Manfrotto 322RC2 Horizontal Grip Action Ball Head with RC2 Rapid Connect Plate (3157N)

The best word to describe this product is slick. It is adjustable for left or right hand use, quick and easy to manipulate and well made. I suspect it will be highly durable and last for many years. Having said all that, it is not perfect and I expect to someday purchase a geared ball head. However, I anticipate the 322RC2 will be the workhorse of my tripod heads.

Everyone should get one of these. It is a little on the large side but the build quality is superb! The wonderful thing is that you can reconfigure the quick release plate in 3 other positions ie for left handed use, on the handle or flipped backwards. Comes with the tool needed to make the changes. Highly recommended.

I use a tripod for the majority of my shots. The ease of use and load capacity of this head work well with all my lenses. I shoot with everything from a 12-24 mm wide angle to a 50-500 mm telephoto. This head handles them all very well. I recommend this head to all, but especially to nature photographers.

I bought this to go with the Bogen-Manfrotto 190XProB tripod. It is a great combination. Very easy to set up and very sturdy. I haven't taken it out in the field yet but I think it's going to perform great. The rapid connect is a must. I just leave the connector on the camera and can connect quickly.

This is an ingenious device. My previous tripod head had three handles (horizontal, vertical, pan) that each had to be manipulated to get the camera positioned. With this unit, you simply grasp the squeeze grip on the handle, and you can rotate the head around a ball joint to virtually any position in one move. Very fast, very easy. I love it!