you need only take off the leg clamp just above the leg that came out, and put the leg back in with the two black curved pieces that also sit over the leg at the top. There's only one way they fit on well so it's not to hard to put it back together.

If you lose the feet you'll have to buy three new ones.

Manfrotto makes a carrying strap but I did not like it. Op-Tech makes a strap (I bought one on Amazon) that is fairly compact and quick to attach.

Answer 3

I have that exact combination and it's a decent one. I found to be a good balance between cost and performance coupled with advantage of less weight for travel and hiking. The tripod has a hook for adding weight in windy conditions, to help reduce vibration. The joystick ballhead is easy to use and I like the general motion of it when tracking, it's almost intuitive after years of video gaming!

Answer 4

A friend of mine has that tripod, and likes it very much. He uses it with a D7000 and a 70-200 2.8 lens (I wouldn't recommend using a bigger lens than that on a that small of a tripod). This is a nice ball head.